(most of these must be accessed from campus terminals)
Lexis-Nexis: Allows you to search legal records and also most contemporary periodical publications (newspapers, magazines) around the world. Use this database particularly if you want to look at a contemporary figure or event (e.g., Madonna travelling to the Holy Land; the religious riots at Ayodhya; the building up of Graceland)
(Link unavailable: Go to the Libraries database page and click link from there for Lexis-Nexis Academic)
ATLA Religion Database: Most modern periodicals and books (including essay collections) are indexed here, some with links to full text. Use this database to find recent scholarly treatments of particular sites, figures, or texts.
Major online encyclopedias of religion, including: Encyclopedia of Religion, Encyclopaedia Judaica, New Catholic Encyclopedia, Encyclopedia of the Qur'an
Arts and Humanities Citation Index: Use this database to find out who's talking about what in scholarship, by topic or author.
Missed something? Want to go over it again? Handout from the research and writing workshop available here.
Claremont Colleges Digital Library: You can access a tremendous amount of fascinating multi-media resources that belong to the Claremont Colleges. Even if none of these resources end up being what you base your paper on, they may spark some ideas. Click here to see the "travel" subject of the collection.
Denison Special Collections: An incredible wealth of letters, photographs, children's books, early U.S. geography primers, and more! (A visit to Denison will hopefully be scheduled in February to explore some of these resources).
Religion Research Guide: A good starting place for databases and reference works. Click here.
On pilgrimage
"The Jerusalem Archaeological Park"
"Places of Peace and Power: The Sacred Site Pilgrimage of Martin Gray"
"Pilgrimage in Buddhist India: Pilgrims Guide, Buddhist Holy Sites"
On travel
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/79/Prevailing_world_religions_map.png
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/54/Religion_in_the_world.PNG
(data available here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Religion_in_the_world.PNG)
(source page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_religious_groups)
http://www.wadsworth.com/religion_d/special_features/popups/maps/matthews_world/content/map_01.html
You can find lots of useful, abbreviated information on Malcolm X here:
http://www.columbia.edu/cu/ccbh/mxp/life.html
(Click through the phases of Malcolm's life using the menu in the left-hand frame of this page)
On Nation of Islam, the entry in the Encyclopedia of Religion is useful:
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE|CX3424502182&v=2.1&u=clar46892&it=r&p=GVRL&sw=w
(NB: You must access this link from a Claremont terminal; it is subscription material).
The "official" website of Mark Twain has some biographical information:
http://www.cmgww.com/historic/twain/about/bio.htm
But you might also just start with the nice and reliable Wikipedia page:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Twain
Specific information on his early work, Innocents Abroad, will also be helpful:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Innocents_Abroad