Research Guides: Metropolitan Studies: Choosing and Understanding a Research Topic

Choosing & Understanding a Topic

Metropolitan Studies is a wide discipline. Getting started with your research can be challenging and intimidating. Using background resources, like encyclopedias, handbooks, or some other books and websites can show you different directions your research might take.

Example Background Sources

Cities of the United States
City-specific profiles organize pertinent facts, data, and figures related to demographic, economic, cultural, geographic, social, and recreational conditions.
Encyclopedia of the City by Roger W. Caves (Editor)
Key topics found in urban studies and allied fields.
Encyclopedia of Urban Studies by Ray Hutchison (Editor)
Specific theories, key studies, and important figures that have influenced the the field of urban studies.
Encyclopedia of American Urban History by David R. Goldfield (Editor)
Offers an interdisciplinary approach by covering topics from economics, geography, anthropology, politics, and sociology.
Historic Cities of the Americas by David F. Marley
Reference tool detailing seminal events in the evolution of some of the most famous cities in the New World.

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Metropolitan Studies

Choosing & Understanding a Topic

Example Background Sources