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East Asian Studies

The following is a selected list of resources for starting research in East Asian Studies.  For further assistance, contact Bob Felsing, East Asian Bibliographer, at felsing@uoregon.edu.

Starting Your Research

These sources can help you identify a topic for your research. Some provide an overview of a specific issue and suggest other materials which might be useful for your research. Others help you to notice a topic that might be of interest to you. By far the best resource you have for a research topic is your instructor or advisor. Some topics may seem exciting and ripe for research; however, these topics may be untouched because so little research information is available. Your instructor knows what is possible and what is not.

JAPAN

  • Bibliography of Asian Studies
    The BAS is considered to be THE bibliography for the study of Asia in the U.S. Use the BAS to get a grasp on some of the more recent topics studied and published as articles.
  • MagazinePlus is the primary index of Japanese periodical literature. This index covers 8,500 journals and 5,000 chapters of books published in Japan. All subject fields are covered: humanities and social sciences, technology, science, and medicine.
    • The index includes the following index databases:
    • Kinen Ronbunshu (1945-1992)
    • Ippan Ronbunshu (1945-1992)
    • Ippanshi, Sogoshi, bijinesushi (1981-)
    • Sympojumu Koenshu (1945-1992)
    • Gakkai Nenpo, Kenkyu Hokoku (1945-1995)

SEARCH TIPS: 1) Search can be made on keywords, titles, authors/editors, journal name, publisher, ISSN. 2) Terms can be entered in kanji, hiragana, katakana, roman letters and numerals.

     

CHINA

  • Aside from consulting your advisor/instructor, a good source of potential research targets can be gleaned from the Bibliography of Asian Studies, which is the standard bibliography for Western language articles in the field of Asian studies. Another source for potential paper topics is a trip through the the library's periodical section on second floor. Look especially at journals in the call number range: DS an PL.

KOREA

  • Korean studies at the University of Oregon are still in their infancy. Aside from consulting your advisor/instructor, a good source of potential research targets can be gleaned from the Bibliography of Asian Studies which is the standard bibliography for Western language articles in the field of Asian studies.
  • Another fine resource for getting a feel of the research terrain is The Harvard Korean Studies Bibliography (1999) I.T.C. CDROM Z3316 .H37 1999 (as the call number indicates, this is a CD-ROM that can be consulted in the Information Technology Center).

Subject Encyclopedias

JAPAN

  • The Kodansha Encyclopedia of Japan; REFERENCE DS805.K633
    A standard reference work that should provide quick reference in most instances. Indeed, if you need quick information, this is probably the first work to consult.
  • Also consider looking at Japan Encyclopedia; REFERENCE DS821.F73 2002
  • For the latest trends and developments: Encyclopedia of Contemporary Japanese Culture; REFERENCE DS822.5.E516 2002 and the Encyclopedia of Japanese Pop Culture; REFERENCE DS822.5.S3 1997
  • If you are seeking information on Japanese history, an easy place to check for brief information is: Dictionary of Japanese History (1968) REFERENCE DS833.G63

CHINA

  • China: A Historical and Cultural Dictionar; REFERENCE DS733.C58523 1998
    This is a well-organized work in dictionary format that touches the major aspects of Chinese life and history; it's particularly useful because terms and names are given in both English and Chinese characters.
  • Also see: China: A Guide to a Century of Change; REFERENCE DS774.H796 2001

KOREA

  • Korea (J.E. Hoare); REFERENCE DS902.12.12.A63 1997

Finding Articles

To look for articles in journals, newspapers, or magazines, you will need to start with an index. An index will allow you to look by subject or a few keywords which describe your topic or by author. Use the indexes listed above in "Starting Research" to locate journal/magazine articles that might be useful to your project.

It's a good scholarly habit to periodically browse through the table of contents of current journals. Western language journals (mostly English) journals are in the periodicals area of second floor and the call numbers you will most likely need to browse begin with "DS" and "PL." Scanning the contents of current journals in Chinese and Japanese is easier: Against the west wall of the East Asian Collection on second floor is a section that displays popular current periodicals. Again these journals are in Chinese or Japanese - although some journals will have tables of contents or even abstracts in English.

JAPAN

  • Bibliography of Asian Studies
    The BAS is considered to be THE bibliography for the study of Asia in the U.S. Use the BAS to get a grasp on some of the more recent topics studied and published as articles.
  • MagazinePlus is the primary index of Japanese periodical literature. This index covers 8,500 journals and 5,000 chapters of books published in Japan. All subject fields are covered: humanities and social sciences, technology, science, and medicine.
    • The index includes the following index databases:
    • Kinen Ronbunshu (1945-1992)
    • Ippan Ronbunshu (1945-1992)
    • Ippanshi, Sogoshi, bijinesushi (1981-)
    • Sympojumu Koenshu (1945-1992)
    • Gakkai Nenpo, Kenkyu Hokoku (1945-1995)

SEARCH TIPS: 1) Search can be made on keywords, titles, authors/editors, journal name, publisher, ISSN. 2) Terms can be entered in kanji, hiragana, katakana, roman letters and numerals.

     

CHINA

  • Bibliography of Asian Studies
    The BAS is considered to be THE bibliography for the study of Asia in the U.S. Use the BAS to get a grasp on some of the more recent topics studied and published as articles.
  • One of the unfortunate differences between publishing in Japan and China is the lack of (relatively) inexpensive journal indexing for China. Often the easiest way to locate articles that you need is from secondary sources - sources listed by other scholars - or by a brute force examination of journals that pertain to your field of inquiry.
  • The library is acquiring electronic indexes to journals on CD-ROM and is exploring the possibility of online indexes. As these resources become avaialbe, this guide will change accordingly.

KOREA

  • Bibliography of Asian Studies
    The BAS is considered to be THE bibliography for the study of Asia in the U.S. Use the BAS to get a grasp on some of the more recent topics studied and published as articles.

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Finding BOOKS

  • UO Library Catalog
    Identify books by topic, title or author; identify journals and magazines owned by the UO Library. To find journal articles on your topic, use the databases listed in the section above. Once you have a citation, you can check the library catalog by doing a title search on the name of the journal to see if we have it here. The University of Oregon Library has a "CJK port," which allows for the display and searching of text in Chinese, Japanese, and Korean. If you read Chinese, Japanese, or Korean, use this port for increased effectiveness.
  • Orbis Union Catalog
    Orbis is a consortium of libraries that doubles our collection. You can borrow books not owned by the UO Library by selecting the Request Item option. Orbis works only for books. If you want to request a journal articles, you'll need to fill out an interlibrary loan form. Although few Orbis libraries carry materials in Chinese, Japanese, or Korean, Orbis is definitely a good (convenient) resource for English and Western language materials.
  • WorldCat
    Worldcat provides access to library catalogs from around the world. The database contains bibliographic records describing books, journals, maps, musical scores, manuscripts, etc. Please note that WorldCat can handle search requests and display of items in Japanese and both simplified and traditional Chinese characters.
  • PRINTED CATALOGS IN THE EAST ASIAN REFERENCE AREA ON SECOND FLOOR. The East Asian Collection has the printed catalogs for the major East Asian Library collections in this country. If you prefer the print to the electronic (in some cases browsing the print is easier than browsing the electronic) these multi-volume sets are necessary to locating books that may not be in out local collection.

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Web Resources

JAPAN

CHINA

  • e-Asia: A site that offers over 650 e-books relating to Asia as well as images, MP3, and maps.
  • Internet Guide for China Studies: Perhaps the best guide to scholarly resources on the Web; maintained at the University of Heidelberg.
  • The best search engine currently available for any language is Google. If you wish to conduct your search in Chinese (either simplified or traditional) go to Google's language tools page; otherwise your everyday Google works just fine for English language materials.

KOREA

  • e-Asia: A site that offers over 650 e-books relating to Asia as well as images, MP3, and maps.
  • Formerly known as Frank Hoffman's Korea Guide, the Koreaweb.ws is the first place you should go for web resources on Korea.
  • The best search engine currently available for any language is Google. If you wish to conduct your search in Korean go to Google's language tools page; otherwise your everyday Google works just fine for English language materials.
Maintained by: Bob Felsing, felsing@uoregon.edu
Last Modified: 03/06/2007