Skip to Main Content

Native American Studies Research Guide

Welcome

Welcome to the Native American Studies Research Guide. This research guide is designed to introduce researchers to the resources available on  Native American Studies with a geographic focus on North America, including books, articles, and primary sources. This guide does not include all of the materials on Native American Studies, but is intended to provide a starting point for research.

Click on the tabs to view examples of the various resources available.

                                Karankawa Indians

Depiction of a Karankawa settlement along the Texas Gulf Coast. Bullock Texas State History Museum

Starting Your Research

The first step is to choose a topic. We recommend you consider the following:

  1. What topic are you interested in?
  2. If your topic was set by the instructor, what does your instructor want you to learn by doing the research?

Once the topic is selected, you should:

  1. Do a preliminary search for background information on the topic using a reference source, such as Credo Reference (Credo).
  2. Take note of significant people, places, events, etc. Consider why your topic is important to learn about today.
  3. Narrow your topic. Focus on the aspects that the paper will discuss.
  4. Create initial thesis statement.
  5. Search for scholarly articles (recently published academic research) that support your thesis. You can find them using library databases like Academic Search Complete (EBSCO) or JSTOR Arts & Sciences I-XV (JSTOR). 

Acknowledgment

This guide was created in consultation with the Diversity and Dialogue Working Group in 2018.