Library Research Guide
Reinventing Literary History
BC1201: First Year English

I The Legacy of the Mediterranean
II The Americas
III Women and Culture

Librarians:  Karen Dobrusky,
Lois Coleman,
Jenna Freedman,
Heidi Winston

Group of young women reading in library of normal school, Washington, D.C. Frances Benjamin Johnston 1899.   © Library of Congress.

English Department page for Reinventing Literary History
Using CLIO to Find Books | Using Databases to Find Articles 
Other Resources on the Web | Reference Services | Bibliographic Software
 

REFERENCE BOOKS

For a list of reference books available in the Barnard Library Reference area, and useful for helping you to start your research in First Year English, click on the following links:

Oxford Reference Online includes searchable full texts of more than 100 reference titles published by Oxford University Press. Click here to use.

Additional resources for individual classes, by Professor's name:

USING CLIO TO FIND BOOKS AND JOURNALS

You can enter CLIO from the Barnard Library home page or from the Columbia University Libraries home page.

  • CLIO (Columbia Libraries Information Online) is the catalog for the Columbia University Libraries and includes Barnard Library's holdings, as well as the holdings of the Health Sciences Library and Union Theological Seminary libraries, and students with a CUID/UNI can use these libraries.
  • Search Options:
    Author search: put last name, then first name
    Title search: leave off the initial article (The, An, La, etc.)
    Journal Title search: type in the title of the journal or as much as you know
    Keyword search: use quotes for a phrase, and use ? for truncation (to find variant endings of word)
    Subject search: Use Library of Congress (LC) authorized search terms.
  • Searching Basics:
    Boolean operators AND, OR and NOT are used to narrow (AND, NOT) or broaden (OR) a Keyword       search; click here for information on how to use these operators.
    Start with a Keyword search using the most distinctive words associated with the topic, if you aren't sure what the authorized terms are for your topic.  Then look in the book records for useful subject headings and do a Subject search.
    Limiting to books in Barnard Library: use the Pre-set Limits or Post Limits options
    Call numbers for literature and literary criticism start with P (click here for Information on the Library of Congress call number system).  Books that are entirely about a particular author are shelved next to works by that author; for criticism on an author, find the correct call number for the author and look on the shelf near it.
    Finding commentaries or criticism of an author's works: do a Subject search for the name of the author and look for the subdivision Criticism and interpretation: 
    e.g. A subject search for dickinson emily finds a list of Library of Congress (LC) authorized subject headings which includes
          Dickinson, Emily, 1830-1886--Bibliography.
          Dickinson, Emily, 1830-1886--Biography.
          Dickinson, Emily, 1830-1886--Concordances.
          Dickinson, Emily, 1830-1886--Criticism and interpretation.
    Barnard books: note that although the Barnard Library is in Lehman Hall, the CLIO location "Lehman" means the Social Sciences library at Columbia. Barnard books have the location "Barnard"
USING INDEXES AND DATABASES TO FIND PERIODICAL ARTICLES    
These indexes and databases are all on the Databases list on the Barnard Library home page. 
All are available only to those with a Columbia University ID (if being accessed from off-campus).

Searching Basics:
  • Keyword searching in some databases requires the use of Boolean terms - AND or OR between the search terms, or quotes to search for a phrase 
  • Truncation in Keyword searching expands a search term to find all forms of a root word, e.g. feminis* finds feminism, feminist, and feminists 
  • Look at the Help files for a database to get more details on how to search 
  • Click on "e-link" next to a citation to find out if an article is online, or do a journal title search in CLIO using the title of the journal in which the article appears
Gender Studies
  • Citations for articles on women's studies, gender studies, feminist theory and criticism, published from 1972 to the present 
  • Use keywords; to find an exact phrase use quotes " "; for truncation use *
Humanities Full Text  
  • Citations and abstracts for articles, book reviews, etc. in world archaeology, art, classics, film, folklore, journalism, linguistics, music, performing arts, philosophy, religion, world literature, and world history, from 1984 to the present
  • To eliminate book reviews, limit Document Type to "Feature" articles
  •  Use Keyword search rather than All-Smart Search
  •  Use keywords; to find an exact phrase use quotes " "; for truncation use *
JSTOR: The Scholarly Journal Archive     
  • A full text database of articles from a large number of scholarly journals, from the beginning of the journal but excluding the most recent 3-5 years; includes African American studies, anthropology, classical studies, education, history, language and literature, philosophy, political science, sociology and more        
  • Use the Advanced Search for more precise searching; for truncation use %
LION: Literature Online 
  • A library of more than 350,000 works of English and American poetry, drama, and prose, plus biographies, bibliographies, and over 175 full-text journals and other key criticism and reference sources
  • To find critical articles, click on "Search: Criticism and Reference"
  • Use * for truncation
MLA: Modern Language Association Bibliography
  • Citations for articles, books, book chapters, dissertations etc. on literature, linguistics, language and folklore published from 1963 to the present, many in foreign languages
  • Use keywords; to find an exact phrase use quotes " "; for truncation use *
Project Muse: Scholarly Journals Online
  • Full-text articles from more than 300 journals in literature and criticism, history, the visual and performing arts, cultural studies, education, political science, gender studies, economics and many other subjects
  • Usually includes last several years of the journal only
  • Use keywords; to find an exact phrase use quotes " "; for truncation use *
ProQuest
  • Full text articles and citations for articles from newspapers, magazines and scholarly journals  
  • For scholarly journals, click on the "Scholarly Journals" tab above the listing of citations
  • Use keywords; phrase is assumed-use "and" between keywords, for truncation use *

OTHER RESOURCES ON THE WEB    

Selected Web Sites

Subject Guides on the Barnard and Columbia Libraries Homepages   

The Subject Guides page, available on the Barnard Library homepage, includes subject guides on anthropology, art history, dance, literature, medieval studies, political science, psychology, religion, science, sociology, theater, women's studies, etc.   

The Barnard Library subject guide for Literature lists many useful resources

The Columbia Subject Guides page, available from Columbia University Libraries, includes guides to African-American Studies, American Studies, Electronic Text Resources, Humanities & History, Latin American Studies, Women's Studies, and many other topics.

Additional Resources

Web search tools and evaluation criteria from Columbia University Libraries.

E-Resources: List of electronic resources from Columbia University Libraries. Includes E-News, E-Images, E-Music & more.

Writing, Planning and Researching Help    

Documenting Sources in MLA Style from Diana Hacker's Bedford Handbook is available online.

MLA Formatting and Style Guide is a guide for writing research papers.

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. 

Evaluation Criteria for Websites - The Good, The Bad & The Ugly: or, Why It's a Good Idea to Evaluate Web Sources, and how to do it.

Short instructional presentations from various college libraries:

Other Libraries' Catalogs
Those with Columbia ID have access to the libraries of Teachers’ College and Columbia Law School, but they are not included in CLIO.  NYC residents can also use New York Public Library.
You can search CLIO, EDUCAT and Pegasus simultaneously by clicking on Search all CU Catalogs on the top right of the CLIO screen.
To search these catalogs separately, use the Other Library Catalogs list on the Barnard or Columbia Libraries home page, or the following links:

Request It
Click on Request It to obtain Books and Articles not available on the Morningside Campus through Borrow Direct, Interlibrary Loan, Health Sciences/Morningside delivery service and Science Fast Track. A University UNI is necessary in order to use these services.

BARNARD LIBRARY REFERENCE SERVICES

The Reference Department is available to assist you with your library research and teach you how to use our print and electronic resources.  Here you can find information about consultations, Instant Messenger Reference, Live Chat Reference, Library and Reference hours and more. We have a librarian at the reference desk for most of the hours that the library is open. We welcome you to come to the desk and ask questions.

Live Chat Reference: Monday through Friday, 1 - 5 p.m., you can chat online with a Columbia or Barnard librarian.  Click on the Ask Us Now link on the Barnard Library homepage or on Columbia LibraryWeb.

IM/Instant Messaging:
You can also IM a librarian when one of us is logged in. For more information: IM web page

Consultation with a Reference Librarian: Complete a Consultation Request Form to send to the library requesting a consultation if you are having difficulty with your research.

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

REFWORKS BIBLIOGRAPHIC SOFTWARE

RefWorks is a bibliographic software package that is available, free of charge, to all current Barnard and Columbia students, faculty and staff, and is available by signing up for an individual account on the RefWorks Website:

RefWorks allows you to export citations from library catalogs and databases, store them in lists that you create, and cite them in papers and bibliographies using any citation style you choose.  For further information about RefWorks, consult the page http://www.barnard.edu/library/refworks.htm.

 

Last Modified 3/11/08
Karen Dobrusky, Lois Coleman, Jenna Freedman and Heidi Winston, Reference Librarians
Barnard College Library

 

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