Human Rights

This guide is an introduction to the research process that, while not being an exhaustive list of information resources available, should be helpful in getting started in your research about human rights.  Below you will find pointers to suggested research terms about human rights, materials in the library catalog about human rights, websites relevant tohuman rights, and links to library databases that contain information about human rights.  Please use our email reference service, contact us at (310) 434-4254, or visit us in the library at the reference desk if you need further assistance.

Go to:   Suggested Research Terms   Materials in the Library Catalog    Websites   Library Databases

Suggested Research Terms

One of the really helpful things when searching for information about a topic is a short list of terms related to a topic.  We think the following terms will help with your research about human rights:

• human rights
• "freedom of religion"
• anti-globalization movement
• genocide
• crimes against humanity
• political prisoners
• prison conditions
• torture
• slavery

The following terms are best combined with the phrase "human rights" as shown:

• capital punishment and human rights
• countries (Cambodia, Rwanda, etc.) and human rights
• discrimination and human rights
• education and human rights
• equality and human rights
• freedom and human rights
• global and human rights
• health and human rights
• housing and human rights
• justice and human rights
• medical care and human rights
• national security and human rights
• NGO (Non-governmental Organization) and human rights
• private property and human rights
• suffrage and human rights
• violence and human rights

(Some of these terms will also be valuable when combined with each other such as "global" and "justice" - see below.)

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Materials in the Library Catalog about Human Rights

We have the following materials in the library catalog about human rights:

• human rights
• genocide
• crimes against humanity
• anti-globalization movement
• global and justice (Note the combination of terms using the boolean operator "and".)

A great place to begin your research on any topic is the print reference area. These are a few of the titles that might help in your research on human rights.

• Encyclopedia of Ethics Ref BJ63 .E45 1992
• The Encyclopedia of Philosophy Ref B41 .E5
• Encyclopedia of Sociology Ref HM425 .E5 2000
• The Harper Collins Encyclopedia of Catholicism Ref BX841 .H37 1995
• Historic Documents Ref E 839.5 .H57
• Human Rights: The Essential Reference Ref K3240.4 .H847 1999
• International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences Ref H41 E6 1968
• Routledge Encyclopedia if Philosophy Ref B51 .R68 1998
• Routledge International Encyclopedia of Women Ref HQ 1115 .R69 2000
• Violence in America Ref HN90 .V5 V5474 1999
• West's Encyclopedia of American Law Ref KF 154 .W47 1998

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Websites on human rights

The following websites will help you with your research on human rights:

• Human Rights Watch .Lawyers, journalists, academics, and country experts of many nationalities and diverse backgrounds...conduct fact-finding investigations into human rights abuses in all regions of the world
• Listing of International Human Rights Advocacy Groups
  "The primary emphasis of many of the organizations listed here is to advocate on behalf of victims of human rights violations. These violations may include war crimes, torture, slavery, and denial of basic needs for survival, ethnic discrimination or denial of self-determination.

• Human Rights Internet
  "HRI is dedicated to the empowerment of human rights activists and organizations, and to the education of governmental and intergovernmental agencies...on human rights issues."

• Francois-Xavier Bagnoud Center for Health and Human Rights
  This "first academic center to focus exclusively on health and human rights, combines the academic strengths of research and teaching with a strong commitment to service and advocacy."
• Global Rights . Partners for Justice Online
  Global Rights is a human rights advocacy group that partners with local activists to challenge injustice and amplify new voices within the global discourse.

• UNICEF Innocenti Research Center
  This site is devoted to research and advocacy for children's rights around the world.

• United Nations Office of the High Commisioner for Human Rights
  The UN's official site, directs the viewer to a variety of human rights resources.

• University of Minnesota Human Rights Library
  A great starting point. This site provides a large number of documents and pertinent links.

• Amnesty International Online
  Perhaps the best known human rights organization, their website deals primarily with political prisoners, but also other issues of concern to human rights advocates and researchers.

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Library Databases Relevant to Human Rights

The following SMC databases contain material relevant to human rights.   Databases may include magazine, newspaper and journal articles.  Please note: you must be a Santa Monica College student, faculty or staff member to use these services.

Philosophy and Religion Collection
Covers such topics as epistemology, political philosophy, philosophy of language, moral philosophy and the history of philosophy, world religions, biblical studies, religious history. Includes more than 300 full text journals.

Academic Search Premier, MasterFile Premier
Academic Search Premier and MasterFile Premier provide full text for over 6200 periodicals including full text for more than 3,500 peer-reviewed journals. Coverage spans virtually every area of academic study and offers information dating as far back as 1975.

National Newspapers (1985- current)
Local, regional and national news coverage from selected newspapers, including the Los Angeles Times, New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Boston Globe, Chicago Tribune, Denver Post, USA Today, Christian Science Monitor.

Newspaper Source Plus
Provides selected full text for many U.S. and international newspapers. The database also contains full text television & radio news transcripts, and selected full text for more than 800 U.S. regional newspapers.

CountryWatch
Country Reviews provide geographical, political, economic, corporate and environmental information for every country in the world. Country Wire is compiled from the wire services on the latest political, economic, corporate, and environmental events on a country by country basis.

Encyclopedia Americana
Includes 45,000 articles, plus thousands of hypertext links to web sites featuring additional data. It is updated quarterly.

Encyclopedia, Funk and Wagnalls New World
Provides over 25,000 encyclopedic entries covering a variety of subject areas.

JSTOR
Back issues of over 300 scholarly journals in a wide variety of disciplines: African American Studies, African Studies, Anthropology, Archeology, Art and Architecture, Asian Studies, Ecology, Economics, Education, Finance, Geography, History, Language & Literature, Latin American Studies, Mathematics, Music, Middle East Studies, Philosophy, Political Science, Population Studies, Slavic Studies, Sociology and Statistics.

Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection
Provides coverage of nearly 550 full text journals, covering topics such as emotional and behavioral characteristics, psychiatry & psychology, mental processes, anthropology, and observational and experimental methods.

Military and Government Collection
Designed to offer current news pertaining to all branches of the military and government, provides cover-to-cover full text for more than 350 journals and periodicals and indexing and abstracts for more than 450 titles.