Spend some time brainstorming keywords and search terms. Use subject headings or descriptors to help generate search terms.
When you find a good article, look at its References or Works Cited list. That will often lead you to other useful sources.
Check out the chart below for the basic differences between scholarly and non-scholarly sources.
The databases listed here are great starting points for finding secondary sources for your research. The databases include many scholarly, peer-reviewed journal articles. Some databases will also provide citations for book chapters from scholarly books; you can then check the library catalog to see if HC has the book. If we don't have a book that you need, you can request the book or book chapter through Interlibrary loan.
Citations for journal articles, book reviews, and literary works about Central and South America, the Caribbean, and Hispanics/Latinx in the United States.
In addition to searching the research databases listed here, you may also want to try searching in specific subject specific journals. Search Holy Cross' EJournal list here.
Examples of journals:
While many journal articles are available online, keep in mind that some journal are only available in print. You'll find relevant print journals in the call number range PQ6001 - PQ8929.
The journals listed below are available only in print. The MLA International Bibliography database indexes these journals so article citations from these journals will be included in your MLA search results. You can then use the citation information to locate the article in Dinand.
Journal volumes cannot be checked out from Dinand, but you'll be able to scan the pages of any article that you'd like to read for your research. There are two book scanners on the first floor fo Dinand.