Background Information
The first page in this guide is Background Information. You may be asking yourself why you'd take the time to look through some background information that you aren't going to cite in your paper. Here's why - if you take 15-20 minutes to do some background research before you start looking for your sources, you'll be able to find things faster and more efficiently. How? By reading a broad overview of your topic before you start, you pick up on keywords, names, and ideas that you are going to see in your scholarly research. By taking some time to read about it in a more simplified and broad manner than most research articles are, you can quickly pick up on what it important to your topic and help narrow or broaden your research question.
While you are reading through the background jot down ideas of keywords to search for in the databases, as well as key names, places, etc. on a text document on your computer so you can refer to it later.
Encyclopedias and Other Reference Works
Encyclopedias and dictionaries can provide background information and can be used to identify key people, events and dates which can then be used as search terms for finding additional information. Many also provide a jumpstart on your research by listing related readings. This is a selection of Asian history-related encyclopedias and reference works, for others please search the library catalog or ask a reference librarian.
The Cambridge Encyclopedia of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan and the Maldives
This book offers for the first time a comprehensive study of South Asia in one volume, analyzing not only the riches of the past but also the problems & achievements of the present, placing them where appropriate in their global context. The South Asian region, which comprises the present day states of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan, & the Maldives, has long been significant in world affairs. Today more than one out of every five members of the human race lives in the region, & each month their absolute number increases by well over a million. This fifth of mankind embraces enormous diversity: every level of human development from stone-age tribesman to Nobel prizewinner; many levels of wealth from mass poverty to comfortable middle class consumerism; the believers of seven major religions; the bearers of three racial strains; & the speakers of languages in two major families with India alone acknowledging fourteen official languages & 1,652 mother tongues. The international team of contributors presents the world of South Asia in an accessible & enjoyable form, which will appeal to both specialists & general readers. The Encyclopedia is richly illustrated with many photographs, maps, & tables closely interwoven with the text.
Call Number: DS334.9.C36 1989ISBN: 0521334519
Chronicle of the Chinese Emperors : the reign-by-reign record of the rulers of Imperial China
Spanning over 2000 years, from the great First Emperor, buried with his terracotta army in the 3rd Century BC, to the last emperor, enthroned in the Forbidden City in 1911, this book details the lives and personalities of all 157 Chinese emperors. Weathering centuries of violent change, the Chinese emperor remained at the centre of the largest political unit in the world, the Middle Kingdom.
Call Number: DS734.P285 1998ISBN: 0500050902
Encyclopedia of Modern Asia
This encyclopedia is an overview of American law covering historical and modern terms, concepts, events, movements, cases and persons significant to US law. Entries range from brief definitions of legal jargon to examinations of courtroom procedure, from explanations of complex topics such as civil rights to biographies of standout attorneys, from analyses of controversial issues such as gun control to transcripts of crucial Supreme Court decisions.
Call Number: DS4.E53 2002ISBN: 0684806177
Historical Dictionary of Revolutionary China, 1839-1976 by
An important contribution to the reference literature on China, this historical dictionary covers the entire revolutionary period in China. Although existing biographical dictionaries focus on the twentieth century, the Chinese revolutionary movements began in the early nineteenth century. China's defeat in the Opium War (1839-1842) set the conditions for the rise of revolutionary movements, the first being the Taiping Christian Revolution of 1851-1864. Sun Yat-sen's Republican Revolution began in the late nineteenth century and was followed by the Communist Revolution during the second half of the twentieth century. With the Socialist transformation under Mao Tse-tung, the Chinese entered another revolutionary stage. The death of Mao and the end of the Cultural Revolution in 1976 conclude the time period covered in this dictionary. The entries in this volume provide concise accounts and profiles of the people, events, ideas, and other factors that played a role throughout the revolutionary period including sources of additional information. The Dictionary also includes a general bibliography and chronology that provides an overview of the period covered. Cross-references and a full subject index provide access to the material.
Call Number: DS740.2.H57 1992ISBN: 0313264570
