IAIA - Institute of American Indian Arts

Native American Authors

Finding Information

Begin in the IAIA Library with the following resources in the Reference collection.

REF 803 W654d
 Dictionary of Native American literature / edited by Andrew Wiget.
REF 810.9 J95c Contemporary Native American authors : a biographical dictionary / Kay Juricek, Kelly J. Morgan.
REF 810.9 N278w Native North American literature : biographical and   critical information on native writers and orators   from the United States and Canada from historical   times to the present /
Janet Witalec, editor, Jeffery Chapman, Christopher Giroux, associate editors.
REF 810.97 N278r Native American writers of the United States / edited by Kenneth M. Roemer.
REF 810.97 N278k Native American women’s writing : an anthology, 1800-1924 / edited by Karen Kilcup.
REF 016.973 L779b A biobibliography of native American writers, 1772-  1924. A Supplement /
by Daniel F. Littlefield, Jr. and James W. Parins.  Contains very brief information about some writers.
REF 016.81 B366n The Native American in long fiction: an annotated bibliography /
by Joan Beam and Barbara Branstad.
REF 016.81 R682n The native American in American literature : a selectively annotated bibliography /
compiled by Roger O. Rock.

Check for additional resources in the IAIA Library by searching the Online Catalog.

Search All Indexes with the NAME OF THE WRITER you are researching.

  • Make sure you are spelling both their first and last name correctly.

Additionally, try the following searches using the Subject Words option.

  • with the phrase INDIAN AUTHORS in the first box and the term BIOGRAPHY in the second box
  • with the phrase INDIAN AUTHORS in the first box and the term INTERVIEWS in the second box
  • with the phrase INDIAN AUTHORS in the first box and the term CRITICISM in the second box

Use the resources on the IAIA Library Database Page

Ethnic NewsWatch is a good place to start when searching for information about Native American authors

  • Search with the NAME OF THE WRITER you are researching.
  • Make sure you are spelling both their first and last name correctly.
  • Also try searching the Project Muse, JSTOR, Academic Search Premier, FirstSearch and INFOTRAC databases available on the IAIA Library Database Page.

Searching the Internet

ALWAYS EVALUATE THE INFORMATION

In Print or Electronic – Especially from the Internet

Native Web Site Evaluation

  • Purpose of the resource
  • Audience – Who is the information written for?
  • Does the resource match your needs?
  • Be aware that searching the Internet often provides numerous possibilities, ranging from personal coments to scholarly articles. Your may need to weed through a lot of extra material to find items that match your needs.

Source / Authority

  • Is the Author/Producer identified?
  • Does the Author/Producer have expertise in subject?
  • Check the sponser/location of Internet site address
  • edu, org, gov, com, net
  • Is it a personal page? Personal sites sometimes look like /~name
  • Contact information should be provided.

Content

  • Accuracy

Critically evaluate the information, have a healthy skepticism

The source of the information should be stated. Is it original or borrowed?

  • Balance & Objectivity

What is the point of view?

Is the presentation biased?

  • With Internet sites consider the Links on the site

Are the links relevant and appropriate

Links do not give a site authority

Do not rely only on the links of a site, there may be other good or better sites available

  • Date published, created, or updated

In print this provides context for the material, the perspective of the time

On Internet web sites this indicates an interest in maintaining the site and the currency of the information

  • Style and Function of Internet sites

Presentation fits the intended audience

Site is easy to navigate

Logical arrangement of sections

Links work

Look for search capability on large sites

Below are some Internet sites useful for finding information about Native American authors.

Native Literature Directory

  • A directory of Native American stories from the American Indian Heritage Foundation.

Native American Authors

  • Bibliographies, biographical, interviews, online texts, and more

Voices from the Gaps: Women Writers of Color

  • Biographies, criticism, bibliographies of work

Online Literary Criticism

  • Biographies, some criticism

Association for the Study of American Indian Literatures

  • Search issues of the SAIL journal

ANPA Bibliography of Native American Writers

  • Difficult to search and mostly contains lists of works rather than biographies or criticism

You might want to try these Academic Internet Searching Sites

The information is organized for you by topic and the sites have been evaluated

When you feel like searching the vast Internet on your own, try

  • FINDSPOT This site helps you best use the various search engines available by providing simple instructions.
  • Google Scholar Search for scholarly literature.

Academics