French 250: Culture et Civilisation
Faculty: Prof. Diane Kelley or Prof. Sandy Evans
Humanities Librarian: Peggy Burge
This webpage is intended as a resource for students enrolled in French 250. It provides tips about research strategies and information about sources and databases relevant to the course. Students are encouraged to contact Peggy when additional help in the library is needed; call x3512, e-mail pburge@ups.edu, or drop by her office (Library 117).
At some point in your research you may wish to either verify or learn more about a variety of contexts surrounding the work(s) you are analyzing. Or, you may wish to consult the library's French language resources. Reference resources often serve as excellent launching points for further research.
Literary, Cultural and Historical Reference Resources
- Arts and Humanities through the Eras, 5 vols. / NX440 .A787 2004 Reference
- Dictionnaire des oeuvres littéraires de langue française / PQ 41 B42 1994 Reference
- Encyclopedia of Food and Culture, 3 vols. / GT 2850 E53 2003 Reference
- Greenwood Encyclopedia of Daily Life, 6 vols. / GT 31 G74 2004 Reference
- Guide to French Literature / PQ 226 L48 1992 Reference
- Histoire de France (Larousse) / DC 38 H57 2002 Reference
- Literature Resource Center -- This full-text database offers biographical essays as well as selected criticism.
- Medieval France: An Encyclopedia / DC 33.2 M44 1995 Reference
There are many additional reference resources on diverse topics--architecture, dance, music, art, history of science, fashion, etc.--so if you would like more recommendations, please send an e-mail to Peggy Burge, Humanities Librarian, at pburge@ups.edu.
French Language Reference Resources
- Dictionnaire du moyen français / PC 2650 G74 1992 Reference
- Le Grand Robert de la langue française / PC 2625 R552 2001 Reference
- Oxford Languages Online - This full-text resource includes not only over 360,000 words and phrases and over 550,000 translations from the Oxford-Hachette French Dictionary, but also many additional features such as grammar and verb charts and pronunciation software that lets you hear how each word sounds.
- Oxford Reference Online - This full-text resource contains bilingual French-English, English-French dictionaries, plus the electronic equivalent to over 100 subject reference books.
- Turlupinades & Tricoteries: Dictionnaire des mots obsolètes de la langue française / PC 2667 D832 2004 Reference
Depending on your topic, you will need to consult one or more of the following databases:
Historical Abstracts -- This database indexes journal articles, books, and essays within books, covering all aspects of world history (excluding U.S. and Canadian history) from 1450 to the present.
ITER -- This database indexes books and journal articles on all aspects of medieval and early modern life, covering the years 700 A.D. to 1700.
Humanities International Complete -- This partially full-text database includes both scholarly and popular journal articles, some chapters within books, and some monographs.
MLA International Bibliography -- This is the preeminent database for literary studies, although it also includes some citations to film scholarship. If you are researching a literary text, MLA ought to be your first stop.
Depending on your topic, you may need to search additional databases. To identify other databases to search, try going to the Research Gateway and selecting the subject(s) or discipline(s) most likely to cover your topic.
Practical Matters -- Getting from the Citation to the Actual Item
Most databases that you will use for your research in this course are not full-text; that is, they will provide you with a citation, but not the actual article or book. In addition, many of the citations will be to materials that are not available in Collins Library, but can still be obtained for you from other libraries. You will need to plan ahead to give yourself enough time to obtain such materials. Below are guidelines for obtaining books and journal articles.
Example of a citation to an essay in a book:
Subrenat, Jean. "Rape and Adultery: Reflected Facets of Feudal Justice in the Roman De Renart." Reynard the Fox: Social Engagement and
Cultural Metamorphoses in the Beast Epic from the Middle Ages to the Present. Ed. Kenneth Varty. New York, NY: Berghahn,
2000. 17-35.
To obtain this book, you may have to check up to three catalogs:
- Begin with SIMON. Remember to search by the title of the book, not the title of the chapter.
- If the book is not in SIMON or is in SIMON but is checked out, go to SUMMIT. If the book is available through SUMMIT, you can request it by entering your name and ID number. It takes two to four business days for SUMMIT books to be delivered to the Circulation Desk.
- If the book is not available in SIMON or SUMMIT, go to WorldCat. If you find the title there, click on the ILL (Interlibrary Loan) icon and fill out the required information. Books requested from WorldCat usually take a minimum of two weeks to arrive.
TIP!
When you find a useful book in SIMON or SUMMIT, take a look at that title's subject headings. You can click on these subject headings to find more books on the same topic.
Example of a citation to a journal article:
Krause, Virginia, and Christian Martin. "Topoï et utopie de l'amour dans les Lais de Marie de France." Dalhousie French Studies 42 (1998): 3-15.
To obtain this article:
- First search the Journal Locator by the title of the journal, not the title of the article. (Do not use the "journal title" search in SIMON anymore; it is no longer accurate for full-text availability.) If the article is available full-text, a link to the appropriate database will be provided. If the journal is available in microform or paper format, a link to the SIMON record will be provided. Current periodicals are located on the first floor of the library and bound periodicals and microform are located in the basement.
- If the Journal Locator returns zero results, there is no need to search any other database. Simply log onto ILLIAD and submit your article request. An electronic copy of the article usually will be provided to you in less than a week, although occasionally the lending library mails a photocopy instead. In either case, you will be notified by e-mail that the article is now available.
Content contact: Peggy Burge ~ Collins Library ~ University of Puget Sound ~ last updated February 5, 2009
