I. Resources available from UNC Libraries
A. For all linguistics courses
- Google Scholar through UNC Libraries
- Search for publications on a topic
- Follow citation links "forward" in time
- This version of Google Scholar adds links to library content
- If no link is provided, try using the library catalog (see next item) to search for the resource manually
- UNC Libraries
advanced catalog search
- Search the catalog for whole books or journals (try a 'words in subject heading' or 'keyword' search)
- If you know what article you are looking for, search for the journal ('title' + set 'resource type' to journal) and then navigate to the specific volume and issue
-
"Linguistics Library Resources Cheat Sheet" (UNC Libraries web page)
- Databases for searching for journal articles, both electronic and paper
- Other potentially useful tips and resources
- Some other databases that might be useful to try
B. Useful mainly for advanced courses and thesis research
- ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Full Text database (access to many MA theses and PhD dissertations)
- Several linguistics publishers have a book series called Handbook of ...,
covering many linguistic topics and subfields; these can be a useful way to
get a quick overview and find important references (try searching the
library catalog for Handbook of [YourFieldHere])
- When you're in the stacks, don't forget to look on the shelves for other relevant books near the ones you've found by searching the catalog
II. Other online resources
- Reference information on languages of the world, from
Glottolog
- Linguistics resources from
Ethnologue, by
SIL International
- Language information database (note: access may be limited per user/time period)
- Bibliography of language data sources
- DuckDuckGo or other general-purpose
search engines (such as Google)
Some things to look for:- Syllabi or websites from courses on your topic of interest at other universities
- Websites of linguists who work on your topic
- Google Scholar (with access provided by UNC Libraries) — see above
III. Offline resources
- Look through the bibliographies of linguistics textbooks, or relevant books/articles you've already found
- Ask someone you know who has done research in your area for suggestions about authors, journals, or books to search for
Last update and link check: November 2025