Charles Andrew Rush Learning Center/N.E. Miles Library
Library Resources for
HONORS 247--An Arthurian Primer
The first place to start your research is the BSC Online
Library Catalog
to search for books on your topic.
Search by author, title, keyword or subject
heading. Ask the reference librarians or
use the 5-volume Library of Congress
Subject Headings, located near the reference desk, to help you select
subject headings such as:
§
Arthur, king
§
Arthurian romances
§
Arthurian romances in motion pictures
§
Literature, medieval--history and criticism
§
Middle ages in motion pictures
§
Romances, English--history and criticism
Literature
Reference Books
Take some time to browse the Library’s Reference Collection. You will find many useful books including the
following selected titles, arranged here by call number.
Glossary of literary terms (Abrams) (REF PN 41 .A184 1999)
Handbook to literature
(Harmon) (REF PN41 .H355 1996)
Johns
A research guide for undergraduate students:
English and American literature (Baker) (REF PR56 .B34 2000)
Literary research guide
(Harner) (REF PR 83 .H34 2002)
Some reference books are available online from Oxford
Reference Online Premium, such as:
The
Oxford companion to English literature
The
Concise Oxford dictionary of literary terms
A
Dictionary of English folklore
A
Dictionary of Celtic mythology
Other Useful
Reference Books
Use specialized reference materials to find information on topics such as “Arthurian legend”, “romance”, “courtly love”, “courtesy books”, “knighthood”, “status of women (family life)”, “marriage”, individual authors, characters, etc.
Arthurian Name Dictionary (REF DA 152.5 .A7 B78 1999)
Chaucer A to Z : the essential reference to his life and works (REF PR 1903 R67 1999)
Dictionary of the Middle Ages 13+ vols. (REF D 114 .D5 1982)
Encyclopedia of Medieval Literature (Lambdin) (REF PN 669 E53 2000)
Encyclopedia of Medieval Literature (Ruud) (REF PN 669 .R88 2006)
Encyclopedia of the Middle Ages (REF D 114 .E53 2000)
Fantasy and Horror: a critical guide to literature, illustration, film, T.V., radio, and the Internet (PN 56 .F34 F35 2000)
New Arthurian Encyclopedia (REF DA 152.5 .A7 N48 1991)
St. James Encyclopedia of popular culture (REF E 169.1 .S764 2000)
The Oxford English Dictionary. Online and print (REF. PE1625 .N53) This is considered the authoritative source for researching the English language. It traces the meaning, history, and pronunciation of over half a million words.
Finding Scholarly
Research Published in Periodicals and Books
Using indexes is the most efficient way to identify published material on your topic. Some indexes are subject-specific such as the Modern Language Association International Bibliography (MLA) and the Annual Bibliography of English Language and Literature (ABELL), and Historical Abstracts, while others cover broader disciplines.
Literature Online (LION) provides access to a searchable library of more than 350,000 works of English and American poetry, drama and prose along with access to the Annual Bibliography of English Language and Literature (ABELL) (from 1920 forward), the MLA International Bibliography, as well as biographies, reference works, bibliographies and many full-text journal articles.
Note: Check the BSC Online
Library Catalog
and Periodicals@BSC for availability of material
identified.
MLA International Bibliography. 1963-present online, 1922-2002 in print
(Index Ref Z 7006 .M64) Provides a subject, keyword, and author index that
identifies books and articles published on, literatures, literary theory,
dramatic arts, including theatre and film, folklore, and modern languages and
linguistics. No Full-Text.
Note: Check the BSC Online
Library Catalog
and Periodicals@BSC for availability of material
identified.
Historical
Abstracts is the leading index to materials on world history from 1450 to
the present (excluding
Note: Check the BSC Online
Library Catalog
and Periodicals@BSC for availability of material
identified.
Humanities FullText. 1984-present
online; 1907-2000 print (Index Ref. AI3 .R49)
Indexes articles from English-language journals and
magazines in the humanities, including the areas of language, literature,
folklore, and history; provides full text for some.
Note: Check the BSC Online
Library Catalog
and Periodicals@BSC for availability of material
identified.
Expanded Academic ASAP. 1980-present online.
This general index covers many of the journals included in
Humanities FullText, and provides lots of full
text. Other general
indexes may also come in handy.
Arts
& Humanities Search. 1980-present online (login required, see
reference desk).
Broader humanities coverage than either of
the above databases; indexes articles from over 1300 arts and humanities
journals. No full text.
Note: Check Periodicals@BSC
for availability of material identified.
The Chaucer Review, an Indexed Bibliography includes annotations to the articles appearing in The Chaucer Review. The website contains an index which refers to the accompanying bibliography.
Note: The Chaucer Review is available through Periodicals@BSC.
Literature
Resource Center includes selected full-text, excerpted, and commissioned
critical material from Gale's Literature
Criticism series. In addition, users
can access current, full-text critical essays on major authors via the
Consult the corresponding print volumes for more excerpts from scholarly criticism:
Classical and medieval criticism (REF PN 681.5 .C57)
Contemporary literary criticism (REF PN 771 .c59)
Literature criticism from 1400-1800 (REF PN 86 .L53 1984)
Nineteenth century literature criticism (REF PN 761 .N56)
Poetry criticism (REF
PN 1010 .P499)
Twentieth century
literary criticism (REF PN 771 .G27)
Twayne’s Authors Series and Scribner’s Writers Series contain literary criticism and essays on individual writers and special topics from the Twayne and Scribner’s publications. The databases contain general essays on topics such as “Legend of Arthur”, “Arthurian Romance”, “Troubadours and Trouvers”, as well as bibliographies of secondary sources.
Motion Pictures
Complete index to literary sources in film (Goble) (REF PN 1997.85 .G64 1999) Identifies films made from works by Malory, Tennyson, etc.
Film encyclopedia (Katz) (REF PN 1993.45 .K34 1994)
Magill’s cinema annual (REF PN 1995 .M252 1982) Each annual volume covers films released the
previous year as well as some films of the past.
Motion picture guide (Nash) (REF PN 1995 .N346 1985) Contains brief entries for films from 1927-1983.
Readers Guide Full Text, Lexis-Nexis Academic, and ProQuest Newspapers contain movie reviews. Reviews are easier to locate when date of film is known. The dates covered vary for each publication.
Internet Movie Database contains information about movies and links to reviews from many publications in the “external reviews” section.
Literary
Works--Full Text and Digitized Collections, a Selection of Web Pages
Literature Online (LION) provides access to a searchable library of more than 350,000 works of English and American poetry, drama and prose. (BSC only)
LitFinder is a database that allows users to identify poems, stories, plays, speeches, and essays. Many works are available full-text. The database contains some criticism but its main strength is in identifying primary literary works. (BSC only)
Labyrinth
from
Literature in English
is one of the many pages from Voice of the Shuttle created by U.California,
The Virtual
Library of Virginia contains many full text and digitized literary works in
English from Old, Middle and Modern English.
Some texts have restricted accessibility.
Documenting Your
Work
To avoid plagiarism, be sure to document all materials, electronic and print, used in your research paper. The following web sites and guides are for the Modern Language Association (MLA) Style Manual, used in many humanities classes. When in doubt consult your professor.
MLA handbook for writers of research papers,
6th ed. (Gibaldi) (REF LB2369 .G53 2003)
MLA style manual and guide to scholarly publishing (Gibaldi) (REF PN 147 .G444 1998)
Using Modern Language Association (MLA) Format from
MLA Manual of Style from Duke University Libraries
University of California Berkeley MLA Style Citations provides examples and sample citations.
Remember: Please
consult with the BSC Library Reference staff for assistance.