Banned Books

Click on the headings below to view suggested resources.

Articles & eResources

The databases listed below can provide citations to newspaper, magazine and scholarly/peer review journals as well as each offers some full-text articles. Perform a subject search for articles by simply entering the subjects suggested below into the search box in any of the indexes listed below. If you would like to combine a subject with a related term, use the connector AND.

Academic Search Complete

Journals covering the social sciences, humanities, general science, multi-cultural studies, general reference, business, health, education, and much more.

MasterFILE Complete

CQ Researcher

Offers in-depth, non-biased coverage of political and social issues, with regular reports on topics in health, international affairs, education, the environment, technology and the U.S. economy.

ERIC (via EbscoHost)

Abstracts all types of documents related to education. Includes journal articles, books, these, curricula, conference papers, and standards and guidelines. Useful search terms include banned books, intellectual freedom, and censorship.

Historical Abstracts

This annual index includes abstracts for scholarly articles from over 2,000 international journals. Contains several articles on the history of book banning. Useful terms include: intellectual freedom, censorship, and book censorship.

Using the Library Catalog

Click here to search the Library Catalog

Library of Congress Subject Headings (for use in online catalogs and WorldCat):

Banned Books
Banned Books Week
Censorship
Censorship - History
Censorship - History - 20th Century
Censorship - History - 20th Century - Juvenile literature
Censorship - United States - History
Libraries - Censorship
Prohibited books
Prohibited books - Bibliography
Prohibited books - History
Prohibited books - History - 20th Century
Prohibited books - United States - History
Prohibited books - United States - History - 20th Century

Books & Library Materials

When beginning, a good way to obtain background information and ideas to build on your topic area is with reference materials such as encyclopedias, almanacs, and abstracts. Once you have established your topic, state your thesis or theme in a sentence or two. From this sentence, identify the keywords and use them in your search statement.