In the spring of 2005, the community at Occidental College engaged in dialogue surrounding the topic of diversity.  “Diversity”, with all its connotations is a multi-faceted and at times intimidating concept, one which cannot be fully understood unless studied in its interdisciplinary forms.  Therefore, this research guide has been created to assist students interested in diversity by providing search tips, helpful websites and links to resources here at Occidental College. 

To get started, try a keyword search in OASys. Keyword searching is less specific than searching Library of Congress subject headings, but may provide more results. Need more? Click over to LINK+ and continue your searching there. Need even more? WorldCat includes over 54 million entries from more than 45,000 libraries. You may also place Interlibrary Loan requests. (Slower than LINK+). Below are a few sample keyword searches for you to start with. Be creative, come up with your own, and use keywords from the works you find to improve your future searches.

Suggested Keyword Searches:

keyword:

multicult* and diversit*

multicult* and higher education

multicult* and America

diversit* and discrimination

pluralism and social change

pluralism and ethic*

For more assistance with searching for books, please see Finding Books.

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Library of Congress Subject Heading Searching on OASys and LINK+

LC Subject Headings are classifications agreed upon by all US libraries and be an invaluable tool when you are searching for information. While keyword searches may bring up more titles, LC Subject searching can bring up more accurate lists of works specifically related to your field of study. Need more? Click over to LINK+ and continue your searching there. Need even more? WorldCat includes over 54 million entries from more than 45,000 libraries. You may also place Interlibrary Loan requests. (Slower than LINK+)

Suggested Subject Headings searches:
 

Multiculturalism

Diversity

Pluralism

Ethnicity

Race

Racism  

Minorities

Segregation

Race discrimination

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Arts & Humanities Search (FirstSearch)
Find journal articles in the arts and humanities. Offers citations with lists of articles cited. Can be used to find citing articles.

JSTOR
Full-text archive of high-impact academic journals in many disciplines. Included journals generally begin with full-text from the first issue up until 3-5 years ago. Full-text is not available through JSTOR for recent issues. You can browse journals by discipline, by title or search articles by keyword.

Literature Resource Center (Gale)
Full-text biographies, bibliographies and critical analysis of more than 90 000 novelists, poets, essayists, journalists and other writers, with in-depth coverage of 2 000 of the most-studied authors.

MLA Bibliography (First Search)
Index to scholarly materials published worldwide in literature, languages, linguistics, and folklore.

Project MUSE
Full-text of over 40 scholarly journals in the humanities, the social sciences and mathematics from Johns Hopkins University press.

ProQuest Historical Newspapers
Search the full text of the New York Times (1851 - 1999) and the Los Angeles Times (1881 - 1928 and growing). View results as page images.

ProQuest Online Information Service
A common interface to databases marketed by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. Oxy's set of ProQuest databases includes ProQuest General Reference, ProQuest Religious Periodicals, National Newspapers, and ProQuest Historical Newspapers. Except for Historical Newspapers, these databases can be searched simultaneously. Together they form a convenient general article database offering ample links to complete online articles.

WilsonWeb
Find citations, abstracts, and substantial full-text for international, English-language periodicals pertinent to literature.

For more assistance with searching our databases, please see Finding Articles.

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Reference

American Heritage Dictionary

Oxford English Dictionary: OED online

Oxford Reference Online

Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary

Dictionary.com

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Style Manuals

For a comprehensive list of style manuals, please browse the Library Style Manual Webpage.

Modern Language Association (MLA) Format

American Psychological Association (APA) Format

American Anthropological Association (AAA) Format

Chicago (Turabian) Style Format

Occidental College Online Writing Center
This elaborate writing guide will help you formulate paper topics, construct theses, create outlines and cite sources as part of paper drafting.

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Tired of Googling? try a different search engine or a subject directory found on our Public Internet Search Tools page.

For example, go to the Librarian's Index to the Internet, and try these searches: 
 

Multicultural                      Diversity                             Pluralism                          

Below are just a few of the web pages discussing popular topics of diversity.

For more assistance with searching for web sites, please see Finding Public Web Pages.

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On and Off Campus Diversity Resources

Center for Community-Based Learning (CCBL)

Intercultural Community Center (ICC)

Inter Group Dialogue Program

International Programs Office (IPO)

Multicultural Summer Institute (MSI)

The Office for Religious and Spiritual Life (ORSL)

Pauley (Multicultural Dorm)

Project S.A.F.E. (Sexual Assault Free Environment)

Clubs at Oxy

The following is a partial list of clubs at Oxy that actively promote multiculturalism and diversity.  For a complete list of Clubs available at Oxy, please check the Oxy website and be sure to attend the Club Days held at the start of the semester in the Quad.

Classes at Oxy

Click here for a partial list of classes offered at Oxy that are on topics of diversity (page will open in Microsoft word).   Not all the classes listed here are offered every year so please check the course catalog for more information.

Oxy Unite Coalition

During the Spring of 2005, much of the campus wide dialogue regarding diversity was facilitated through this student led group.  Click here for more information.
 

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Selected Books

Diversity Collection Featured List

Location Map for the Diversity Collection

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