Hawaiian and Pacific Resources Online

This site is meant as an aid to instructors and students engaged in distance learning. It was created in response to UH-Mānoa's shift to online-only instruction to combat the spread of COVID-19 in Hawaiʻi. All resources listed on this site are available electronically -- in some cases, access may be limited to UH-Mānoa affiliates (students/faculty/staff), while others are available to students throughout the UH system. Open access resources are also included, but this guide is intended to service the UH community for as long as courses are being taught online and social distancing is the recommended means of combating COVID-19. (A separate guide to fully open-access resources, which was created pre-COVID 19 and is intended to support non-UH users who lack access to relevant materials, can be found at this link.)

Note: This site is primarily intended to point users to online research materials, rather than to be a guide to conducting research. Both the Hawaiian and Pacific Collections have numerous online guides that provide in-depth, subject-specific research advice. A complete list of Hawaiʻi guides can be found at this link. A complete list of Pacific guides can be found at this link. You can also find some basic research tips on the Hawaiian & Pacific Collections website, by clicking here. (Note that some of these tips do not apply to research in an online-only environment.) 

As a first step in Pacific Islands research, WIkipedia can at times be very useful. However, Wikipedia itself notes that, "Wikipedia is not considered to be a reliable source as not everything in Wikipedia is accurate, comprehensive, or unbiased." Because of this, it is important to consider Wikipedia as an entry point to information on a subject, but not the actual source of information on a subject. If the source of a piece of information in a WIkipedia entry is not fully and clearly cited, it cannot be trusted as accurate. If a piece of information is cited, you must always go to that original source to a) ensure that the information has been fully and correctly presented in the Wikipedia article and b) that the original source of the information is itself "authoritative" -- that is, that the original source of the information can be trusted to be accurate and unbiased, or is presented in such a way that it can clearly be identified as inaccurate or biased. Sometimes, an author may be purposely including something that is inaccurate, false or biased as part of a larger discussion of a topic; if only that one portion of the argument is quoted in a second source (like Wikipedia), or if the information is taken out of context, it may take on a meaning that the author never intended. In short, Wikipedia can be a useful first step in your research, but it should never be your last (or only) step. (Click here for more detailed information on using Wikipedia as a research tool.)