Barnard College Library Research Guide
Fall 2002

Basquiat

BC3997x
Body and Language
Professor Maire Jaanus

An examination of major discourses
on corporeality and
the body's cultural significance.

 

Contents
Using Reference Books for Background Information
Using CLIO | Film Versions | Using Indexes
Using the World Wide Web
Classes on Research Skills

Jean-Michel Basquiat, Untitled, 1984
Scan by artchive.com Mark Harden

 

FINDING BACKGROUND INFORMATION ON YOUR TOPIC USING REFERENCE BOOKS

Encyclopedias, dictionaries and other reference books can provide useful background information and bibliographies that can lead you to relevant books and articles.  The reference books in this list are available in the Barnard Library reference area on the second floor.

   Title Barnard Reference
Call Number
General       Contemporary Authors       Z1224 .C61        
Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Theory        PN41 .C83 1998   
Dictionary of Literary Themes and Motifs                    PN43 .D48 1988   
Encyclopedias  Companion Encyclopedia of Anthropology           GN25 .C65 1994   
Encyclopedia of Literary Critics and Criticism           PN86 .E63 1999 
Encyclopedia of the Novel                                       PN41 .E487 1998  
Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy                 B51 .R68 1998     
Guides and Handbooks    Encyclopedia of Contemporary Literary Theory PN81 .E43 1993  
The Johns Hopkins Guide to Literary Theory and Criticism    PN81 .J53 1994 
The New Oxford Companion to Literature in French    PQ41 .N48 1995  
Criticism  Contemporary Literary Criticism        PN771 .C59    
Biographical  DLB: Dictionary of Literary Biography              PS129 .D5      
European Writers             PN501 .E9 1983  
Bibliographies  Feminist Literary Criticism: A Bibliography of Journal Articles, 1975-1981 PN98.W64 .F76 
Jacques Lacan: An Annotated Bibliography        BF109.L28 C53

 

USING CLIO TO FIND BOOKS AND JOURNALS

You can enter CLIO from the Barnard Library home page or from the Columbia University LibraryWeb.    
CLIO (Columbia Libraries Information Online) is the on-line catalog for materials added to the Columbia University Libraries since 1981; for older materials, use the card catalogs.

Some subject headings in CLIO which might be useful for this course are:
body, human, in literature
body, human--symbolic aspects
body image
body image--history
body image--psychological aspects
body image--social aspects
body image in men
body image in women
psychoanalysis and literature
masculinity in literature
femininity in literature
sex role in literature

 

WORKS ON THE SYLLABUS WITH VIDEO VERSION
Kundera, The Unbearable Lightness of Being.  1988 movie.  BUTLER MEDIA RESERVES DVD0021 and 
BARNARD MEDIA VIDEO PG5039.21.U6 N413 2000g
Trier, Breaking the Waves.  1996 movie.  BARNARD MEDIA VIDEO PN1997 .B7382 1997g

 

USING INDEXES TO FIND CITATIONS OR FULL-TEXT PERIODICAL ARTICLES
On the Databases (Reference Works & Indexes) list on the Barnard Library homepage, there are over 300 indexes, databases and catalogs which can enable you to find citations for journal articles and books, and also the full text of many articles. 
  • Read the descriptions of the indexes to find out which ones might be the most useful for your research 
  • Search by keyword or subject to find some germane citations
  • In CLIO, look up the titles of the journals in which the articles appear - in the brief view (Web version), or the title index screen (Telnet version), the title of a journal is followed by "serial"    
  • If you are using the Telnet version of CLIO, use the "hol" command to examine the libraries holdings and find out where the volume you want is located     

The indexes and databases listed below will probably be the most relevant to your research.

Humanities Abstracts:
  • Citations and abstracts for articles, book reviews, etc. in archaeology, art, classics, film, folklore, journalism, linguistics, music, performing arts, philosophy, religion and world history and literature, published from 1984 to the present
  • The journal and volume in which the article appears is given in the "Source" field.  If the link "Search the catalog at Columbia" appears, a CLIO search for the journal is carried out when you click on it. However, the database is not always up to date with the holdings of the Columbia Libraries, so it is best to search CLIO yourself every time.
  • To e-mail results to yourself: click on the "E-mail" button at the top

MLA Bibliography
  • Citations for articles, dissertations, books etc. on literature, linguistics, language, and folklore, published from 1963 to the present
  • Dissertations may be harder to obtain than articles in journals, so it's probably best to limit your search to articles

JSTOR
  • A database of full-text articles from over 120 scholarly journals, from each journal’s first issue up to 3 to 5 years ago
  • There are no abstracts for most articles, and no subject headings at all, so searching in the title is the most direct search; a full text search will often find too many irrelevant articles

ProQuest Direct
  • Full-text database of articles from newspapers, magazines and scholarly journals
  • To select scholarly journals, click on "Collections" at top left, select " PA Research II--Peer Reviewed," then click on "Search Methods - Guided" 

Women's Resources International
  • Citations for articles on women's studies, gender studies, feminist theory and criticism, published from 1972 to the present
  • With an advanced search, you can specify a geographic area, time period, etc.

ATLA Religion Database     
  • Index to articles in journals on religion, theology and biblical commentary
  • Very few articles have abstracts or contents notes

Francis        
  • Interdisciplinary index to periodicals, books, theses, and reports in the humanities and social sciences, including economics, geography, history of science, linguistics, literature, philosophy, religion, sociology, from 1984 to the present
  • Most of the abstracts are in French


FINDING INFORMATION ON THE WORLD WIDE WEB

Subject Guides to the Internet on the Barnard and Columbia Libraries Homepages
Both the Barnard and Columbia Library homepages have lists of recommended Web pages on various topics.  These make a  good place to start with finding information on the World Wide Web.

The Subject Guides to Online Resources page, available from the Barnard Library homepage, includes subject guides on art, history, literature, politics, ready reference, science, theater, women's studies, etc.  

The Subject Guides to Electronic Resources page is available from the Columbia University LibraryWeb page, and includes resources on Humanities and History, Psychology and Sociology.

Some useful Web pages for this course are:

Web Searching    
Click here for a Quick Guide to Web Searching and Evaluating Information from the Web.

Writing, Planning and Researching Help Available on the Web                                       
A Guide for Writing Research Papers based on Modern Language Association (MLA) guidelines is available online.
For help with selecting a topic, writing an outline, dealing with writer’s block, etc., consult the MIT Writing Center or the Paradigm Online Writing Assistant.          

 

OTHER LIBRARY SERVICES

Classes on Research Skills
Barnard Library offers classes on CLIO, the World Wide Web, and online databases and indexes throughout the academic year by prior arrangement.  For more information, or to schedule a session, please contact the Barnard Library Reference Desk at 212-854-3953 or refdesk@barnard.edu or come to the Reference Desk on the second floor. 

Research Skills Worksheet
Click here for a Research Skills Worksheet to print out which will enable you to test and improve your library research skills. 

Consultation with a Reference Librarian
Click here to complete a form you can e-mail to the library requesting a consultation on your research, or come to the Reference Desk on the second floor.  We'll be happy to help you find additional information.
Contact a reference librarian: e-mail refdesk@barnard.edu or call 212-854-3953.

Last Modified 10/11/01
Lois Coleman
Reference Librarian
Barnard College Library