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Afro-Latino Research Guide

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Best Databases to Start

Encyclopaedia Britannica

A general encyclopedia. Useful for quick background knowledge about a topic or person. 
 

Proquest eLibrary

Database with guidance for novice researchers. (Grades 6+)

Use the Basic Search and "Guided User Interface" to find curated entries. Choose "Famous People" under Research Topics for biographies.

Gale Biography Database

Find biographical information. 600,000+ base entries. Original sources include biographical dictionaries, who's who, subject encyclopedias, volumes of literary criticism, and many other sources that include biographical content.

This database requires an Alameda County Library eCard or Card. Get an eCard by following these instructions. It's quick (1-3 minutes.)

Author Interviews and Reviews

Proquest Central Student
To find book reviews: use the Advanced Search and the "reviews" limiter to limit your search to book reviews.
To find literary criticism: use the Advanced Search and "article" limiter to limit your search to journal articles. You may need to further limit by publication title, for example, the Hispanic Review

TeachingBooks.net
Enrichment materials such as author interviews and book resumes to inspire students to read popular titles. 
Provided by: California State Library

I Read: What to Read Next?
Go to this section of the library website for book recommender services, including BookRiot, GoodReads, etc. Recommender services may have additional reviews. 

Find Print Biographies in the Library

1. Visit the Castro Valley High School Library homepage. https://library.cv.k12.ca.us/ 

2. Search for the person's name in the library catalog. Or if you don't know, click on the "View Catalog" button. Then search for the subject and limit to Sublocation = "Biography"

(for example: "Native American" and sublocation="Biography" retrieves several biographies of famous native americans.)

library homepage search

2. Collective and Individual Biographies are located in Dewey Classifications 920 and 921 by last name.

920 and 921 biographies