Linguistics Research Guide

The purpose of the research guide is to introduce you to the process of literature search and familiarize you with a variety of information sources available for you at Queens College Library. This way, you will understand how to use the Library resources and will be able to apply those skills towards finding resources you will need for your assignments.

First, select a topic that is of interest to you. Try to select something manageable for a short paper and meaningful for you. If in doubt, talk to your instructor regarding a chosen topic.

Find Books
Find Journal Articles (Search Online Dstabases)
Electronic Journals (E-Journals)
Internet Resources

Prof. Inna Shpilko

Bibliographer for Department of Linguistics & Communication Disorders

Linguistics Research Guide

Find Books

As an initial step of your research, gather background information of your topic in general and/or specialized encyclopedias or dictionaries. These reference sources provide useful overviews of a topic and may include in their bibliographies resources you can further use in your paper. Then, search the CUNY online catalog or other catalogs to locate relevant books.

Encyclopedias

Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics (Ref. P29 .E48 2006, 14vols)
International Encyclopedia of Linguistics (Ref. P29 .I58 2003, 4vols)
Linguistics Encyclopedia (Ref. P29 .L52 2001)
Handbooks, Dictionaries, etc.
Atlas of the World’s Languages (Language map) (Ref. G1046 .E3 A8 2007)
Bilingual First Language Acquisition (P118 .D373 2009)
Concise Oxford Dictionary of Linguistics (Ref. P29 .M34 2007)
Cambridge Handbook of Linguistic Code-switching (P115.3 .C36 2009)
Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics (Ref. P29 .C65 1997)
Handbook of English Linguistics (PE1106 .A27 2006)
Handbook of Bilingualism (P115 .H365 2004)
Handbook of Multilingualism and Multilingual Communication (P115 .H366 2009)
Oxford English Dictionary (OED)
Oxford Reference Online Premium

Find Books

The CUNY Catalog: Search for books and other materials at the Queens College Libraries, as well as other CUNY libraries.
Other Library Catalogs: Search the library catalogs of regional libraries such as the Queens Library, Brooklyn Public Library, New York University, Columbia University, etc.
WorldCat: Search for books in the national catalog for the United States and Canada. This database includes holdings from libraries in other parts of the world, primarily European or English-speaking.

Find Journal Articles (Search Online Database)

Search online databases or periodical indexes to identify journal articles you want to read. Bibliographic databases provide abstracts and citations for the scholarly literature in the field. Sometimes, searching one database is not enough. Search multiple databases to obtain the most comprehensive information. You can find bibliographic citations to books and journal articles, as well as full text of some documents.

Most of the databases listed below are available for Queens College faculty and students through the library subscriptions and could be found on the QC Libraries Home page.

Academic Search Complete: Comprehensive source for scholarly journals in all academic disciplines. More than 8,000 publications are indexed, and full text is provided for 4500. Most are peer-reviewed. Searchable cited reference sources are provided for selected titles.
ERIC (Educational Resource Information Center): Education, educational technology
HRAF World Cultures (Human Relations Area Files: World Cultures): Ethnographic texts from books, articles, dissertations, reports. Covers many cultures and ethnic groups for cross-cultural or comparative study in cultural anthropology. Text is searchable by culture, concept, and keyword; includes tutorials.
JSTOR: 500+ core journals in the arts, humanities, social sciences, and sciences. Cover-to-cover full-text from a journal's first issue until about five years ago.
Linguistics & Language Behavior Abstracts: Covers all fields of linguistics, including descriptive, historical, comparative, theoretical and geographical linguistics. Includes all aspects of the study of Language, including phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, and semantics.
Literature Resource Center: Extensive introductory material for the study of literary works, including authors' biographies, reviews, work overviews, bibliographies, and links to selected Web resources. Includes full-text material from Twayne's Authors Series, the Dictionary of Literary Biography, and other literary reference sources. NOTE: Alternative access is available at Gale Databases.
MLA (Modern Language Association) International Bibliography: The most scholarly and comprehensive database for articles and books on the modern languages, literatures, folklore, and linguistics. More than 66,000 citations are added annually. NOTE: Alternative access is available at Gale Databases.
Project MUSE: Provides full text access, with abstracts, to articles and reviews from over 200 journals from university presses and scholarly societies. Wide coverage within the humanities and social sciences.
Science Direct (Elsevier): Access to current and retrospective bibliographic information, author abstracts, and cited references from the leading scholarly science and technical journals in more than 150 disciplines.
Social Science Citation Index/Web of Science: Citations from thousands of scholarly journals in the social sciences. Tracks cited references to determine what journal articles cite or reference other journal articles.
SocINDEX with Full Text: Abstracts to English-language journal and magazine articles, conference papers, book chapters and book reviews. For topics such as demography, family, gender, and social work.

Electronic Journals (E-Journals)

This is the list of selected electronic journals (E-Journals) related to the field of communication disorders. Use Find E-Journals on the QC Libraries Home page to find more online journals available through the Library.

Internet Resources

Government Resources

Associations, Societies and Organizations

Universities and Colleges

Language Resource Center, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY
Language Dictionaries Online: A Guide; Cornell University, Ithaca, NY
Department of Linguistics & Communication Disorders at Queens College, City University of New York (CUNY)
Language Acquisition Resource Center; San Diego State University, San Diego, CA
Linguistics Research Guide & Mina Rees Library; Graduate Center, CUNY