Content last reviewed:
"Africa is the forward that the world needs to face" - Pius Adesanmi
Image:
Attribution:
JBJart
If you are just starting out, you may want to use an Assignment Calculator.
This will help you plan your assignment completion based on your due date.
Pick a research topic
- Read your assignment instructions carefully
- Pick a topic that interests you and meets the criteria of the assignment
- Identify key concepts of your research topic
- Need extra help? Click on Choosing an essay topic
- Do some background reading on your topic using Wikipedia
- Using Wikipedia wisely (video)
Subject specific dictionaries and encyclopedias are useful for helping you figure out the jargon of a discipline and can give quick overviews of a topic to get you started. You can often pick up keywords to use in your search strategies from these sources:
- New encyclopedia of Africa
- Dictionary of African Biography
- Oxford research encyclopedias. African history
- Encyclopedia of twentieth-century African history
- Student encyclopedia of African literature
- The African studies companion : a guide to information sources
- A Political and Economic Dictionary of Africa
Note: Historical dictionaries exist for almost all of the African Nations. To find them, do a TITLE search in the OMNI
- Example: Historical Dictionary of Algeria
Developing a good search strategy is important
- what is your assignment?
- what is the main topic?
- what aspect of the topic is of interest to you?
- who has an interest in that topic?
- what other language might they be using to talk about that topic? do they spell it differently?
- when was it relevant? is it a new idea, or a long standing issue?
- what other factors play into your issue? climate, population, government, geography, etc.
Once you've decided which terms are the most useful for your search, combine them in a boolean search.
For example: Africa* AND (poetry OR literature OR composition)
BOOLEAN SEARCH TIPS:
- Use keywords only, DO NOT search using a full sentence.
- Combine keywords for different ideas with AND
- Search by keyword for specific topics: poverty AND women
- Or by country: Globalization AND Nigeria
- Combine synonyms or similar words for an idea with OR. Use as many synonyms as you want but they must be in brackets and have OR between each term.
- (poverty OR famine OR starvation)
- Capitalize your AND and OR terms
- Use the * at the end of the root of a word to find all the forms of that word
- Use " " quotation marks to find a phrase such as "human rights"
Use Filters offered by the database: especially Scholarly/Peer Reviewed so you see only the academic material.
Use this worksheet to write out your research topic and identify key ideas.
Start with the Omni search box to search across most of the library's databases. Use the main keywords from your research topic. As you retrieve results, use the filters on the left of the screen to narrow or broaden your search.
However, OMNI doesn't search everything that the library owns or subscribes to so you will still need to search other resources, such as the subject related databases found below, to find everything that you need.
Read the section on developing a good search strategy and using boolean searching above.
Key Subject related databases for Journal Articles
See Key Resources above.
Additional journal article databases found in the library that may be of use to you:
- AfricaBib
- Aluka
- Africa Development Indicators
- African Journals Online
- Anthropology Plus
- AnthroSource
- Business Source Complete
- Historical Abstracts
- International Political Science Abstracts
- Columbia International Affairs Online
- JSTOR
- PAIS Index
- Sociological Abstracts
- Web of Science
- World Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology Abstracts
- Gale Literature
- Sociological Abstracts
- ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials
- Gender Studies Database
- Women Writers Project
- Political Science Database
- Worldwide Political Science Abstracts
- Dissertations and Theses Global
Other Databases found online:
- Africa by ELDIS (Electronic Development and Environment Information System)
The best online database on topics related to development and the environment in Africa. Use the document search to find Africa relevant documents.
Tips for effective searching
See section above for developing a good search strategy.
If you find one relevant article for your research it can lead to other relevant papers by the following:
- using the databases, including OMNI, look to find all papers & books published by the author or co-authors.
- Explore the bibliography in the paper for more sources.
Find background information about a specific African country in EIU.com (Economist Intelligence Unit) which provides country reports and country profiles.
If the Carleton library doesn't have it...
If you need assistance with this, contact the Library Services Desk:
613-520-2600 ext. 2734
- uOttawa (you can take out print material from the University of Ottawa Library with your Carleton student card)
Fulltext eBook Collections:
Cambridge University Press eBooks
Columbia International Affairs Online
Oxford University Press eBooks
eBook Collection (EBSCOhost)
Wiley Online Journals
Reading and comprehending academic articles is not easy. Use the information here to help with this process.
We house a major research collection of official publications for the study of Africa. This collection has been actively developed since 1970 and has received funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. Extensive coverage is given to documentation from: Countries which were former British colonies: Examples: Botswana, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe
Government Portals
For information on countries not listed below see the CIA World Fact Book and the US State Department's Bureau of African Affairs. See also the EIU.
Algeria | Angola | Benin | Botswana | Burkina Faso | Burundi | Cameroon | Cape Verde | Central African Republic | Chad | Comoros | Cote d'Ivoire | Democratic Republic of Congo | Djibouti | Egypt | Equatorial Guinea | Eritrea | Eswatini (formerly Swaziland) | Ethiopia | Gabon | Gambia | Ghana | Guinea |Guinea-Bissau | Kenya | Lesotho | Liberia | Madagascar | Malawi | Mali | Mauritania | Mauritius | Morocco | Namibia | Nigeria | Rwanda | Sao Tome and Principe | Senegal | Seychelles | Sierra Leone | Somalia | South Africa | Sudan |Tanzania | Togo | Tunisia | Zambia | Zimbabwe |
African Union (AU) (formerly known as Organization of African Unity)
- Resolutions of the ... ordinary session of the Council of Ministers
- Decisions and declarations of the assembly
- Decisions and declarations of the executive council
- African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights
- Continental Free Trade Area (CFTA)
- OAU/AU Treaties, Conventions, Protocols & Charters
- Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs)
- African Union handbook 2014
Historical documents may have been included in the Africa Contemporary record which we hold for 1968-1983.
African Development Bank
East African Community
Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS)
- The Commission
- The Community Parliament
- The Community Court of Justice
- ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development (EBID)
Official journal of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS)
United Cities and Local Governments of Africa
- United Nations Economic Commission for Africa
- United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization for Africa
- United Nations Habitat Regional Office for Africa
- United Nations Regional Information Centre for Western Europe
- United Nations Digital Library
Government offices and international agencies with an interest in Africa include:
- Canada-Africa Parliamentary Association (CAAF)
- The Commonwealth
- UK National Archives catalogue
- U.K. Parliamentary Papers (1801-)
- U.S. Central Intelligence Agency see the World Fact Book
- U.S. Department of State
- U.S. Office of Strategic Services. O.S.S./ State Department Intelligence and Research Reports
- National Archives Catalog, University Publications of America
- Internet Archive - Open Library - University Publications of America
- World Bank in Africa
- World Health Organization (WHO) - Regional Office for Africa
- Africa Resources - Research Guides at United Nations Dag Hammarskjöld Library
What is the Difference Between Data and Statistics?
Data are the raw materials out of which statistics are produced, usually available as digital files for manipulation in statistical software. To find data resources available to Carleton faculty, staff and students see Find Data. Statistics are facts or figures that tend to be aggregate counts, totals, sums, or averages.
Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS)
- West African Monetary Agency Data portal
- West African Power Pool statistical dashboard
- ECOWAS Observatory for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency: Analysis & charts, also features Country profiles, Maps viewer and Analysis & trends
African census reports
UNdata
A portal for statistical data collected by the United Nations and its related international organizations containing over 55 million data points that cover a wide range of themes. Found here is the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa Databank.
World Bank Data Catalog
Links to a wide range of data resources including Africa Development Indicators freely available from the World Bank. Find here Sub-Saharan Africa data
OECD Statistics portal
Access to selected free statistics via Stat.Extracts. The Library also subscribes to the more comprehensive OECD i-Library.
AidData
Data about international economic development assistance.
Afristat
Afrobarometer
International Historical Statistics: Africa, Asia & Oceania, 1750-1993
Jump to: Primary Sources | News | Websites | Maps
Archives
Carleton Archives and Special Collections
- Douglas Anglin fonds
- The Uganda Collection
- Archives and Research Collections (the Uganda collection)
- Gemini - Uganda Asians, c. 1972
Original documents can also be found by searching our archival collections or by contacting the Archives and Special Collections (ASC) staff for help.
Library and Archives Canada Collections
- South African War, 1899-1902 - Service Files, Medals and Land Applications
- Archives de l'Afrique Équatoriale Française
Other Archives
- Archives of WHO
- International Monetary Fund Archives
- National Archives UK
- UNESCO Archives
- United Nations Archives
- World Bank Group Archives
Primary Sources
How to search for primary sources:
Search your topic (or historical person of interest) using the library's main search box to find primary sources (or reproductions) in our collection. Keyword searches that include the following terms will identify primary materials most of the time.
- Diar* (for diary or diaries)
- Correspondence
- Letters
- Memoir
- Personal narrative
- Recollections
- Reminiscences
- Journal
- Sources
Other search tips:
Use bibliographies and footnotes of secondary sources on your topic to help identify primary source material.
Useful book: Reading primary sources: the interpretation of texts from 19th and 20th century history
Original documents can also be found by searching our archival collections or by contacting the Archives and Special Collections (ASC) staff for help. The library has many microform collections of primary sources as well. Please ask for assistance at the Research Help Desk.
Center for Research Libraries (CRL)
Carleton University Library is a member of the CRL consortium. It regularly acquires and preserves newspapers, journals, documents, archives, and other traditional and digital resources for research and teaching and makes them available to member institutions through the Interlibrary Loans Department in the library Especially explore the Cooperative Africana Materials Project (CAMP) and the African Study Guide.
Online Primary Sources
- AGSL Digital Photo Archive: Africa (University of Milwaukee)
- Africa Oral Narratives
- Africa Through a Lens (The National Archives, UK)
- African Activist Archive
- African National Congress Historical Documents Archive
- African Online Digital Library (Michigan State University)
- Ancient Manuscripts from the Desert of Libraries Timbuktu (Library of Congress)
- Archives and Primary Sources Databases
- Archives de l'Afrique Équatoriale Française
- British Anti-Apartheid Movement Archives
- British Pathe Film Archive
- Colonial Film Database
- Digital Innovation South Africa (DISA)
Freely accessible online scholarly resource focusing on the socio-political history of South Africa, particularly the struggle for freedom from 1950 to 1994.
Documents dealing primarily with the British Empire including Africa.
- Genocide Archive of Rwanda
- HathiTrust Digital Library
- Images of Colonialism (Harvard)
- International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda
- International Mission Photography Archive
- Islamic Manuscripts from Mali
- Library of Congress Digital Collections
- Malcolm X , the FBI Files
- NAACP: A Century in the Fight for Freedom, 1909-2009
The Library of Congress's largest single collection is the NAACP papers. This exhibition shows documents from this collection which have been digitized.
- Nelson Mandela Archive
- New York Public Library Digital Collections
- Periodical Archive Online
- The Rwanda Documents Project
- Ross Archive of African Images (Yale)
- South African History Archive
- South Africa: Overcoming Apartheid Building Democracy
- The South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission Videotape Collection
- South African Medical Journal 1884-2002
- Say it Plain, Say it Loud A Century of Great African American Speeches
- Slavery Abolition and Social Justice
- Slavery Images: A Visual Record of the African Slave Trade and Slave Life in the Early African Diaspora
- Slavery in America and the World: History, Culture & Law
- Truth Commission: Ghana
- Truth Commission: Morocco
- Truth Commission: Sierra Leone
- Voyages: The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade
- World Digital Library (UNESCO)
- World History Commons
News
- Africa Confidential
- allAfrica.com
- African Newspapers (coverage 1800-1922)
- AfricaFocus
news, analysis and advocacy - Africa | IPS Inter Press Service
- African Union: What's Happening
- BBC Focus on Africa Magazine Archive
- BBC News | Africa
- African News from World Press Review
- Foreign Broadcast Information Service (FBIS) Daily Reports
- The Guardian (1821-2003) [U.K.]
- Historical Papers held by the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg
- Kenya Gazette 1906-2011
- The New Humanitarian: Africa
- The Observer (1791-2003) [U.K.]
- Think Africa Press (African Research Institute)
- Times Digital Archive (The London Times) 1785-1985 [U.K.]
- World-Newspapers - Africa
Consult the News Guide for details of news sources.
International news sources:
Websites
General
- The Story of Africa (BBC)
- Africa in Focus (Brookings)
- Africa Portal
- Africa South of the Sahara: Selected Internet Resources
- African Studies Association
- Guide to Africa on the Internet (Nordic Africa Institute)
- H-Africa: Africa Past and Present
- Index on Africa (Norwegian Council for Africa)
- African Human Rights Resources (University of Minnesota)
- African Arguments
- African Books Collective (index of major African publishers)
Maps
- 16th-20th Century Maps of Africa
- AfricaMap (Harvard)
- Historical Africa Maps (Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection, University of Texas)
- Afriterra
- Animated Atlas of African History (Brown University)
- Boer War Maps (Canadian War Museum)
- Evolution of the Map of Africa (Princeton University)
