LTS 200: Latina/o America: Getting Started

The value of using encyclopedias is in the beginning stages of the research process. Encyclopedias come in two varieties: general and subject.

General encyclopedias are good for quickly looking up basic facts about a topic. Wikipedia, Encyclopedia Britannica and World Book are all examples of general encyclopedias.

Subject encyclopedias are best to use when you are in the first stages of a college-level research project.  Each entry is written by a scholar in the field. The scholar aims to provide not just the basic facts on a topic, but also a sense of how these facts have been debated or interpreted over time. The sources in the bibliographies are selected specifically as next steps to consult in the research process and typically include a mix of primary and secondary sources. Subject encyclopedias provide:

• a broad overview of a topic that is more in-depth than in general encyclopedias
• Discussion of how scholars have approached, explored, and debated the topic over time (historiography)
• words, phrases, names, dates, and events that can be used as keywords when searching a database
• bibliographies in articles to find other sources (both primary and secondary)
• cross-references to find related topics

"An emerging field of study that explores the Hispanic minority in the United States, Latino Studies is enriched by an interdisciplinary perspective. Historians, sociologists, anthropologists, political scientists, demographers, linguists, as well as religion, ethnicity, and culture scholars, among others, bring a varied, multifaceted approach to the understanding of a people whose roots are all over the Americas and whose permanent home is north of the Rio Grande. Oxford Bibliographies in Latino Studies offers an authoritative, trustworthy, and up-to-date intellectual map to this ever-changing discipline."