Aboriginal Studies

• Resources
• Research strategies
• Writing and citing

Resources for Aboriginal Studies

• Definitions and overviews
• Books and more
• Subject readings
• Journal articles
• Internet sites
• Government departments and agencies
• Related resources
  • Aboriginal art
  • Indigenous health

Aboriginal Studies definitions and overviews

• Dictionaries help you to define your keywords
• Encyclopedias help you to get an overview of your topic and provide more information than a dictionary

Online encyclopedias

Print dictionaries and encyclopedias

To find additional reference items

1. Search the Library Catalogue
2. Select advanced keyword search
3. Combine a broad keyword AND the word dictionar**
   
   aboriginal AND dictionar**
   
   aboriginal AND encyclop**
   
   
4. To retrieve variations of your keyword use the truncation symbol **
   
   e.g. aborigin** will retrieve aboriginal, aboriginals, aborigine, aborigines, aboriginality

Need help? Ask a question.

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Aboriginal Studies books and more

Search the Library Catalogue to find books and videos

If you know the exact title

1. Select title search
2. Type in the exact title
3. Check the location, call number and status boxes to find the item in the Library collection

If you don't have an exact title OR only have a topic area

1. Select advanced keyword search
2. Type in keywords from your topic
3. Combine your keywords with AND to find catalogue records that contain all of your keywords
   
   e.g. aboriginal AND dreaming
   
   
4. To retrieve variations of your keyword use the truncation symbol **
   
   e.g. aborigin** will retrieve aboriginal, aboriginals, aborigine, aborigines, aboriginality

Catalogue search tips:

• Too many hits? Add another keyword e.g. aboriginal AND dreaming AND land
  OR
  Use the limit functions in advanced keyword search e.g. limit by publication date, format, location
• Found a useful title? Click on the subject headings to find similar material
• Studying at a different UOW campus? Use an advanced keyword search and limit by location

Need help? Ask a question.

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Aboriginal Studies journal articles

Search a database to find journal articles, book chapters, conference papers and research reports

Try these first

Complete list of Arts databases

Found a useful reference?

Some databases do not provide the fulltext of the article. To locate these articles, you will need to search the catalogue to determine if the Library holds the journal title(s) either in print or electronically on another database.

Database search tips:

• Break your topic into keywords and/or phrases. The search strategy worksheet will help you
• Consider alternative keywords or spelling variations
• To narrow your search combine your keywords with AND to find records that contain all your keywords
  
  e.g. indigenous AND self government
  
  
• To broaden your search combine your keywords with OR to find records that contain either of your keywords
  
  e.g. self government OR autonomy
  
  
• Use truncation to retrieve variations of your keyword.
  
  e.g. autonom* retrieves autonomy, autonomous.
  
  
• Found a useful reference? Use the subject headings to find similar material
• Use library database tips or the database help screens for tips on how to search

More information: Finding Journal Articles Tutorial

Need help? Ask a question.

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Aboriginal Studies Internet sites

It is important to critically evaluate all information found on the Web.

Try the following sites as a starting point.

• General resources
• Culture
• History
• Land Rights and Native Title
• Reconciliation and Social Justice
• Search engines
• Directories
• UOW sites

General resources

• Indigenous Affairs Resources - contains government information resources, directories, statistics, issues. (Department of the Parliamentary Library)
• Indigenous Australians
  Hosted by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, this site contains a range of publications and assorted material
• Office of Indigenous Policy Coordination - Part of Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs (DIMIA).It has a central role in the Australian Government's arrangements in Indigenous Affairs.

Culture

• Aboriginal Art and Culture Centre, Alice Springs - Hosted by Aboriginal artists
• Indigenous Australia - Cultural heritage and spirituality, stories of the Dreaming and Indigenous Australian timeline (Australian Museum)

History

• Aboriginal History in the Illawarra - History of Aborigines in the Illawarra region (Wollongong City Library)
• A Chronology of Aboriginal and Islander History - Searchable by year or topic (National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education Website - NATSIEW)

Land Rights and Native Title

• Australians for Native Title and Reconciliation
  Native title and reconciliation issues
• Mabo v Queensland No. 2 1992 (Cth)
  This case inserted the legal doctrine of native title into Australian law
• National Native Title Tribunal
  Australian Commonwealth Government agency
• Native Title Research Unit
  Current native title issues (Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies)

Reconciliation and Social Justice

• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice (part of Australian Human Rights & Equal Opportunity Commission) Indigenous human rights issues such as stolen children and deaths in custody
• AustLII Indigenous Law Resources
  Government reports and publications including the 'Bringing Them Home' report and 'Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody'
• Reconciliation Australia
  An independent, not-for-profit body established in January 2001 to provide a continuing national focus for reconciliation. This site includes a wide range of publications, speeches and media releases as well as an archive of documents for the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation 1991-2000

Government departments and agencies

• AIATSIS - Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies
• Australian Human Rights & Equal Opportunity Commission - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice
• National Native Title Tribunal
• Government information - links from the Library's E-Reference page

Search engines

Search engines create databases using computer programs called 'spiders', 'robots' or 'crawlers' that trawl the web and other Internet sites and return results to the database.

Try these first:

• Google Scholar
• Web Wombat Australian Search Engine - Searches Australian sites
• Other search engines and directories

Directories

Directories organise Internet resources by subject. The information provided in directories is created, arranged and maintained by people rather than machines.

WWW Virtual Library

• Aboriginal History
• Aboriginal Studies
• Black Book Directory
  A listing of indigenous people and organisations involved in the arts, media and cultural industries

UOW sites

• Woolyungah Indigenous Centre
• South East Arnhem Land Collaborative Research Project (SEALCP)
• Faculty of Arts

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Last reviewed: 5 July, 2007