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Native American Research Tutorial

This tutorial will take you through some of the steps for conducting research on Native American topics. It can also be useful for any general social science or humanities topic search. It includes basic information on searching the San Juan College Library Catalog,  electronic databases, and the Internet.

For general assistance in conducting research, especially for class term papers, see Steps in the Research Process (http://www.sanjuancollege.edu/Lib/ResearchProcess2.html).

An Overview of the Tutorial

1. How to Search the San Juan College Library Catalog
2. How to Search Electronic Databases
3. How to Search the Internet

Issues in Native American Research

• Information on Native Americans can be found in a variety of places and types of resources, including books, scholarly journals, newspapers, and the Internet. Scholarly research crosses many disciplines, including anthropology, history, economics, and political science. Thus, a comprehensive search strategy must utilize many different kinds of resources and strategies.

• Many of the terms used to describe Native Americans have changed over time. For example, various tribes have been called Sioux, although they prefer their own terms, such as Lakota. The Navajo are called the Dineh or Diné in their native language. Writers use the terms American Indian and Native American to describe native peoples. Most databases do not recognize accents or diacritics (as in Diné). Thus, you need to be careful about searching for "Dine" because you will get many irrelevant results about dining.

• In addition, the subject headings and descriptors assigned to books and articles are often outdated and inaccurate. For example, the Library of Congress Subject Headings, used in most library catalogs, might describe native oral traditions as "mythology," "legends," or "stories." For many native cultures, these headings are not accurate. And different catalogers apply these terms inconsistently. Thus, when searching, you must keep in mind the many ways in which your topic might be indexed or described.

• Much of the literature on Native Americans is written by non-Natives. Some of this material is accurate and reliable, but some of it is not. Many Native Americans have taken issue with scholarship that has been conducted in the past. Thus, evaluating your material is an important step in such research.

Other Resources

• Research Assistance page (http://www.sanjuancollege.edu/Lib/generalAssist.htm)

• Research Guides (http://www.sanjuancollege.edu/Lib/Pathfinders.htm)

• Navajo Subject Guide (http://www.sanjuancollege.edu/Lib/navajosubjectguide.htm)

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