Suggested Databases
Start Here
BU Libraries Search (BULS) is the best place to start your search. In BULS, you can find books, journal articles, newspaper articles, videos, and more! Use BULS to look for background, exhibits, articles, and theory to support your argument.
- BU Libraries SEARCHBU Libraries Search provides a single place to search for a wide variety of academic material provided by the library. The search includes books, journals, scores, video and audio recordings, and other items held by the library. The search also includes online material provided by the library from a variety of sources.
Interdisciplinary Databases
The databases listed here cover a wide range of topics, from humanities to sciences. The majority of resources in these databases will be academic articles and scholarly books.
- JSTOR This link opens in a new window
This database provides full text access to the back issues of core scholarly journals in the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences. Book reviews are included as well as journal articles. Abstracts are available for some of the articles.
- Project Muse This link opens in a new windowProject Muse provides digital access to scholarly journals and books in the humanities and social sciences. The scholarly content comes from non-profit scholarly publishers, including university presses and societies. The full text resources include journal articles, book reviews and book chapters.
Specialized Databases
These databases focus on a particular discipline or field of inquiry. Use a specialized database to search within the scholarly conversation about a topic. You'll find less irrelevant resources using a specialized database, however your topic may be more broad or interdisciplinary and you'll miss out on important conversations by searching more narrowly.
- AnthroSource This link opens in a new window
AnthroSource is an electronic archive of American Anthropological Association journals, newsletters and bulletins. It also provides seamless access to AAA journals archived in JSTOR.
- ERIC (via ProQuest) This link opens in a new window
ERIC is a collection of journal articles, association reports, conference papers, government documents, books and other materials on education-related topics. Some items are available in full text. This database is particularly useful for public policy, curriculum studies, administration, and youth literature.
- PAIS Index This link opens in a new window
The PAIS International database covers current public policy issues and areas of potential legislation. Cited articles, books and documents can date back to 1910 and are listed in the original language. While some full text is included, the index primarily links to full text articles available through existing BU subscriptions.
- Sociological Abstracts This link opens in a new window
Sociological Abstracts indexes and abstracts the international literature of sociology and related disciplines in the social and behavioral sciences. The database provides abstracts of journal articles and citations to book reviews. It also provides abstracts of books, book chapters, dissertations, and conference papers. Forty percent of the content is published outside of North America.
Books to Get You Started
Student Activism & Protest
Student Activism and Curricular Change in Higher Education by ISBN: 9781409409342Publication Date: 2011-02-28This book considers the emergence of three curricular fields that have developed and spread over the past half century in American higher education - Women's studies, Asian American studies and Queer/LGBT studies. It details the broader history of their development as knowledge fields and then explains how, when, and why individual colleges and universities may choose to adopt such innovations.
Contesting Higher Education by ISBN: 1529208645Publication Date: 2020-06-03Using new research on higher education in the UK, Canada, Chile and Italy, this rigorous comparative study investigates key episodes of student protests against neoliberal policies and practices in today's universities. As well as examining origins and outcomes of higher education reforms, the authors set these waves of demonstrations in the wider contexts of student movements, political activism and social issues, including inequality and civil rights.
Meritocracy and Neoliberalism
The Tyranny of the Meritocracy by ISBN: 9780807006276Publication Date: 2015-01-13A fresh and bold argument for revamping our standards of "merit" and a clear blueprint for creating collaborative education models that strengthen our democracy rather than privileging individual elites Standing on the foundations of America's promise of equal opportunity, our universities purport to serve as engines of social mobility and practitioners of democracy. But as acclaimed scholar and pioneering civil rights advocate Lani Guinier argues, the merit systems that dictate the admissions practices of these institutions are functioning to select and privilege elite individuals rather than create learning communities geared to advance democratic societies.
Handbook on the Politics of Higher Education by ISBN: 9781786435026Publication Date: 2018-06-29Crafted as a sophisticated entry point, this Handbook takes a wide look at the topic, the state of contemporary research, and future directions. An array of expert international contributors examine important and contentious issues such as who should pay, how to keep higher education accountable, the assurance of quality, boosting productivity and affordability, and the role of states and markets. Experts explain how universities relate to states and societies, the political economy of higher education, planning and resource allocation, regulation and quality, and the politics of stakeholder interests. Unpacking key issues for both researchers new to the sector and experts alike, this topical Handbook will prove essential and thought-provoking reading for government policymakers, social science researchers, higher education executives, as well as instructors of graduate courses.
Lean Semesters by ISBN: 9781421438771Publication Date: 2020-10-13In Lean Semesters, Sekile M. Nzinga argues that the corporatized university--long celebrated as a purveyor of progress and opportunity--actually systematically indebts and disposes of Black women's bodies, their intellectual contributions, and their potential en masse. Insisting that "shifts" in higher education must recognize such unjust dynamics as intrinsic, not tangential, to the operation of the neoliberal university, Nzinga draws on candid interviews with thirty-one Black women at various stages of their academic career... the book's collective testimonies demand that we place value on these scholars' intellectual labor, untapped potential, and humanity. Informed by the work of scholars and labor activists who have interrogated the various forms of inequity produced and reproduced by institutions of higher education under neoliberalism, Lean Semesters serves as a timely and accessible call to action.
Identity and Education
Educated by ISBN: 9780399590511Publication Date: 2018Tara Westover was seventeen the first time she set foot in a classroom. Born to survivalists in the mountains of Idaho, she prepared for the end of the world by stockpiling home-canned peaches and sleeping with her "head-for-the-hills bag." In the summer she stewed herbs for her mother, a midwife and healer, and in the winter she salvaged in her father's junkyard. Her quest for knowledge transformed her, taking her over oceans and across continents, to Harvard and to Cambridge University.
Know that you are worthy : experiences from first generation college graduates by Publication Date: 2023"In Know That You Are Worthy: Experiences from First Generation College Graduates, 31 alumni who were the first in their family to obtain a college degree share their experiences in college. These stories illuminate how the struggles of first generation students are primarily due to a combination of multiple social inequities that are ignored, reinforced, and perpetuated by exclusive college systems. These authors speak directly to current and future first generation students, offering tips and advice for success, along with powerful words of encouragement in their emotionally rich narratives.
Intersectionality and Higher Education by ISBN: 0813597706Publication Date: 2019-05-03Intersectionality and Higher Education examines how race, ethnicity, class, gender, sexuality, sexual orientation, age, disability, nationality, and other identities connect to produce intersected campus experiences. Contributors look at both the individual and institutional perspectives on issues like campus climate, race, class, and gender disparities, LGBTQ student experiences, undergraduate versus graduate students, faculty and staff from varying socioeconomic backgrounds, students with disabilities, undocumented students, and the intersections of two or more of these topics.
