Terrorism Research Guide

	Terrorism Research Guide
Reference Desk (413) 774-1509	Research Guides \| Library Home

Selected Reference Sources

Use reference sources to choose a topic, understand terminology, locate background information, and identify good search terms.

Encyclopedia of Terrorism R 303.62 K97en
Encyclopedia of World Terrorism R 303.62 E56
Historical Dictionary of Terrorism R 303.62 A549hi
The Seventies in America R 973.924 S497
The Sixties in America R 973.922 S625am
Terrorism and Global Security R 303.62
Violence in America R 303.62 V795
Free online reference sources from the Lawson Terrorism Information Center
Requires registration--after logging in, click on ebooks/journals & Gale Virtual Reference Library
Includes the following titles:
Terrorism Reference Library, Encyclopedia of Terrorism, War & Terrorism, American at War, Encyclopedia of Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity, Encyclopedia of U.S. National Security, and titles from the Lucent Library of Homeland Security and the Lucent Terrorism Library

Finding Books (and more) in the Online Catalog

Try the word “terrorism" in a keyword search
The word is used in subject headings, but the keyword search will bring up items with the word in the title and the contents note
Use the subject headings in those records to identify additional sources
Another good subject term is: bioterrorism,
Do a Boolean keyword search with the word "terrorism" and another term to narrow your search
Example: terrorism and Europe or terrorism and United States or America
Do a subject search for terrorism and browse through the subject headings noting that there are subdivisions for countries and other aspects of terrorism
Search for specific events or for significant people and groups regarding acts of terrorism
To search for items ABOUT a person, use the following subject search: last name, first name

Finding Articles in Research Databases

Issues & International Affairs Databases

CQ Researcher Plus Archive (1923-present)(full text)
Online version of a weekly periodical that provides in-depth, non-biased coverage of political and social issues--each weekly issue includes a chronology, a pro and con section, and a bibliography
Search "terrorism" as a topic
Opposing Viewpoints (full text) ( Tutorial )
Incorporates secondary sources and articles from major newspapers and news magazines to provide coverage of major issues of the day--includes statistics, government data, laws and legislation, political positions, public policies and more
Materials on terrorism
TOPICsearch (full text)
This current events database offers over 100,000 articles from newspapers and periodicals and includes biographies, public opinion polls, book reviews, pamphlets, and government information
Use the drop-down menu for Topics under Limit Your Results and choose Terrorism--then do a search in the Find window
CIAO (Columbia International Affairs Online)(full text)(1991-present)
A comprehensive source for theory and research in international affairs--includes "working papers from university research institutes, occasional papers series from NGOs, foundation-funded research projects, proceedings from conferences, books, journals and policy briefs"--also includes teaching materials and course packs of background readings for history and political science classes
Free journal articles from the Lawson Terrorism Information Center
Requires registration--after logging in, click on ebooks/journals
Then select War & Terrorism Collection

Historical Databases

History Study Center (full text)
Consists of digitized primary and secondary sources, reference sources, historical images, video clips, and links to reliable web sites
In the Study Units, use “terrorism” as your search term or
Use the Advanced Search to search for a specific person or event
SIRS Decades (full text)
Contains primary sources from the 20th century and reference source content organized into topics pertaining to American history, culture, and daily life
Use “terrorism,” as a keyword or a subject heading, or search an individual's name or group
American History Online (full text)
Provides comprehensive coverage of the history of America and its people--includes biographies, primary sources, timelines, images, maps and charts
Use “terrorism” as a keyword or a subject heading, or search an individual's name or group
History Reference Center (full text)
Contains the full text of over 750 historical encyclopedias and other non-fiction books and at least 60 leading history periodicals--includes over 55,000 historical documents, plus photos, maps, film, and video
Use the Advanced Search with the word “terrorism” as subject word and another keyword such as an individual or group name, or
Do a keyword search: terrorism and World Trade Center
Readers Guide Retrospective (1890-1982)(citations only)
Indexes the most popular general interest periodicals published in the U.S. during the period of coverage
Use Periodicals & E-Journals to determine whether the library owns the publications cited and obtain the full text of articles
JSTOR (full text)
An archive of core scholarly journals back to the 1800's--due to agreements with journal publishers, does not include current issues from the last 3-5 years
Arts & Sciences Collection consists of over six hundred journals in the Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences including economics; history; political science; sociology; cultural studies; etc.
Black Thought & Culture(full text)
Includes monographs, speeches, essays, articles, and interviews by leaders within the black community from early times to 1975
Historic Events of the 20th Century (full text)

News Databases

Conflict & Terrorism Around the World: Newsbank Special Report
Lexis-Nexis (news, law & legislation, statistics)(full text)
"Includes major U.S. and international newspapers; leading magazines, wire services and broadcast news transcripts; statistics and historical information"
Newspaper Source (full text)( title list )
Full text for major national and international newspapers plus selected full text for over 200 regional newspapers
Historical Newspapers (and American Periodicals Series) (full text)
Provides digitized images of the following newspapers--search all of the newspapers at once or search each database individually
- Hartford Courant (1764-1984)
- Chicago Tribune (1849-1986)
- The New York Times (1851-2005)
- The Washington Post (1877-1992)
- Los Angeles Times (1881-1986)
- The Wall Street Journal (1889-1991)
- The Christian Science Monitor (1908-1995)

General Databases (include current news sources and articles from all disciplines--history, political science, international affairs, etc.)

It is important to check the period of coverage in order to choose a database
General databases such as Academic Search Premier and Expanded Academic do not include articles published in the 1960's and 1970's (primary documents from those periods)
Use them to locate articles about events that occurred during the period (secondary sources)
Articles that look back on events offer a different perspective

Selected Internet Resources
(Websites should always be evaluated for authorship, accuracy, relevance, and currency)

UN Action to Counter Terrorism (includes Commission on Human Rights resolutions, General Assembly and Security Council resolutions, Reports of the Secretary-General, press releases and radio broadcasts)
UN Security Council Counter Terrorism Committee
Countering the Changing Threat on International Terrorism (Report of the National Commission on Terrorism)
Terrorism Research Center
Global Terrorism Database (information on terrorist events around the world since 1970)
Global Terrorism Analysis (The Jamestown Foundation)
Fight Against Terrorism (Council of the European Union)
Fight Against Terrorism (Council of Europe)
Action Against Terrorism Unit (Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe)
South Asia Terrorism Portal
America's War Against Terrorism (U. of Michigan Documents Center)
United States Institute of Peace: Terrorism
MIPT (Memorial Institute for the Prevention of Terrorism)
Terrorism (International Relations and Security Network)
September 11 Web Archive (collection of archived documents commissioned by the Library of Congress to preserve digital materials covering the events of September 11, 2001)

U.S. Government Sources

News

Aljazzera (Middle Eastern news source)
Arab News
Haaretz (Israeli news source)
New York Times
See news databases

Need help with citing sources?
MLA Citation Style Guide
NoodleBib (citation management tool)