Finding Books at UD
Need help finding a topic?
The resources listed below might be able to help you find a topic, narrow it down, find general background information (like dates, event names, etc.), or help you develop keywords for searching. Remember! Background research does not support arguments or provide evidence!
- Credo Reference This link opens in a new window
This link opens in a new window
Credo Reference is a general reference database that offers over 500 highly-regarded titles from over 70 publishers. It is a great place to start your research, and there are several ready-reference encyclopedias and fact books relating to Islamic Studies.
Encyclopedia of the Modern Middle East by ISBN: 9780028960111Publication Date: 1905-06-01Encyclopedia of the Modern Middle East presents a clear, precise, and unbiased explanation of the people, places and events that have shaped the Middle East since 1800. From The Charge of the Light Brigade during the Crimean War and the Battle of Tobruk during World War II to the Arab-Israeli Conflict and the Yemen Civil War, the articles contained within the Encyclopedia will reveal the stories behind the headlines of today. Discover the educational background, beliefs, accomplishments, and families of individuals of historic prominence and local significance from Erwin Rommel to Golda Meir. Differences in interpretation and practice among the sects of the region's dominant religions and societies are made understandable while national and cultural identities are concisely and accurately depicted. Maps and detailed articles describe the Middle East and North Africa, from large urban centres to small rural communities, from oil producing nations to agricultural states, from industrial complexes to nomadic clans.
Encyclopedia of Islam and the Muslim WorldPublication Date: 2016This reference work includes articles on the history, religion, cultural practices, and political economies of Muslims from the seventh-century in West Asia to today's Muslim societies throughout the continents of Asia, Africa, the Subcontinent, Europe, and the Americas.
New Encyclopedia of Islam by Call Number: BP40 .G43x 2013ISBN: 9781442223486Publication Date: 2013-10-25The acclaimed New Encyclopedia of Islam has been completely revised, updated, and re-designed in a fresh larger-format, with more than 1,500 entries. The New Encyclopedia of Islam is unique as a single-volume work that encompasses the beliefs, practices, history, and culture of the Islamic world. The Economist described the first edition as "a miracle" for its readability; the Independent hailed "a magnificent achievement." The book is suitable for novices and scholars alike. In this expanded new edition, with an extensive chronology, Cyril Glasse provides a truly unrivaled study of one of the world's great religions.
The Princeton Encyclopedia of Islamic Political Thought by Call Number: JC49 .P75 2013ISBN: 9781400838554Publication Date: 2012-11-28The first encyclopedia of Islamic political thought from the birth of Islam to today, this comprehensive, authoritative, and accessible reference provides the context needed for understanding contemporary politics in the Islamic world and beyond.
Basic Search Tips
- Place quotation marks around keyword phrases
- "trench warfare"
- "Iranian Coup"
- Capitalize Boolean logic connectors (AND, OR)
- narrative OR plot
- "American Involvement" AND World War I
- Items at UD appear first in the list of search results. Other items can be requested via InterLibrary Loan.
- Visit our DELCAT Research Guide for additional tips!
- ACLS Humanities E-Book Collection This link opens in a new windowA collection of more than 4,000 titles across the entire range of the humanities, primarily from 1970 to the present. Includes Middle East and North African history and Islamic Studies.
- EBSCO eBook Collection (EBSCOhost) This link opens in a new windowebook Collection provides access to full-text scholarly, reference and professional electronic books (e-books) from leading university, academic and professional publishers. These e-books are digital versions of print books from a broad range of subject areas and topics.
- HathiTrust Digital Library This link opens in a new windowHathiTrust, a partnership of major research institutions, maintains a catalog and digital library that includes many books digitized by Google. Set up an account to facilitate printing and downloading.
- JSTOR eBooks This link opens in a new windowBooks at JSTOR are incorporated into the JSTOR digital library of more than 2,000 journals and more than 25,000 books in the humanities, social sciences, and sciences. The books range in date from late-19th century through 2014.
- Springer E-Books This link opens in a new windowSpringer eBooks includes more than 10,000 books online. The University of Delaware Library has acquired Springer eBooks in ten subject areas: Behavioral Science; Biomedical and Life Science; Business and Economics; Chemistry and Materials Science; Computer Science; Earth and Environmental Science; Engineering; Humanities, Social Science, and Law; Mathematics and Statistics; and Physics and Astronomy.
Open Access Collections:
- Internet ArchiveThe Internet Archive is a non-profit library of millions of free books, movies, software, music, websites, and more. It was founded to build an Internet library, with the purpose of offering permanent access for researchers, historians, and scholars to historical collections that exist in digital format.
Founded in 1996, the Internet Archive has an historical web collection (the Wayback Machine) of over 150 billion web pages, about 240,000 movies, over 500,000 audio items (including over 70,000 live concerts), over 1,800,000 texts, 1600 education items, and over 30,000 software items. - National Academies PressThe National Academies Press (NAP) was created to publish reports under a charter granted by the Congress of the United States. The NAP publishes more than 200 books a year on a wide range of topics in science, engineering, and health, capturing the most authoritative views on important issues in science and health policy. You can access the full text of books for free and order a hard copy for a charge.
- Open LibraryThe goal of Open Library, a project of the Internet Archive, is to provide a page on the web for every book ever published. At its heart, Open Library is a catalog-- there are over 20 million edition records online, with free access to 1.7 million scanned versions of books. Because of its open source wiki interface, contributors are encouraged to continue to add documentation to the site.
- World Digital LibraryThe World Digital Library (WDL) makes available on the internet, free of charge and in multilingual format, significant primary materials from countries and cultures around the world.
Browsing the stacks in Morris Library can be extremely helpful when you are looking for additional sources for your research. Most books related to Islamic history can be found on the 3rd floor of Morris Library and fall under the following Library of Congress classifications:
BP1 - BP253 Islam
DS35.3 - DS326 History of Islamic world, Arab and Middle Eastern countries
DT History of Africa
HQ Women's rights
JQ1758 - JQ1852: Political science (Middle East)
KBP Islamic law
PJ Arabic language, linguistics and literature
This is just a sampling of the subjects that you might encounter. Because Islamic Studies is so interdisciplinary, you may need to do a specific subject search in DELCAT, the library's catalog, to find the call number for the book that you need. Once you find a call number range that looks promising, try browsing the stacks to see if you might find other books that fit your topic.
You can also "browse" the shelves virtually by searching by Call Number through DELCAT.