Introduction
Biographical
information identifies individuals who have had a significant influence
on a particular field and documents their work and qualifications.
The strategy for locating biographical information will depend on
whether you already have a person's name or whether you are trying
to identify names by occupation, ethnic group, gender, and so on.
Case 1: Researching
Known Names
Step
1. Decide how much information you need.
If you want a lot of material, search for full-length biographies
in the library's online catalog. Full-length biographies are
usually available only for more notable persons. Shorter articles
or bio-sketches on a particular person can best be located by using
a biographical database as explained in Step 2.
Step
2. Use biographical databases to
find sources of biographical information on a particular individual.
Enter the person's name in the following databases available from
Stewart Library's Web site. Biographical databases may list
only references to sources of the biographical information
or provide the biographical information itself. To determine
if a source is available in the library, check the library's catalog.
Literature
Resource Center (full text articles on over 90,000 authors
with additional sources listed)
Biography
Reference Bank (More than 46,000 full-text
profiles of authors, artists, politicians, and more. Covers ancient
world to the present)
Case 2: Finding Names
Step
1. Identify possible categories or parameters
to which the person(s) may be associated such as gender, occupation,
ethnic group, geographical region, etc.
Step 2. Using
the "General Keyword" search option in the library
catalog, search for sources of biographical information which match
the desired parameters. The following examples of keyword
search statements illustrate the use of the parameters suggested
in Step 1. Note that each statement has two parts, parameter or
category (e.g. WOMEN, BLACKS), and form (BIOGRAPHY).
WOMEN AND BIOGRAPHY
SCIENCE AND BIOGRAPHY
BLACKS AND BIOGRAPHY
SPORTS AND BIOGRAPHY
Case 3: Combination
Search
The following
online databases can be used to research known names (Case 1) or
find names of individuals by occupation, gender, etc. (Case 2):
Michigan
eLibrary (MeL) (mel.org/index.jsp). Click "Reference
Desk" and then "Biography"
Public
Pioneer-Biography (http://pioneer.utah.gov/biog.html)
Biography
Reference Bank (from "Database Finder"
on the library home page)
NOTE:
Much biographical information may be found on the Internet by using
the various search engines such as Google.com, Yahoo.com, etc.
American Men and Women
of Science (REF Q 141.A474)
American National Biography (REF CT 213.A68)
Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians (REF
ML 105.B16, Ref. Table 3A)
Biography Index (REF CT 100.B5)
Contemporary Authors (REF Z 1224.C6)
Current Biography (REF CT 100.C8)
Dictionary of American Biography (REF E 176.D56)
Dictionary of Art (REF N31.D5, Reference Table 3A)
Dictionary of Literary Biography (REF PS 221.D5)
Dictionary of National Biography (REF DA 28.D54)
Dictionary of Scientific Biography (REF Q 141.D5)
Directory of American Scholars (REF LA 2311.D57)
Encyclopedia of World Biography (REF CT 103.E56)
New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians (REF ML
100.N48, Ref. Table 3A)
Notable American Women (REF CT 3260.N57)
Something About the Author (REF PN 451.S6)
Webster's Biographical Dictionary (REF CT 103.W4)
Who's Who in America (REF E 176.W642)
Women in World History (REF HQ 1115.W6)
Ancestry.com
(www.ancestry.com)
Biographical
Dictionary (www.s9.com/biography/search.html)
Biography.com
(www.biography.com)
Biography
Reference Bank (from "Database Finder"
on the library home page)
Encyclopedia
of World Biography (from "Database Finder-Reference"
on the library home page)
Family Search
(www.familysearch.org)
Librarians'
Index to the Internet (www.lii.org/)
Literature
Resource Center (from "Database Finder"
on the library home page)
Oxford
Art Online (from "Database Finder-Reference"
on the library home page)
Oxford
Music Online (from "Database Finder-Reference"
on the library home page)
Research
Tips
