Terminology that you use when researching is extremely important. Do not always stick to the obvious. Sometimes creativity and imagination pays off in finding excellent resources. When research any ethnic group consider all the possible terms used to describe that particular group. For example: African American, Afro American, or Black; Chicano, Mexican American, Hispanic, or Latino. When looking at ethnic groups with the Asian American population remember to consider the ethnic terms as well: Chinese American, Japanese American, Taiwanese American, Korean American, Filipino/Filipino American.
Spelling can also be key as well. Again, consider all possibilities. Successful research can be about what terms you use so do not stay in your contemporary language or what you think might be the correct term to use. And since you will be using a variety of resources the databases to not all use the same terms across the board thus the need to consider all possible terms.
When searching for articles or books in our databases, the best research method is using keywords. When conducting research on any ethnic group you must consider the range of labels we use to identify ethnic groups in the United States. Given the numerous ethnic groups that define "Asian American" you might also want to consider using specific ethnic labels like: Hmong, Japanese, Korean, etc. Sometimes certain historical events are specific to certain ethnic groups like: Japanese American relocation, Chinese Exclusion and Immigration, Hmong refugees, etc. Using the range of terms will make for better searching results.
Keywords for Asian American Studies
The print publication includes 61 essays, each on a term integral to the field such as “diaspora,” “assimilation,” and “orientalism.” The site includes the volume’s "Introduction,” ten web essays from the volume, the list of works cited for all the essays, information about the contributors, a note on classroom use, and a blog. Any page in the site can be printed or saved as a pdf, and a single click provides a citation to that page that can be pasted into a bibliography.
Essays: Adoption; Art; Assimilation; Brown; Citizenship; Class; Commodification; Community; Coolie: Cosmopolitanism; Culture; Deportation; Diaspora; Discrimination; Empire; Enclave; Entrepreneur; Ethnicity; Exclusion; Film; Food; Foreign; Fusion; Generation; Genocide; Globalization; Health; Immigration; Incarceration; Law; Media; Memory; Militarism; Minority; Movement; Multiculturalism; Multiracial; Nationalism; Orientalism; Performance; Politics; Postcolonialism; Refugee; Religion; Resistance; Riot; Terrorism; Transnationalism; Trauma; War; and Yellow.
10. Choose the right database
Use the Database page on the left to locate the best bets for searching for resources in Asian American Studies. We recommend that you start with Asian American Experience, Ethnic NewsWatch, or America: History and Life with Fulltext. If those do not generate enough results, we recommend you use a more comprehensive database such as OneSearch or Academic Search Complete.
If you already have a narrow or very specific subject, consider a smaller database such as Asian American Drama, CSU Japanese American History Digitization Project, or South and Southeast Asian Literature. You can browse all of the databases we have on our database A-Z page, where they are listed alphabetically.
9. Use keywords, not natural language
Google and other resources may allow you to ask questions, such as, "How many immigrants live in the United States?" Databases require keyword searches, such as Immigration.
8. Use quotation marks for phrases
If you search using U.S. immigration you will return results for every article that contains the word U.S. and every article that contains the word immigration. But if you search using "U.S. Immigration" your results will be limited to resources pertaining to immigration in the U.S.
7. Use operators
Operators are words like AND, OR, and NOT. These will help you build a more targeted search. Capitalize your operators.
immigration AND California
immigration AND "detention center"
immigration NOT Canada OR Canadian
Too many results? Use AND
immigration AND California AND "detention center"
Too few results? Use OR
immigration OR migration AND "detention center" AND California OR Arizona
6. Filter and sort your results
Most of our databases provide advanced filtering options, often on the left side of the results page. Use these to filter by such limiters as:
Date published
Peer-reviewed
Language
Topic or subject
Type of resource (book, article, dissertation, review, chapter)
Location of research
The default sort in your result list may not be the most useful for you. Sort by relevance, date, title, or author.
5. Use a Citation Manager
OneSearch and most of our databases allow you to pin or save articles you find so that you can return to them later. However, the SJSU Library provides access to two different third-party platforms (Paperpile and Zotero) that allow you to save articles across resources. Paperpile and Zotero are available at no cost to the SJSU community, including alum. These powerful resources have many features, including organizing your research, storing documents, and generating your bibliography. Use your SJSU email account to register and activate your account. Full information on Paperpile and Zotero is available on our Citation Managers LibGuide.
4. RATS - Read Across The Screen
Our databases offer a wide variety of functions. Read all areas of the screen on your search or results page, from the top banner and ribbon, side navigation bars, and footers. This helps you customize your results, using advanced features such as image search, smart-text results, and citation counts.
3. Use the database's subject terms
Sometimes keyword searches will only get you so far, and you will need to locate what words the database uses for your topic. These words are called subject terms. You can usually locate subject terms by:
Locating an article that is on your topic and looking at its assigned subject terms
Browsing a database's thesaurus or subject terms list, often available in the top navigation bar
Example: You may conduct a keyword search on "African American attorneys." But Academic Search Complete uses the term "Black lawyers." The latter generates more on-target results.
2. Search there, find here 
Sometimes you may find a title or an abstract of an article in one place, but you may need to go to another source to locate the full text. If you find a title in Google Scholar but not the full-text, copy the title and enter into OneSearch. Use the search function "title starts with" to make sure you search for the identical source. OneSearch may result in the full-text, which you can access by using the "Find It" or "Full Text" buttons.
1. Work with us
We are here to help with search strategies, so don't hesitate to reach out to us, or to visit the reference desk at King. You can contact us by email, chat, or appointment.