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Diversity and Inclusion Research & Support Resources

A guide to help NAU students, faculty, and staff research topics related to diversity, inclusion, equity, and justice. This guide also provides resources that promote diversity and inclusion at NAU and beyond.

Choosing a Topic Related to Diversity and Inclusion

A lot falls under the umbrella of Diversity and Inclusion; it's important to pick a topic that is manageable for your research project. Manageable topics generally have two to three concepts. Examples of manageable topics include:

  • What impact does mass incarceration have on African Americans in the United States?
  • What is the correlation between bullying and LGBTQ youth suicide rates?

Topics with one concept are generally too broad.

  • Mass incarceration
  • LGBTQ
  • Social issues in the United States

When a topic idea is too broad, common ways to break down an idea include: place, time period, gender, age group, or ethnic group.

Topics with more that three concepts are usually too narrow.

  • What three cities were most impacted by mass incarceration of African Americans in 2010-2015?
  • What is the correlation between bullying and LGBTQ youth suicide rates in Arizona?

Using less specificity will be necessary when a topic idea is too narrow. 

If you need help choosing a topic, please contact a librarian!

Finding Books, Articles, Media and More

There are several ways to search for books, articles, media and more at Cline Library, but one of the best ways is to search by subject.

Subject headings allow you to find sources that share a common topic.

Below are some pre-built searches for diversity titles using Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH), the standard for research libraries in the United States. This list is not exhaustive and this is only a sampling of subjects in this area:

In addition to Subject Terms, it is important to utilize keywords in your search strategy. Many of the subject terms above are broad and/or go against natural language currently used to describe people and their experiences today. One good strategy includes searching by subject term and then adding in a keyword or two to get more specific. Try various combinations when searching.

Here are a few example keywords you may consider when searching for information about your topic. 

  • Implicit bias
  • Racial tension
  • Cyberbullying
  • Systemic oppression
  • Hate speech
  • Indigenous people
  • Native American
  • Race relations
  • Prejudice
  • LGBTQ
  • Queer
  • Latino/a/x

Turning Keywords into Search Queries

Link main ideas together with AND to narrow your search:

  • "mass incarceration" AND "African American" 

 

Link related terms together with OR to broaden your search:

  • LGBTQ OR "gay and lesbian" OR queer

 

Omit a concept/keyword by using NOT to narrow your search:

  • "LGBTQ youth" NOT homeless