UCB Libraries

Once you have determined a topic, issue or subject of interest, you will need to focus the topic into a researchable question. Some tips for doing so are:

• Brainstorm about your topic. Identify related issues, people, events etc.
• List what you already know about your topic, and what you need to know or want to know.
• Determine what perspective will you take on your topic.
• Deternine the geographic region on which you will focus.
• Choose a specific time period.

Often doing some preliminary reading or background research is extremely helpful in developing a focus. Move to the next step 'Getting Background Info' for some tips.

Developing a comprehensive understanding of your topic is essential when embarking on research. One way to gain background information is to utilize reference sources. This will help you to focus and concentrate your interest in a researchable portion of your topic. For help developing background information:

Literature of Latin America CU

Encyclopedia of Latin American History and Culture CU

 

Dictionary of Portuguese-African civilization

DT352.4 .N86 1995

 

Portuguese language and Luso-Brazilian literature : an annotated guide to selected reference works

Z2725.A2 C45 1989

 

Encyclopedia of Latin American and Caribbean literature, 1900-2003. (2004)
PQ7081.A1 E558 2004 (Ojo! Location = Norlin Stacks)

 

Concise Encyclopedia of Latin American Literature. 2000
REF PQ7081 .A1 E56

 

Diccionario enciclopédico de las letras de América Latina. 1995 (3 volumes)
REF PQ7081 .D515 1995

 

Diccionario de autores latinoamericanos. 2001
REF PQ7081.3 .A37 2001

 

African, Caribbean, and Latin-American writers. 2000
PL8010 .A33 2000

 

Latin American Writers. 1989. (3 volumes)
REF PQ7081 .A1 L37

 

Dictionary of the literature of the Iberian peninsula

PN849.S6 D54 1993

 

Dicionário de literature : literatura portuguesa, literatura brasileira, literatura galega, estílistica literária

PQ9006 .C65 1979

Before you start to research a topic, you need to develop keywords that represent your research interest, question, or inquiry.

 

Keywords are significant words (usually nouns or noun phrases) which can be used as search terms in online catalogs or databases. Keywords will determine the quantity and relevance of results you retrieve when searching.

 

First you will identify and articulate your topic in your own words:

Example: I am interested in investigating the representation of feminism in Portuguese literature

Next you will designate the main concepts or ideas that describe the topic:

 

 

Then develop other terms and vocabulary that represent the topic. Some terms may be broader, narrower, or synonyms. Adding terms that represent geographical distinctions, time periods, or significant figures about your topic may also be useful.

 

It's important to think of alternate words to describe your topic; either synonyms, or broader and narrower terms. This will ensure that you can find a wide range of results.

 

Everyday Example

 

Synonyms: NFL, American football, Friday Night Lights   Narrower Terms: Quarterback, Denver Broncos   Broader Terms: College Sports, Team sports, Ball game

 

Research Paper Example

 

Books

To find books by an author do an AUTHOR search in Chinook.

 

To find books about an author or an author's work, do a KEYWORD search in Chinook and type in the author's name.

 

Search WorldCat to see what other libraries hold, and request material through Prospector or Inter-Library Loan.

 

Or do a SUBJECT search in Chinook to browse the subjects in the catalog:

Use and Adapt these Subject Keywords

Biography (eg Saramago Biography)

Authors, Brazilian

Authors, Portuguese -- 20th century -- Biography

Articles 

To find articles about authors and/or their work, try:

CU Biography and genealogy master index

CU Contemporary authors

CU Columbia Granger's world of poetry

CU Dictionary of literary biography

CU Oxford reference online : premium collection

 

Brasiliana Eletrônica

 

CU = Available to CU affiliates only.
How to connect from home: Remote access information.

Also see:

Latin American Mystery Writers: An A-Z guide. 2004
PQ7082.N7 L352 2004

 

Latin American Science Fiction Writers: An A-Z guide. 2004
PQ7082.S34 L38 2004

 

Diccionario de autores latinoamericanos. 2001
PQ7081.3 .A37 2001

 

African, Caribbean, and Latin-American writers. 2000
PL8010 .A33 2000

 

Latin American Writers. 1989. (3 volumes)
PQ7081 .A1 L37

Books

To find books about a novel, do a KEYWORD search in Chinook under the author's name and under the title of the work (use both).E.g. Saramago and Caverna

 

Once you find a record that looks useful you can search by the subject heading to find similar works, or physically browse the stacks around the call number.

 

Search WorldCat to see what other libraries hold, and request material through Prospector or Inter-Library Loan.

 

To find more specific material do a SUBJECT search in Chinook to find relevant subject headings:

 

Use and Adapt these Subject Keywords

Portuguese literature -- History and criticism

Portuguese literature -- Women authors Â

Portuguese Literature 20th Century History And Criticism

 

Articles 

To find critical journal articles about a novel, try the following databases. Look under the title of the work, as well as under the author's name.

 

Start Here: MLA international bibliography

 

Also:

CU Contemporary literary criticism

CU Hapi: Hispanic American periodicals index

CU JSTOR

CU Literature Online

CU Project Muse

 

CU = Available to CU affiliates only.
How to connect from home: Remote access information.

Books

Books about a specific poem generally are not found in the Library. However, sections of books which provide a critical discussion of an author's overall work may discuss a specific poem.

 

Do a KEYWORD search in Chinook under the author's name or the title of the anthology in which the poem is found

eg A Mensagem

to find where those books are in the Library. Go to that area and look in each book's 'Index' under that specific Poem's title.

 

Search WorldCat to see what other libraries hold, and request material through Prospector or Inter-Library Loan.

 

To find more specific material do a SUBJECT search in Chinook to find relevant subject headings

 

Use and Adapt these Subject Keywords

Portuguese poetry -- Classical period, 1500-1700

Portuguese Poetry History And Criticism

Epic Poetry Spanish

 

Articles 

To find articles about a poem, search in the following databases. Use the title of the work to see if there are specific references. Using the author's name may retrieve general critical discussion about an author's poetic work.

 

Start Here: MLA international bibliography

 

Also:

CU Columbia Granger's world of poetry

CU Hapi: Hispanic American periodicals index

CU JSTOR

CU Literature Online

CU Project Muse

 

CU = Available to CU affiliates only.
How to connect from home: Remote access information

Books

To find books about a play, do a KEYWORD search in Chinook using the name of the director or do a TITLE search using the play's title.

 

To find a copy of the play, do a TITLE search in Chinook.

 

Search WorldCat to see what other libraries hold, and request material through Prospector or Inter-Library Loan.

 

To find more specific material do a SUBJECT search in Chinook to find relevant subject headings:

 

Use and adapt these subject keywords

Feminist Theater

Theat* (*replaces up to 5 characters-eg retrieve theater/theatre)

Theater Latin America

Articles

To find articles or reviews about a play or director, use the following databases:

CU Hapi: Hispanic American periodicals index

CU International Index to the Performing Arts

CU JSTOR

CU MLA international bibliography

 

CU = Available to CU affiliates only.
How to connect from home: Remote access information.

 

Also see Theater and Dance Subject Guide

Books

To find books about a film, do a KEYWORD search in Chinook using the name of the director or do a TITLE search using the film's title.

 

To find a copy of the film, do a TITLE search in Chinook.

 

Search WorldCat to see what other libraries hold, and request material through Prospector or Inter-Library Loan.

 

To find more specific material do a SUBJECT search in Chinook to find relevant subject headings:

 

 

Articles

To find articles or reviews about a film or director, use the following databases:

 

CU Hapi: Hispanic American periodicals index

CU MLA international bibliography

CU Film and Television Index

CU LexisNexis Academic

 

CU = Available to CU affiliates only.
How to connect from home: Remote access information.

 

Also see Film Studies Subject Guide

Johns Hopkins Guide to Literary Theory & Criticism Online [CU]

The Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms [CU]

 

Routledge Encyclopedia of Narrative Theory
PN212 .R68 2005

 

Introducing literary theories : a guide and glossary
PN81 .I62 2001

 

The Norton anthology of theory and criticism
PN86 .N67 2001

 

Studying literature : the essential companion
PN59 .G67 2001

 

Twentieth-century literary movements dictionary : a compendium to more than 500 literary, critical, and theatrical movements, schools, and groups from more than 80 nations, covering the novelists, poets, short-story writers, dramatists, essayists, theorists, and works, genres, techniques, and terms associated with each movement
PN597 .T94 2000

 

The Bedford glossary of critical and literary terms
PN41 .M874 1997

 

Texts and contexts : writing about literature with critical theory PE1479.C7 L96 1994

Dictionaries and Encyclopedias

 

Encyclopedia of Latin American and Caribbean literature, 1900-2003. (2004)
PQ7081.A1 E558 2004 (Ojo! Location = Norlin Stacks)

 

Concise Encyclopedia of Latin American Literature. 2000
PQ7081 .A1 E56

 

Diccionario enciclopédico de las letras de América Latina. 1995 (3 volumes)
PQ7081 .D515 1995

 

Dictionary of the Literature of the Iberian Peninsula. 1993 (2 volumes)
PN8495 .S6D54

History and Criticism

Cambridge History of Latin American Literature. Spanish. 2006 (2 vols.)
Historia de la literatura hispanoamericana / Roberto González Echevarría y Enrique Pupo-Walker, eds.
PQ7081.A1 C3517 2006

 

Literary cultures of Latin America : a comparative history. 2004. (3 volumes) PQ7081.A1 L525 2004

 

Twayne companion to contemporary world literature (2 vols)
PN771 .T93 2003

 

Cambridge History of Latin American Literature. 1996. (3 volumes)
PQ7081 .A1 C35

CU = Available to CU affiliates only.
How to connect from home: Remote access information.

 

Web Resources

Critical theory

Textual criticism

The following subclasses of the Library of Congress Classification Outline allow more precise browsing of the library's collection of the languages and literatures of Iberia and Latin America.

PC Romanic Languages

Portuguese Philology, PC5001-5041

Portuguese Language, PC5043-5498

PQ Portuguese Literature, PQ9000-9999

Portugal, PQ9000-9499

Brazil, PQ9500-9698.36

PQ 7081-8560 Literature of Spanish America

South America, PQ7551-

Brazil, PQ7880-

From CU

Online PDFs: Search for a CU Thesis/Dissertation (1997-present)

ProQuest Dissertations and Theses CU
The full text of dissertations produced at any campus of the University of Colorado system from 1997 to the present are available here as free PDF downloads. To initiate the free download, click on the "Full Text - PDF" link that appears underneath the citation and abstract information of the dissertation you'd like to see.

Print copies: Search for a CU Thesis/Dissertation using the Chinook Library Catalog

 

• The catalog treats theses and dissertations like books. Search by author, title, or keyword.
• In Chinook, the term THESIS denotes both Masters' theses and dissertations.
• The call number for CU Boulder theses and dissertations begin with the letter "T," followed by the year of the thesis and then a code matching the author's last name.

 

From Other Institutions

 

Search for Theses and Dissertations Produced at Other Schools

 

• ProQuest Dissertations and Theses
  Provides abstracts of dissertations and some master's theses from the United States, Canada, Great Britain and, to a lesser and more selective extent, other countries. CU
• ABI/Inform Global
  This database contains the full-text of over 10,000 dissertations in business and management. Under "publication type," select "dissertations." CU
• WorldCat
  Contains all the records cataloged by OCLC member libraries. Limit results by "subtype limits: any content" to "thesis/dissertation." CU

Borrowing Theses and Dissertations Produced at Other Schools

 

• CU Faculty, staff and students may request theses and dissertations identified through the above resources through the CU Libraries' Interlibrary Loan service.
  

Dissertations and Theses from Other Countries

Search for Theses and Dissertations Produced in Other Countries

 

• ProQuest Dissertations and Theses
  Provides abstracts of dissertations and some master's theses from the United States, Canada, Great Britain and, to a lesser and more selective extent, other countries. CU
• Center for Research Libraries: Foreign Doctoral Dissertations
  CRL's Foreign Doctoral Dissertations Database. CRL has more than 750,000 uncataloged foreign doctoral dissertations, of which approximately 20,000 are included in this database.
• Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations (NDLTD)
  An international organization dedicated to promoting the adoption, creation, use, dissemination and preservation of electronic analogues to the traditional paper-based theses and dissertations.
• PhdData (The Universal Index of Doctoral Dissertations in Progress)

  This site holds a database of doctoral dissertations in progress around the world.

• Dissertation.com

Brazil

• Biblioteca Digital de Teses e Dissertações
  Theses and Dissertations of Brazilian universities and libraries available online.

Portugal

• Iberian Studies in SALALM: Dissertations and Theses

 

Borrowing Theses and Dissertations Produced in Other Countries

 

• CU Faculty, staff and students may request theses and dissertations identified through these resources through the CU Libraries' Interlibrary Loan service.

 

Reader/Printers for microforms are available in the Libraries.   Equipment includes: Microcard reader/printers Microfilm/fiche reader/printers Microfim/fiche/card digitals scanners (Research Services only) scan & email or save to flash drive or SD card Cost to make a copy: 25¢ / page: cash (coin or up to $10 bills), change dispensed 25¢ / page: Copy Cards Copy Cards: Cards may be purchased from a Copy Card Vending Station (a.k.a Jamex Card Dispenser & Re-Value Station) using a $1.00 bill; there will be no value on the card. Money may be added to the Copy Card in increments of $1.00, $5.00, $10.00 or $20.00 up to a total of $25.00. Colorful new bills may not work in these machines. Copy Card Vending Station locations: Norlin: Research & Instruction Norlin: Science Library Map Library Refunds for failed copy jobs: InkSpot Copy Center, 303-492-7878 UMC 130C, Mon-Fri 7:30am-4:30pm Maintenance, repair and technical assistance for Norlin Library's microform scanning equipment: Call Michael Riberdy (Libraries Information Technology), 303-492-2816.
Norlin Library	Beyond Norlin
2nd floor Research Center 3rd floor Government Information	Business Library Engineering Library Music Library

English-Portuguese

Collins Lexibase

 

Larousse Concise Dictionary : Portuguese-English, English-Portuguese

PC5333 .L36 2003

Collins English-Portuguese, Português-Inglês Dictionary
PC5333 .W45 2001

Portuguese-Portuguese

Aulete Digital: (Downloadable)

Dicionários Porto Editora

Michaelis: Moderno Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa

Priberam Informática - Língua Portuguesa On-Line

 

Dicionário De Dúvidas Dificuldades E Curiosidades Da Língua Portuguesa
PC5260 .S22 2005

Grande dicionário : língua portuguesa
PC5327 .G735 2004

Other

Portuguese business dictionary

HF1002 .S567 2006

 

Portuguese Language Materials in Chinook

Dicionário analógico da língua portuguesa

PC5315 .A9 1974

Dicionário Houaiss de sinônimos e antônimos

PC5315 .D53 2003

A Guide to Countries of the World [CU]
World Encyclopedia [CU]

BBC - Languages - Talk Portuguese

sonia-portuguese.com

De Tudo um Pouco

Ciberdúvidas da Língua Portuguesa

Gramática da Língua Portuguesa

Brazilian Portuguese Grammar

 

Texto E Gramática / Maria Helena De Moura Neves

P147 .N479 2006

Portuguese : An Essential Grammar

PC5067.3 .H88 1996

Spoken

BBCBrasil.com

Video

Latin American and Spanish Video on the Internet:
a Guide to Web Resources

With thanks to Jesús Alonso Regalado.

 

LANIC- Video

 

Internet Archive

Moving Image Archive

Open Source Movies Collection.

How do I find DVDs

Portuguese DVDs in Chinook 

Television

LANIC- Television

Portuguese TV Online

 

Rede Globo (Brazilian TV network)

TV Cultura (Brazilian TV network)

RTPI (Portuguese TV network)

TVI (Portuguese TV network)

Radio

LANIC-Radio

Pandora (40 free hours a month)

Zona Latina Listings of Radio Stations in Latin America

 

96FM (Brazilian FM radio station)

Rádio Ipanema(Brazilian FM radio station)

Rádio Globo (Brazilian FM radio station)

Rádio Antena 1 (Portuguese FM radio station)

Rádio Comercial (Portuguese FM radio station)

Music

Classical music library CU

The Classical Music Library contains over 50,000 tracks of streaming audio.

 

Naxos music library CU

This database contains over 200,000 music tracks in streaming audio and includes folk music, some world music, and jazz.

 

Naxos music library jazz CU

This database of streaming audio offers over 20,000 tracks from over 1,900 albums. The scope of the database covers American and European artists and labels in jazz, blues and R&B.

Talking Brazilian : a Brazilian Portuguese pronunciation workbook

PC5444 .P48 2004

ConVer: Conjugação Verbal Portuguesa

 

501 Portuguese verbs : fully conjugated in all the tenses, in a new easy-to-learn format, alphabetic

PC5145 .N52 2005

201 Portuguese verbs fully conjugated in all the tenses, alphabetically arranged.

PC5145 .N5

Academia Brasileira de Letras

 

To find digital access to magazines, do a title search in Chinook. A list of databases where you can find the newspaper will appear. 

E.g.
Noticias Financieras

from 10/28/2002 to present in Factiva

 

Most of the Library databases will not include breaking news. Try these websites for alternative Portuguese news.

 

BBC Brasil (also includes video, audio)

BBC Mundo (also includes video, audio)

EuroNews

Google Noticias (Brasil, Portugal)

Independent Media

Onlinenewspapers.com

Today's Front Pages

World Newspapers

Zona Latina: Latin American Newspapers

LANIC- Television

Portuguese TV Online

 

Rede Globo (Brazilian TV network)

TV Cultura (Brazilian TV network)

RTPI (Portuguese TV network)

TVI (Portuguese TV network)

LANIC-Radio

Pandora (40 free hours a month)

Zona Latina Listings of Radio Stations in Latin America

 

96FM (Brazilian FM radio station)

Rádio Ipanema(Brazilian FM radio station)

Rádio Globo (Brazilian FM radio station)

Rádio Antena 1 (Portuguese FM radio station)

Rádio Comercial (Portuguese FM radio station)

Directorio

Wordpress

Books

To find books about a film, do a KEYWORD search in Chinook using the name of the director or do a TITLE search using the film's title.

 

To find a copy of the film, do a TITLE search in Chinook.

 

Search WorldCat to see what other libraries hold, and request material through Prospector or Inter-Library Loan.

 

To find more specific material do a SUBJECT search in Chinook to find relevant subject headings:

 

 

Articles

To find articles or reviews about a film or director, use the following databases:

CU MLA international bibliography

CU Film and Television Index

CU Hapi: Hispanic American periodicals index (Brazil)

CU LexisNexis Academic

 

CU = Available to CU affiliates only.
How to connect from home: Remote access information.

 

Also see Film Studies Subject Guide

Books

To find books about art topics, do a KEYWORD search in Chinook

 

Once you find a record that looks useful you can search by the subject heading to find similar works, or physically browse the stacks around the call number.

 

Search WorldCat to see what other libraries hold, and request material through Prospector or Inter-Library Loan.

 

To find more specific material do a SUBJECT search in Chinook to find relevant subject headings:

 

Articles

 

To find critical journal articles about an art topic, try the following databases:

CU Art Full Text

CU ARTbibliographies Modern

CU Oxford Art Online

CU Periodicals Archive Online (PAO)

To find newspaper reviews about art, try the following databases:

CU Academic Search Premier

CU NY Times

CU Thompson Gale Databases

Also see: Research Guide for Art and Art History

 

 

Guide to Finding Primary Sources

 

Portuguese

Biblioteca Nacional de Portugal

Digitized copies of books and materials from the National Library of Portugal

Patrimonia

Digitized copies of old books housed at the National Library of Portugal

Secondary Sources

 

General

ABC-Clio eBook Collection CU

The ABC-Clio eBook Collection includes the online full text of hundreds of reference books on many subjects, including U.S. and world history, politics, government, society, education, religion, folklore, mythology, science, environment and geography.

 

Academic search premier CU

This scholarly multi-disciplinary database contains indexing for over 8,000 publications, with full text for more than 4,450 of those titles.

 

Arts & Humanities Citation Index CU

Arts & Humanities Citation Index is a multidisciplinary index covering the journal literature of the arts and humanities.

 

Historical abstracts CU

Provides indexing and abstracting for citations on the history of the world from 1450 to the present (excluding the United States).

 

Humanities full text CU

Abstracts and some full text covering diverse subject areas of the humanities.

 

JSTOR CU

Provides image and full-text online access to back issues of selected scholarly journals in history, economics, political science, demography, mathematics and other fields of the humanities and social sciences.

 

Periodicals archive online CU

Periodicals Archive Online (PAO) is an archive of hundreds of digitized journals published in the arts, humanities and social sciences.

 

Periodicals index online (ProQuest) CU

Periodicals Index Online is the new name for Periodicals Contents Index - a database of millions of article citations from over 4,500 periodicals in published in the arts, humanities and social sciences across more than 300 years

 

Poole's index to periodical literature CU

Poole's Index to Periodical Literature is the first and only systematic article level index to the subject matter of 19th century periodicals.

 

Royal Historical Society bibliography CU

Bibliography of publications relating to the history of the British Isles, and of the British empire and commonwealth, during all periods for which written documentation is available from 55 BC to the present.

 

Women's studies international CU

Database includes the latest scholarship in feminist research, including Women Studies Abstracts.

Portuguese

Hapi: Hispanic American periodicals index CU

Articles from scholarly journals and journals of academic interest about Latin and Hispanic America with links to full text where available.

 

HLAS online: Handbook of Latin American studies CU

Article and book citations about Latin America in the Humanities and Social Sciences.

 

Scielo CU

Full-text scientific and social sciences journal articles from Brazil, Chile, Cuba, Spain, and Venezuela.