world culture

Background

Since December 2010 the world has watched as demonstrations and protests spread across countries in North Africa and the Middle East. These pro-democracy movements rose up against the dictatorial regimes and corrupt leaders that had ruled for decades in some cases. Someone called these revolutionary events “Arab Spring,” and the phrase stuck. The specificity of these Arab revolutions is that they have been popular uprisings, leaderless and uncompromising in demanding total change. Why have the events in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Yemen, Syria, etc. followed such different paths? What are the long-term political, social, and economic ramifications of these revolutions? What are their intended and unintended consequences as countries across the region seek political and social reforms? What's the future of the Arab revolution with regard to the crucial issues of freedom, democracy, fidelity to Islam, secularism, and tribal power? There are a lot of questions and there is much to study in the causes and factors that led to these large-scale movements.  This guide will attempt to provide direction to the appropriate source material within the library and beyond.

إذا الشّعْبُ  يَوْمَاً  أرَادَ   الْحَيَـاةَ       فَلا  بُدَّ  أنْ  يَسْتَجِيبَ   القَـدَر

وَلا بُـدَّ  لِلَّيـْلِ أنْ  يَنْجَلِــي          وَلا  بُدَّ  للقَيْدِ  أَنْ   يَـنْكَسِـر

If a people one day wills to live --- fate [God] must answer its call
And the night must fade ---- and the chain must break

(by Tunisian poet Abou el-Kacem al-Chebbi, b. February 24 ,1909 - d. October 9, 1934)

The Seven Steps of the Research Process

STEP 1: IDENTIFY AND DEVELOP YOUR TOPIC

STEP 2: FIND BACKGROUND INFORMATION

STEP 3: USE CATALOGS TO FIND BOOKS AND MEDIA

STEP 4: USE INDEXES TO FIND PERIODICAL ARTICLES

STEP 5: FIND INTERNET RESOURCES

STEP 6: EVALUATE WHAT YOU FIND

STEP 7: CITE WHAT YOU FIND USING A STANDARD FORMAT

Available online:

RefWorks is a web-based program that allows you to easily collect, manage, and organize bibliographic references by interfacing with databases. RefWorks also interfaces directly with Word, making it easy to import references and incorporate them into your writing, properly formatted according to the style of your choice.

See our guide to citation tools and styles.

Format the citations in your bibliography using examples from the following Library help pages: Modern Language Association (MLA) examples and American Psychological Association (APA) examples.