The Great Migration Research Guide

Welcome to the Great Migration Research Guide

Upcoming Event!

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Isabel Wilkerson - Tuesday, April 15, 2014 starting at 7:30 PM - 9:30 PM at the MAC

Hear Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and New York Times “Top Ten Book of the Year” bestselling author Isabel Wilkerson, who has spent 15 years interviewing more than 1,200 people to write the current “One Book One Chicago” selection: The Warmth of Other Suns. This epic work of narrative nonfiction tells the story of three people who made the decision of their lives in what came to be known as the Great Migration. MAC Performance Hall. Tickets: $10 adult/$8 senior/$6 youth. For more information, call the MAC Box Office at (630) 942-4000, or purchase tickets online.

Great Migration Resources

Many books on the Great Migration that are available for checkout are located in the display cabinet located on the first floor of the Library. Ask a staff member for assistance - we're happy to help you!

Click on a tab below to find books, articles, primary sources and websites for use in studying the Great Migration.

If you need additional help, please contact the History Librarian or stop by the Reference Desk. You can also get help from our online reference service: Ask A Librarian.

 

  1. Books
  2. Databases
  3. Websites

Finding Books

Use the COD Library's book catalog to find books & videos. Click on the "keyword" tab to search using multiple search terms and limit your results by material type (book, video), date, or language. You'll need a current library card to check out books.

E-book Collections
Most books in these collections can also be located and accessed by searching in the Library's book catalog.

  • ebrary
  • Collection contains many Great Migration-related books. In the search box, type in "great migration" Many e-books can be viewed from your computer or downloaded to your e-book reader. You need to create an account to download e-books to your device.

  • Humanities (ACLS) E-book Collection
  • This collection contains several books that pertain to the Great Migration. Begin your search by typing in the phrase "Great Migration" in the search box. Pages from this collection can be printed and emailed.

    Reference Works

    Reference works, such as dictionaries and encyclopedias are useful for learning about background information on the Great Migration.

    Please note that print reference books may be used while in the library only. Online reference books may be accessed from any on or off-campus computer. You'll need a library card to access online books and articles from off-campus.
    Click on the links below to access the online book/website or record/description of the print book.

    Encyclopedias

    Databases

    The Library subscribes to many databases that provide access to thousands of popular and credible, scholarly journals. Many databases provide access to full-text articles, while some provide information about the article only (citation). Request (for free!) through Interlibrary Loan copies of articles to which the Library doesn't have full-text access.

    Databases are organized collections of information that you can search on a variety of fields, like title and author's name. iTunes is a database and so is Amazon. Even your contacts list in your phone is a type of mini database. The Library has databases of articles from newspapers, magazines and journals. We also have databases of streaming videos, music and e-books. The difference between our databases and iTunes or Amazon is that our stuff is free for you to use. You can browse the library's databases here: http://www.cod.edu/library/resources/subjectdb/

     

    Databases - Best Bets

    • History Study Center
      Find Journal articles, reference materials and multimedia presentations on the Great Migration. Copy and paste into the search box the following text to retrieve information specific to the Great Migration: "Great Migration" AND ("African american" OR Negro OR black)

    • JSTOR
    • Click here to run a search for articles specific to the Great Migration in JSTOR.
      JSTOR is an excellent source for credible scholarly, peer-reviewed articles and book reviews. Articles in database were published between the early 1700s and between 1-5 years ago.

    • Project MUSE
      Project MUSE offers full-text current and archival articles from 500+ scholarly journals from major university presses covering literature and criticism, history, performing arts, cultural studies, education, philosophy, political science, gender studies, and more. Updated continually.
      To search in Project MUSE, click on the Advanced Search screen, and try using the following search as shown in the image below:
      PM GM.jpg

    Websites

    Who can publish on the Internet? Anyone.

    You may find a website by doing a web search or through a recommendation of another student. Before you use a website for your assignment, you should evaluate the webpage for credibility, reliability, authority and purpose. Check out the CRAP Test for more information on evaluating websites.

    The following websites have been evaluated for their credibility.