Barnard College Library Research Guide

BC3176y: Romanticism
Professor Maire Jaanus

Salisbury Cathedral by Constable.jpg (63216 bytes)

The Romantic poets and their art, music, philosophy, politics, and religion.

 norham_castle.jpg (18446 bytes)
Salisbury Cathedral from the Bishop's Grounds
John Constable (British, 1776 - 1837)
Scan by artchive.com Mark Harden		    Norham Castle, Sunrise
   Joseph Mallord William Turner (British, 1775 - 1851)
   Scan by artchive.com Mark Harden


Contents
Using Reference Books to Find Background Information | Using CLIO
Using Indexes | Using the World Wide Web
Research Skills Worksheet | Classes on Research Skills

FINDING BACKGROUND INFORMATION ON YOUR TOPIC USING REFERENCE BOOKS

When you are beginning to research your topic, 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

Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Theory       

PN41 .C83 1998 

Dictionary of Literary Themes and Motifs        

PN43 .D48 1988  

Encyclopedias

The Encyclopedia of Romanticism: Culture in Britain, 1780-1830         

DA529 .E53 1992 

English Romantic Poets                

PR590 .E5       

Grove Dictionary of Art                

N31 .D5 1996    

Encyclopedia of Philosophy              

B41 .E5  

Criticism

Critical Survey of Poetry            

PR502 .C85 1982 

LC: Literature Criticism from 1400 to 1800             

PN86 .L56     

NCLC: Nineteenth-Century Literature Criticism             

PN761 .N56     

Biographical

British Writers            

PR85 .B688    

DLB: Dictionary of Literary Biography             

PS129 .D5     

European Writers            

PN501 .E9 1983  

Bibliographies Keats's Major Odes: an Annotated Bibliography of the Criticism              Z8461 .R48 1984 
Mary Wollstonecraft: an Annotated Bibliography              Z8981.5 .T62     


USING CLIO TO FIND BOOKS AND JOURNALS
Click here for a Quick Guide to CLIO, Columbia Libraries Information Online, the online catalog for materials added to the Columbia University Libraries since 1981.

USING INDEXES TO FIND CITATIONS TO PERIODICAL ARTICLES
On the Electronic Reference Tools list on the Barnard Library homepage, there are over 200 indexes, databases and catalogs which can enable you to find citations for relevant 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 title index screen, 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
  • Start with a simple keyword search to find some good subject headings - here called "descriptors"
  • If it says at the top of the record, "FirstSearch indicates your institution owns the item" you can’t trust this, and still have to check CLIO
  • 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 find than articles in journals, so probably best to limit search to articles

JSTOR
  • A full text database of articles from over 60 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
  • You can print articles - use Adobe Acrobat Economy Print, rather than JPrint
  • You cannot e-mail results


ProQuest Direct
  • Full text database of articles from newspapers and scholarly journals
  • Select scholarly journals by clicking on PA Research II Periodicals and PA Research II--Peer Reviewed, then click on Continue at the top

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


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 the Internet page, available from the Barnard Library homepage, includes subject guides on art, history, literature, politics, ready reference, science, theater, women's studies, etc.  

The Selected Subject Guides & Resources page is available from the Columbia University Libraries LibraryWeb page (under Reference).

Some useful Web pages for this course are:

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

Writing, Planning and Researching Help Available on the Web
For help with selecting a topic, writing an outline, dealing with writer’s block, etc., consult the following Online Writing Labs (OWLs): MIT Writing Center, Princeton University Writing Center, Purdue University Writing Lab.


OTHER LIBRARY SERVICES

Classes on Research Skills
Barnard Library offers classes on CLIO, the World Wide Web, and online databases and indexes on Tuesdays at 11:15 a.m., Wednesdays at 4:15 p.m. and Thursdays at 11:15 a.m. and 4:15 p.m.  Come to the Reference Desk on the second floor of the library to sign up for a session.

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 February 2000
Lois Coleman
Reference Librarian
Barnard College Library