This page is intended to provide a starting point for UEP students (whether declared major, minor, or just taking a class) in their research process.  Various examples are provided with links to the Occidental College website.  For additional help, students should consult a librarian at the reference desk.

Keyword Searching on OASys and LINK+

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.

Also, you can add an * to finish off a word in the OASys database, which will result in more hits.  For example, searching for urban poli* will include results with urban politics, urban political, and urban policy (note: different databases use different symbols to finish searches).

Suggested Keyword Searches:

Topic: Built Environment

keyword: sprawl

keyword: suburban*

keyword: housing policy

keyword: transportation policy

keyword: urban planning

keyword: urban design

Topic: Urban Nature

keyword: urban river*

keyword: Los Angeles river

keyword: urban park*

keyword: urban nature

Topic: Toxics and Waste

keyword: chemicals

keyword: pollution prevention

keyword: hazardous waste

keyword: waste management

keyword: emission*

keyword: urban runoff

Topic: Food

keyword: food security

keyword: food retail

keyword: organic food

keyword: farmer* market*

keyword: food global

keyword: food system*

Topic: Energy and Climate Change

keyword: green energy

keyword: climate change

keyword: global warming

Topic: Globalization

keyword: globalization trade

keyword: globalization labor

keyword: immigration poli*

keyword: ports goods movement

Topic: Housing

keyword: housing policy

keyword: suburb*

keyword: rent control

Topic: Environment

keyword: environmental movement

keyword: environmental crisis

keyword: natural resource policy

keyword: marine conservation

Topic: Health

keyword: occupational health

keyword: community health

keyword: environmental justice

keyword: health care policy

Topic: Poverty

keyword: poverty

keyword: urban poverty

keyword: rural poverty

Topic: Economic/Community Development

keyword: living wage

keyword: regionalism

keyword: sustainable development

keyword: immigration

keyword: municipal taxation

keyword: de industrialization

keyword: brownfields

Topic: Organizing and Coalition Building

keyword: community empowerment

keyword: community organization

keyword: coalition building

keyword: activism

keyword: protest

keyword: social movement

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:

LC Subject: Globalization Economic Aspects

LC Subject: Housing Policy

LC Subject: Global Warming

LC Subject: Environmentalism

LC Subject: Urban Renewal

LC Subject: Community Power

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Searchable Databases

Selected Library Research Databases for UEP: 

AGRICOLA (FirstSearch)
Agriculture. Find citations to journal articles, government reports, monographs, etc.

Alternative Press Index (FirstSearch)
Get citations to over 250 alternative, radical and left periodicals, newspapers and magazines with a focus on the practice and theory of socialism, national liberation, labor, indigenous peoples, gays/lesbians, feminism, ecology, democracy, and anarchism.

AltPressIndex Archive (FirstSearch)
Index of journals (1969-1990) covering cultural, economic, political & social change.

America: History and Life (EBSCO)
American history. Find citations to and occasional full-text links for articles and books.

Black Thought and Culture
Black Thought and Culture contains 989 sources with 947 authors, covering the non-fiction published works of leading African Americans. Where possible the complete published non-fiction works are included, as well as interviews, journal articles, speeches, essays, pamphlets, letters and other fugitive material.

Contemporary Women's Issues (FirstSearch)
Index to global information on women in journals, newsletters, and research reports.

Ethnic Newswatch (ProQuest)
Full-text database of the newspapers, magazines and journals of the ethnic, minority and native press. Designed to provide the "other side of the story," ENW titles offer additional viewpoints from those proffered by the mainstream press. Coverage begins in 1990. English and Spanish.

GenderWatch (ProQuest)
Full-text database of articles, reports, pamphlets, papers and conference proceedings devoted to women's and gender issues.

GreenFILE (EBSCO)
A collection of scholarly, government and general-interest titles on global warming, green building, pollution, sustainable agriculture, renewable energy, recycling, and more.

LexisNexis Environmental
Find journal articles, conference papers, environmental news, laws, regulations, and hazardous materials information.

Los Angeles Public Library Databases
LAPL offers a rich collection of online research tools, many of which are not among Occidental’s subscriptions. You can simultaneously search multiple LAPL databases using their WebFeat federated search. Remote searching is available, but requires authentication using your library card from LAPL. If you don’t already have a library card, you can get one at the LAPL branch closes to you.

North American Immigrant Letters, Diaries and Oral Histories 
Public access to MEDLINE, PreMEDLINE, and other databases from the National Library of Medicine. MEDLINE may provide some relevant biomedical journal articles covering research, clinical practice, administration, policy issues, and health care services.

PAIS International (CSA) 
Public Affairs Information Service index of articles, books, conference proceedings, government documents, book chapters, and statistical directories covering contemporary social, economic, and political issues and the making and evaluating of public policy. Including the PAIS Archive, searches find citations to documents originally published and indexed from 1915 to the present.

Policy Central
Cross-search and access all content at NationalJournal.com, including National Journal magazine, CongressDaily, The Hotline daily news service, and more.

Social Sciences Full Text (WilsonWeb)
Find citations, abstracts, and substantial full-text for international, English-language periodicals in sociology, anthropology, geography, economics, political science, and law.

Social Services Abstracts (CSA) 
Find citations and abstracts of current research focused on social work, human services, and related areas, including social welfare, social policy, and community development.

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

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Selected Journals

The following journals are a variety of samples Occidental College has to offer that may interest UEP students.  More journal subjects as well as titles can be searched by clicking here.

Advancing women in leadership [electronic resource]

Agriculture, ecosystems & environment [electronic resource]

American feminist [electronic resource]

Carbon balance and management [electronic resource]

Climate policy [electronic resource]

Dissent [electronic resource] HX1 .D58

Ecology QH540 .E3

Environment and urbanization [electronic resource]

Food policy [electronic resource]

Immigrants & minorities [electronic resource]

International journal of human rights [electronic resource]

Journal of labor research [electronic resource]

Journal of peasant studies  HD1513.A3 J68

Labor studies journal [electronic resource]

Peace, prosperity & democracy [electronic resource] JC423 .P313

Public management [electronic resource] JS344.C5 A2

Social justice research [electronic resource]

Socialist revolution HX1 .S35

Studies on the left HM1 .S85

War on hunger HD9000.1 .W37

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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 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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