Drew University Library

Research Guide:  Russian 199
Spring 2004
 
 
 

Locating Background Information:
Most of the print sources also provide selective bibliographies of recommended works at the ends of the articles.

Modern encyclopedia of Russian and Soviet history, 1976-88.
Reference 947.003 M689m
Overviews of events and issues in Russian history, with recommended sources.

Modern encyclopedia of Russian, Soviet and Eurasian History, 1994 -
Reference 947.003 M689m
The first few (very few) volumes of an updated MERSH.

REESWeb (http://www.ucis.pitt.edu/reesweb/)
A useful starting point for background.

Voice of the Shuttle:  Web Page for Humanities Research (http://vos.ucsb.edu/)
One of the best directories to selected public web resources in history.

Encyclopedia of the Ukraine, 1993
Reference 947.71003 E61eE
Overview articles, with selective bibliographies.

Locating Primary Material:
To find primary sources -- newspapers, historical documents, etc. -- you will need to check several sources. For historical material, start with the Drew Library Catalog, and try a keyword search, with the addition of and su sources: stalin and su sources. Or search your topic, and limit by publication date.

World News Connection,1994 -
Accessible only within the library (a librarian must enter a password), this provides transcripts of radio broadcasts in countries around the world. Searches can be limited by date and source.

WorldCat
The combined catalogs of thousands of libraries, both in the US and abroad.  Not only does it identify books that might be of use, you can determine how many libraries hold them (which helps you decide on the odds of being able to retrieve them through Inter-Library Loan). Use the same search terms that you use in the Drew Catalog.

Lexis/Nexis
A full-text database with a strong emphasis on current affairs.  Covers mostly the last decade. Alas, its foreign-language material does not include Russian.

Russian Internet Sources (http://www.bl.uk/collections/easteuropean/russlink.html)
A collection of  sites selected by the British Library, including a set of links to various Russian online newspapers and journals.

Russian, East European and Central Asian Collections: Russian online newspapers and journals (http://www.wisc.edu/creeca/reeca/online/rusnew.html)
Also explore "Regional Links" from this site.

Locating Secondary Material:
Check the Drew Library Catalog, as well as World Cat, for books on your topic. Think broadly here, searching for background on, say, the Russian press, rather than on the coverage of a specific event. Also consult:

Historical Abstracts, 1964 - present.
Indexes and describes articles, book reviews, essays and dissertations on non-North American history since 1450.
(If you're looking for information on historical US-Russian relations, use the sister index,  America: History and Life.)

ABSEES Online, 1990 - present
The electronic version of the American Bibliography of Slavic and East European Studies, which indexes journal articles, books, government documents and dissertations on East-Central Europe and the former Soviet Union published in North America.

EconLit, 1963 - present.
Indexes journal articles in economics, with a decent backfile.

ISI Social Sciences Search, 1980 - present.
This index includes the tracing of the journal articles in which an item is cited, providing a rough subject approach to very recent literature. Consult a reference librarian.

Questions?
Call me at 3481 or email me at jcaldwel@drew.edu
 

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