The address for this Web page is:  http://www.cos.edu/library/humanservices.htm

Where to Begin

Reference Sources - Biographical and history information is available from a number of Reference sources in the Library. The sources below are a combination of biographical and subject encyclopedic sources that are an excellent place to begin your research. Always start by looking your person or topic term up in the index, if it exists, located at the back of a single volume or the last volume of a multi volume set.   This will tell you all the volumes and page numbers that information about your person or topic is located. An **  in front of the sources listed  below indicates you might want to refer to them first.

Biographical Sources

Reference Books

• **American Women's History:  An A to Z of People, Organizations, Issues, and Events - Call # R 305.4 W362
• Current Biography: 1940 to the present  - Call # R 920.C976
  This source is particularly strong as it covers people in the news and in a very wide range of professions . Examples: actors, activists, people in politics, corporate leaders, writers, singers, sports figures, scientists and more. This is a great place to begin browsing if you haven't chosen the person for your topic. 
• **Encyclopedia of American Social History - Call # R 301.0973 En56 (3 volume set)
   Includes essays on the major issues that have dominated social history in the United States to include groups, people and movements  involved in social change.
• Encyclopedia of Civil Rights in America - Call # 323.1 En56 (3 volume set)
• **Encyclopedia of Social Work - Call # R 360 En56  (3 volume set)
  Starting on page 2569 of the 3rd volume is a Biographies section covering people who have made important and outstanding contributions to the social work profession.
• Encyclopedia of Sociology - Call # R 301.03 E56  (5 volume set)
• Feminist Chronicles 1953-1993 - Call # R 305.42 C 257
• Great Lives from History: American Series Call # R 920.073
• McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of World Biography Call # R 920.02 M147
  This source is excellent for famous/infamous people from the past to the 1992. They chose people whose achievements are important to our understanding of social and cultural history.
• Women's Rights on Trial; 101 Historic Trials from Ann Hutchinson the Virginia Military Institute Cadets - Call # R 346.7301

Internet Sources

• COS Library Guides: Biography - A guide to some of the biographies, autobiographies and memoirs located in the COS Library book collection.
• COS Library Internet by Subject:  Biography - Provides links to bibliographic material on the Web.

 Resources for Ethnic Groups

Hispanic-Americans

Encyclopedias

• Dictionary of Hispanic Biography R 920.046 D554
• The Latino Encyclopedia R 973.0468
• Notable Hispanic American Women R 920.72 N899

Internet Sources

• COS Library Guides: Ethnic Studies -  Hispanic/Latin American

African-Americans

Encyclopedias

• African/American Culture and History Call # R 973 En56
• The African-American Encyclopedia  - Call # - R 973 A25
• African-American Writers - Call # - R 810.9 A512
• Afro-American Encyclopedia - Call # R 917.306 A258
• Black Women in America  - Call # - R 920.72 B627
• International Library of Afro-American Life and History - Call # 917.306 In61
• Modern African-American Women Writers- Call # - R 810.9 M689

Internet Sources

• COS Library Guides:  Ethnics Studies - African American

History and Social Issues/Movement Sources

Reference Books

• American Decades  - Call # R 973.2 A512 (10 volume set)
  Each volume covers a decade starting in 1900 to 1989.  Describes the political, social and cultural events of each decade.
• The Citizen Action Encyclopedia:  Groups and Movements That Have Changed America - Call # 322.4 H196
• Day by Day - Call # R 909.824 L581 (multiple volumes)
  Covers each decade starting in the Forties
• A Dictionary of American Social Reform - Call # R 303 F485 
• **Encyclopedia of American Social History - Call # R 301.0973 En56 (3 volume set)
   Includes essays on the major issues that have dominated social history in the United States to include groups, people and movements  involved in social change.
• Encyclopedia of Civil Rights in America - Call # R 323.1 En56 (3 volume set)
• Encyclopedia of Student and Youth Movements - Call # R 371.81 B954
• Great Contemporary Issues Series - Call # R 909.82 G786 (25 volume set)
  Each volume is devoted to a single social issue such as:  the family, medicine and health care, and values Americans live by.
• Great Events:  The Twentieth Century - Call # R 909.82 G786 ( 10 volume set)
  Offers 472 articles, arranged in chronological order from 1900 to 1992, covering major turning points in the history of international events. The types of events covered scrutinize the major historical, political, economic, and social movements  of the twentieth century
• West's Encyclopedia of American Law - Call # R 348.73 W516 ( 12 volume set)
  This encyclopedia is devoted to terms, concepts, events, movements, cases and persons significant to U.S. law.
• Racial Violence on Trial; a Handbook With Cases, Laws, and Documents -
  Call # R 345.73025 W167
• Women's Rights on Trial; 101 Historic Trials from Ann Hutchinson the Virginia Military Institute Cadets - Call # R 346.7301

Internet Sources

• Almanac of Policy Issues:  Social Welfare- This collection of links covers U.S. public policy in the areas of criminal justice, culture and society, economics, education, the environment, government, health, social welfare, foreign affairs, and national security. The site also archives policy documents dating back to 2000 in those same areas. From "an independent public service not affiliated with any particular issue or cause."
• History of Social Security - "We present here both the institutional history of the Social Security Administration and the history of the Social Security program itself." Features presidential statements, a historical chronology of social insurance, audio clips of Lyndon Johnson's and John F. Kennedy's telephone conversations, oral histories, speech transcripts, legislative history, video clips, puzzles and quizzes, and other documents and research materials. From the Social Security Administration (SSA). Note: some of the audio files do not play.
• Social Movements and Culture - This site provides a space for the study of social movements in the US, including those movements as linked to transnational and global movements. Emphasis is on recent and contemporary movements, but also aim to provide materials on earlier movements.  The sites' developers seek to bring together the best insights of sociology, political science, anthropology, history, cultural studies, American studies, ethnic studies, women's studies, and other fields of social movement analysis, as well as the insights of movement activists inside and outside of academia.

How to find books

COS Online Book Catalog:     Do not hesitate to ask for help with the catalog. It can be tricky.

There is more than one to find biographies and/or autobiographies on the catalog. These are two of the easiest ways.
1. If you know the person you are researching.  At the Online Catalog choose Browse by Subject, at the search box type in the last name of the person you are researching (example: Parks, Rosa or Chavez, Cesar). A list of books will come up that are about that person. Not all of them will be biographies. Check the subject headings by choosing Complete View. 
2. If you know the subject you are interested in but not the person. At the online catalog choose Search. In the search box type in the subject you are interested in and the word biography (example: basketball and biography). If we own any, the catalog should come up with a list of biographies in that subject area. 

COS Library Guides: Biography -An annotated guide to some of the biographies, autobiographies and memoirs, with call numbers, located in the COS Library book collection.

How to find Periodicals - Magazine and newspaper articles

The COS Library subscribes to over 450 periodicals, newspapers and indexes that are located in the Periodicals Room.  These alphabetical and subject web pages list what the library currently subscribes to.  In addition the library subscribes to several  full-text periodical databases listed on our Electronic Resources Web Page.  These databases can be accessed on campus through the COS Library Web Site and at home.  To access from home each database requires a login and password that you can obtain by picking up the Electronic Resources Handout at the library information desk or by calling the library at 730-3824. 

Below is an example of useful Subject Headings to use while searching our book and periodical databases

Afro--Americans--Biography.; Child Welfare; Dissenters; Dissenters--United States--Biography; Feminists --United States -Biography; Hispanic Americans --Biography; Radicalism; Social Change; Social Movements; Social Problems; Social Reformers--United States; Social Reformers--United States-- Biography; Suffrage -- United States; Suffragists; United States--Social Conditions; Women Social Reformers; Women's Rights

HOW TO CITE YOUR SOURCES

• Citing References in Your Paper (UW Madison Writing Center)
• Schwartz' Guide to Citation Styles

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This page was last updated: March 03, 2008
For questions and comments, please mail to: connief@cos.edu