Tips to Develop a Research Question for Latin American and Iberan Studies Assignments
Things to consider when searching for Latin American and Iberian Studies topics:
- Determine which region, country, or city you want to focus your research on
- Determine if you want to compare regions or countries
- Consider searching in Spanish or Portuguese to expand your search results
- Develop a research question from the subject area that you want to use to understand the region or country you selected, e.g. Political Sciences; Human Rights; Women's Studies, History
- Create a list of synonyms on your topic: You can use your syllabus or textbook to find some preliminary keywords. Pay attention to what phrases scholars used to describe the topic you are interested in. Research terminology change through time. Use those terms when searching any of our multidisciplinary or subject-specific databases, or you can search directly into journals that specialize in Latin American and Iberian Studies
Be aware that current topics (less than two years old) will have fewer academic, scholarly articles than older topics. If you want to find the most recent information about your topic, especially if it is connected with a real event such as social protests, natural and man-made disasters, human rights violations, etc. check any of our newspapers' databases.
- ProQuest News and Newspapers Databases This link opens in a new windowPortal to all our newspapers subscriptions both current and historical newspapers such as Chicago Defender, Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times, New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, a collection of Civil War newspapers. Also available are GenderWatch and Ethnic NewsWatch.
Background Research
If you are new to Latin American and Iberian Studies, do some background research first!! It will help you develop a better research question.
Here are some recommended titles:
- NACLA Report on the Americas
The NACLA Report on the Americas is the oldest and most widely read progressive journal covering Latin America and its relationship with the United States. This is an excellent journal to learn about current issues happening in Latin America & the Caribbean as well as to explore the reporting of historical events since 1967. - Encyclopedia of Latin American History and CultureProvides a comprehensive, multidisciplinary view of Latin American history and culture from prehistoric times to the present. Covers cultural issues and includes numerous biographical profiles of important figures in politics, letters and the arts.
- Oxford Bibliographies in Latin American Studies This link opens in a new windowThis databases offers articles that focus specifically on Latin American Studies, which covers a vast range of disciplinary perspectives, including history, sociology, economics, anthropology, and political science. The resources also covers indigenous people from the Americas. The articles also include a bibliography that you can use to learn more about any given topic.
- Oxford Bibliographies in Atlantic History This link opens in a new windowAtlantic studies the interactions between the peoples and cultures on four continents (Africa, Europe, North America and South America) and many islands from the Canary Islands near Africa to the Caribbean islands and to Bermuda in the North Atlantic. Time period: between Columbus’ voyages to the New World in the late fifteenth century and the end of slavery in the Americas in the late nineteenth century.
- Empire Online This link opens in a new windowA collection of original documents relating to Empire Studies from 1492 - 2007. You can explore documentation about the Spanish and Portuguese empire in the Americas and Asia.