There are numerous types of background materials: encyclopedias (both general and subject specific), handbooks, and dictionaries. Why use a background source? It can save you time by helping you with the following.
Muslim cool : race, religion, and hip hop in the United States by 
Impossible subjects : illegal aliens and the making of modern America. by 
Citizens but Not Americans : race and belonging among Latino Millennials. by 
The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Multiethnic American Literature by
To find scholarly articles in a library database:
There are many periodicals that have articles relevant to race and ethnic studies current research. Below are some highly regarded in this field. These links will take you to WorldCat where you can keyword search for articles within a single journal.
Journals on Ethnic Studies, Immigration and Race
African American Studies Journals
Asian American Studies Journals
Jewish Studies Journals
Latin Studies Journals
Middle East Studies
Native American Studies Journals
Research articles, empirical, research primary research, are based on original research. If you need to limit your sources to research articles, you must be able to tell the difference. Most research articles will contain the following:
Abstract
A summary of the article. (Note: Abstracts appear in reviews or secondary articles as well.)
Methods
Sometimes called "methodology" or "materials and methods," this section describes the author's research methods and tools: experiment, survey, data sources, etc.
Results
Also called "findings," this is the section of the article in which raw data are presented.
Discussion
Sometimes called "analysis," this is the section in which the author analyzes the data.
Conclusion
The author's conclusions based on the analysis.
References
List of references to works cited in the article.
These standard parts of a research article may not always be labeled, and sometimes they are combined (for example, "Data and Methods"). Still, every research article indicates what methods and tools were used to conduct the research, what the results were, and how the author interprets those results.
Not every article in a scholarly journal contains research or analysis. Scholarly journals may also include:
These are not original or primary research articles.
