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Bibliographies

Japan and the Japanese: a bibliographic guide to reference sources. Compiled by Yasuko Makino and Mihoko Miki. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1996.
Memorial Library Reference Stacks Room 262
DS835 M33 1996

Japanese history and culture from ancient to modern times: seven basic bibliographies. John W. Dower, Timothy S. George. 2nd ed. Princeton: Markus Wiener, 1995.
Memorial Library Reference Stacks Room 262
DS835 D6 1995

Japanese studies from pre-history to 1990: a bibliographical guide. Compiled by Richard Perren. Manchester; New York: Manchester University Press: Distributed in the USA and Canada by St. Martin's Press, c1992.
Memorial Library Reference Stacks Room 262
DS806 J36 1992

Research activities of the South Manchurian Railway, 1907-1945: a history and bibliography. John Young. New York: East Asian Institute, Columbia University, 1966.
Memorial Library Reference Stacks Room 262
Z7165 M3 Y6

Student guide to Japanese sources in the humanities. Ann Arbor, Mich.: Center for Japanese Studies, University of Michigan, 1993.
Memorial Library Reference Stacks Room 262
DS806 M35 1993

War against Japan, 1941-1945: an annotated bibliography. John J. Sbrega. New York: Garland, 1989.
Memorial Library Reference Stacks Room 262
D767.9 S37 1989

Dictionaries

Biographical dictionary of Japanese history. Supervising editor, Seiichi Iwao; translator, Burton Watson. 1st ed. Tokyo: International Society for Educational Information, 1978.
Memorial Library Reference Stacks Room 262
DS834 B56

Concise dictionary of modern Japanese history. Compiled by Janet Hunter. Berkeley: University of California Press, c1984.
Memorial Library Reference Stacks Room 262
DS881.9 H86 1984

Dictionary of Japanese history. Joseph M. Goedertier. 1st ed. New York: Walker/Weatherhill, 1968.
Memorial Library East Asian Reference Collection Room 412
DS833 G6

History dictionary of World War II: the war against Japan. Anne Sharp Wells. Lanham, Md.: Scarecrow Press, 1999.
Memorial Library East Asian Reference Collection Room 412
D767.9 W43 1999

Encyclopedias

Cambridge encyclopedia of Japan. Editors, Richard Bowring, Peter Kornicki. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1993.
Memorial Library Reference Stacks Room 262
DS805 C36 1993

Japan: an illustrated encyclopedia. Tokyo: Kodansha; New York, NY: Distributed by Kodansha America, 1993.
Memorial Library Reference Stacks Room 262
DS805 J263 1993

Japan encyclopedia. Louis Frederic. Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2002.
Memorial Library Reference Stacks Room 262
DS821 F73 2002

Kodansha bilingual encyclopedia of Japan. 1st ed. Tokyo: Kodansha International; New York: Kodansha America, 1998.
Memorial Library East Asian Reference Collection Room 412
DS805 K6323 1998

Kodansha encyclopedia of Japan. Tokyo; New York, NY: Kodansha, 1983.
Memorial Library Reference Stacks Room 262
DS805 K633 1983

Kodansha encyclopedia of Japan (Online). Based on Japan: an illustrated encyclopedia. Tokyo: Kodansha, 1993.
http://www.ency-japan.com
Access from Library Web Site, click on "Reference: Encyclopedias, Dictionaries and more" link.

Modern Japan: an encyclopedia of history, culture, and nationalism. Editor, James L. Huffman. New York: Garland Pub., 1998.
Memorial Library Reference Stacks Room 262
DS805 M63 1998

Guides

Columbia guide to modern Japanese history. Gary D. Allinson. New York: Columbia University Press, c1999.
Memorial Library Regular Size Shelving
DS881.9 A75 1999

Survey Histories

Cambridge history of Japan. John W. Hall et al. editors. Cambridge [England]; New York: Cambridge University Press, 1988-1993.
Memorial Library Regular Size Shelving and College Library Reserve Collection
DS835 C36 1988

[Back to Top]

(A) Searching by Subject -- Start with your own words (keywords) and then use the language or words of the database (subjects) to locate other items. The "official" language of a database is often referred to as subject headings or descriptors.

For example:

Start with a Guided Search using your own keywords (example: Japan, history, Manchuria).

Once you find a title that looks promising, look at the full record to determine if there are any useful subject headings, for example:

Japan -- History -- 1926-1945
Manchuria (China) -- History -- 1931-1945

As demonstrated by the subject headings above, "history" will be a subject term for many topics. Other subject terms you may want to try include terms for places, events, or people.

Use these subject headings in the following two ways:

1. Click on a subject heading within the full record.
2. Use a subject heading within a Guided Search.

Tip: Before doing a Guided Search, you can set limits, such as:
language: English and/or type of material: book.

List of some subject headings in MadCat:

China -- History -- 1928-1937
China -- History -- 1937-1945
Fascism -- Japan
Japan -- Foreign relations -- 1868-
Japan -- Foreign relations -- 1912-1945
Japan -- Foreign relations -- 20th century
Japan -- History -- 1868-
Japan -- History -- 1926-1945
Japan -- Politics and government -- 1868-
Korea -- History -- Japanese occupation, 1910-1945
Manchuria (China)-- History -- 1931-1945
Militarism -- Japan
Nationalism -- Japan
Sino-Japanese Conflict, 1937 - 1945
World War, 1939 - 1945

(B) Finding Published Primary Sources -- Primary sources, original materials from the time you are interested in, include newspapers, government publications, personal narratives such as autobiographies, correspondence, collected works and collections of documents, memoirs, diaries, eyewitness accounts, periodical articles, etc. To find published primary sources, you can make use of other subject terms used to describe these sources. These terms appear as part of subject headings. Using a Guided Search, you can combine these terms (e.g., sources, correspondence, personal narratives) with terms for your topic (e.g., Japan, history, etc.). Another term to describe these materials is document; you can search by keyword for this term followed by MadCat's truncation symbol (?) to find variations of document (i.e., document, documents, documentary) in records.

One of the bibliographies in John W. Dower's Japanese history and culture from ancient to modern times: seven basic bibliographies is "Japan and the Crisis in Asia, 1931-1945: 'Primary' Materials in English." Among the sources listed are "Accounts by Participants," firsthand accounts by people such as diplomats, naval officers, reporters, and women. To check availability and location of these titles on campus, search MadCat for the titles using Basic Search.

(C) Browsing by Call Number -- Notice similar call numbers for books on your topic. Browse collections for those call number areas for reference books (Memorial Library, 2nd Floor South Stacks) and for other books (Memorial Library, 7th Floor South Stacks).

Library of Congress call numbers have subject meaning.

For example:

DS701-799.9: China
DS733-779.32: History
DS781-796: Local history and description
DS781-784.2: Manchuria
DS798.92-799.9: Taiwan

DS801-897: Japan
DS833-891.5: History
DS894.215-897: Local history and description

DS901-937: Korea
DS904.8-922.4642: History

Full-Text Databases

JSTOR [Location: UW-Madison Libraries Web Site. Click on "Journals, Magazines and Newspapers," then on "J" for JSTOR, and then "JSTOR." ]

Includes full-text articles from back issues of such journals as the Journal of Asian Studies, Journal of Japanese Studies, and Monumenta Nipponica. Includes periodicals published before 1945 such as Far Eastern Survey (American Council of the Institute of Pacific Relations), International Affairs (Royal Institute of International Affairs), and Pacific Affairs (Institute of Pacific Relations).
Search tips: From JSTOR home page, click "Search" and then type in keywords to search by abstract, author, title, or full text of articles and select discipline or journals (that is, Asian Studies). Click "Browse" to browse journals by subject and then click "Asian Studies" and journal title.

Proquest Historical Newspapers: New York Times, 1851-1999 [Location: UW-Madison Libraries Web Site. Click on "Journals, Magazines and Newspapers," then on "P" for Proquest Historical Newspapers: New York Times, and then "ProQuest Historical Newspapers: New York Times"]

This version of The New York Times includes full-text and full-image articles since its beginning year. Digital reproductions of every page and every article from every issue are available in downloadable PDF files. It is possible to display the complete image of any page in any issue or even browse individual issues page by page.
Search tips: Use quotation marks (e.g.,"Manchurian Incident") to search for exact phrases. 2 word queries are searched as an exact phrase by default. 3 word queries are searched as words that need to be in proximity to each other. Use truncation symbol (*) to find variations of words (e.g., colon* to find colonial and colonization). To narrow your search, search in specific data fields (e.g., Article Title instead of Article Text) and/or limit to a specific date or date range. Enter front_page as Article Type to find front page for a specific date.

Proquest Research Library [Location: UW-Madison Libraries Web Site. Click on "Journals, Magazines and Newspapers," then on "P" for Proquest Research Library, and then "ProQuest Research Library."]

Includes full-text articles from current issues of such journals as Japan Quarterly and the Journal of Asian Studies.
Search tips: Type in keywords. When looking at results, check the Subject field in record for ideas for other keywords. Click on "Full text" or "Page Image - PDF" links for the article. If article is not available in full text, click on "Find a copy" to initiate a search of MadCat for journal title. Browse by publication by clicking on "Publication Search" and the first letter and title of journal. Click on "Search within Publication" to search within the journal.

Citation Databases

Bibliography of Asian Studies [Location: UW-Madison Libraries Web Site. Click on "Journals, Magazines and Newspapers," then on "B" for Bibliography of Asian Studies, and then "Bibliography of Asian Studies."]

Includes citations to articles about Asia in Western language journals and books. There are no abstracts.
Search tips: Simple Search: use if searching by one keyword or continuous phrase. Advanced Search: use if searching by more than one keyword. Type in keywords (example: Manchuria, occupation, Japan) in separate search boxes. Be sure to put a keyword in the first search box or you will not get any results. To search two or more words as a phrase (example: Manchurian Incident) put in one search box. If you want to search for two words in any order, put words in separate search boxes. Use an asterix (*) to find variations and plural forms of words (for example, Japan* will bring up records with Japan and Japanese). Specify the field in which you want to search: entire record, author, title, journal, and subject. Can limit search to journal articles only.

Historical Abstracts [Location: UW-Madison Libraries Web Site. Click on "Journals, Magazines and Newspapers," then on "H" for Historical Abstracts, and then "Historical Abstracts."]

Indexes and abstracts information in world history covering 1450 to the present and the related social sciences and humanities, excluding the U.S. and Canada. Links to full-text articles are included when available. Collections of essays, conference papers, dissertations, and books are also included.
Search tips: Use Advanced Search for more search fields. Historical Abstracts includes journals in 40 languages; limit results with language field (For example, click on magnifying glass icon next to Language field, check English, and click "Paste Terms" button.). Limit results also by specifying time period (For example, click on magnifying glass icon next to Time Period field, check decades, such as 1930 and 1940, and click "Paste Terms" button.). Look at subject terms in the Full Entry Display and use appropriate terms as keywords in a new search. Use an asterix (*) to find variations and plural forms of words (for example, colon* will bring up records with colonial and colonization).

How to Find a Journal When the Full Text is Not Available in the Database

When the database does not provide the article in full text or a link to MadCat, search MadCat. Click on Basic Search. Type in the name of the journal. Select "journal title" to search by journal title. Check the "Library Has" part of the record to check the library or database that has the date, volume, and issue you need. Copy down the call number and use the Memorial Library Stack Guide to locate the stack level and section. From the database, note the journal title, volume number, issue number, and page numbers.