How to Diversify (20 mins)

In the previous section, you were asked to take a look at your syllabus to see if the authors reflect the experiences of your students. Below you will find a list of suggested resources for diversifying your syllabus. 

Choose your library database.

Google Scholar, OneSearch, and Academic Search Complete are useful, comprehensive databases, but the library has specialty databases that focus on scholarly content by specific demographics. A small sample:

• • EthnicNewsWatch Links to an external site.: a current resource of full-text newspapers, magazines, and journals of the ethnic and minority press, providing researchers access to essential, often overlooked perspectives. 
  • Gender Watch Links to an external site.: full articles on gender and women's studies.
  • Indigenous Histories and Cultures in North America Links to an external site.: features scholarship and reference content, hundreds of primary documents, and images of the indigenous peoples of the United States.

Some databases have or are adding features that allow you to search more specifically. Gale's LitFinder, for example, has a drop-down choice for "Ethnicity" or "Gender" of the author. Using this will require some trial and error; Gale uses "Hispanic" instead of "Latina," for example. As always, your subject librarian is available to build search strategies with you. 

All of these databases, and over 400 more, are available on the library's A-Z page Links to an external site.. We recommend that you page through the A-Z list for potential new sources. 

Find specific journals.  

Many journals or publications are reserved for authors of a certain ethnic or racial background, gender, or sexual orientation.  Explore our Journals Search tab based on your interest. Popular examples include US Black Engineer and Information Technology Links to an external site., IEEE Women in Engineering, Links to an external site. and  Latin American Perspectives Links to an external site..   You may need to try searching in multiple databases to locate the journals that you are seeking.

Explore The Open Notebook.

The Open Notebook Links to an external site. is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to amplifying the voices of marginalized groups. They offer a wide variety of resources and organize them by topic and by discipline. 

In addition, Merlot Links to an external site., an open education platform, has added two optional inputs on their search page:  "Authored by member of Minority Serving Institution In USA" and "Submitted by member of Minority Serving Institution In USA."  This filter may increase the odds that your search results were authored by people of color. 

Contextualize with stories. 

One way to diversify your course is to contextualize lessons with references to important contributions from scholars who identify as Black, Indigenous, or People of Color.  Here is an example for an engineering or materials science course: If you are researching non-allergic sources for latex, you could direct your students to guayule, and share how it was Japanese-American scientists held in internment camps Links to an external site. who contributed to our knowledge of this important source, as they experimented with it in an effort to support the war.  Weaving in these contributions grants credit to important contributors who may have been previously overlooked. 

Syllabus Images

This video demonstrates how to add images to your SJSU Official Syllabus (7 mins).

As shown in the video, you'll need to copy the source code and follow the instructions from this guide on Adding Images to Your Syllabus. Links to an external site.  For more support and resources on SJSU's Official Syllabus, see the SJSU Official Syllabus Webpage Links to an external site. or email eCampus@sjsu.edu.

Next

On the next page, you will explore the use of primary resources in your coursework.