Research Guide: Chaucer and Medieval Literature

For tips on citation format, please see Diana Hacker's Humanities: Documenting Sources (bcs.bedfordstmartins.com/resdoc5e) or MLA Formatting and Style courtesy of the OWL: Purdue Online Writing Lab (owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/01).

Reference books are shelved by Library of Congress call number in the reference stacks on the first floor of the Ruth Haas Library. They may not be checked out, but photocopiers are available for student use on the first and third floors of the Haas Library.

CONSULS catalog workstations are located in the Reference Area on the first floor, and on each of the other floors of the Haas Library. You may logon to CONSULS via the WCSU Libraries Homepage at library.wcsu.edu or directly at www.consuls.org. For more detailed instructions on searching, please see the yellow CONSULS flyer on the display rack on the first floor.

Please Note: CONSULS ignores upper and lower case and you may omit punctuation, except the hyphen which must be replaced by a space.

TO FIND WORKS WRITTEN BY A SPECIFIC AUTHOR:

Click on Author at the CONSULS Main Menu, then type the writer's name last-name-first. Correct spelling is important.

Example: chaucer geoffrey (press RETURN or ENTER)

Or just: chaucer g (press RETURN)

To limit a list of results to items owned by WCSU, click on the Limit/Sort option in the top toolbar, select WCSU under "WHERE Item is Located" and click on the gray Limit/Sort bar at bottom of screen.

TO FIND WORKS WRITTEN ABOUT A SPECIFIC WRITER:

Click on Subject at the CONSULS Main Menu, then type the writer's name last-name-first. Correct spelling is important. To limit results to items owned by WCSU, use the Limit/Sort option in the top toolbar.

Example: chaucer geoffrey (press RETURN or ENTER)

Or just: chaucer (press RETURN)

CONSULS will retrieve at list of Library of Congress subject headings that begin with the words you typed:

Chaucer, Geoffrey D 1400 (many subdivisions)

Chaucer Geoffrey D 1400 - Bibliography

Chaucer Geoffrey D 1400--Biography

Chaucer Geoffrey D 1400--Characters

Chaucer Geoffrey D 1400--Criticism and interpretation

Chaucer Geoffrey D 1400--Dictionaries

Chaucer Geoffrey D 1400--Influence

Chaucer Geoffrey D 1400--Sources

Chaucer Geoffrey D 1400--Technique

PLEASE NOTE: Personal name headings may also be subdivided by the titles of individual works:

Chaucer Geoffrey D 1440--Book of the Duchess

Chaucer Geoffrey D 1400--Canterbury Tales

Chaucer Geoffrey D 1400--Pardoners Tale

Chaucer Geoffrey D 1400--Troilus and Cressida

TO FIND WORKS WITH A SPECIFIC TITLE:

Click on Title at the CONSULS Main Menu, then type as much of the title as you remember in correct word order. In CONSULS, you may omit "a," "an," or "the" at the beginning of a title.

Example: canterbury tales (press RETURN or ENTER)

Or just: canterbury t (press RETURN)

If your TITLE search does not retrieve an entry for a separately published edition of the work, click on Word Search in the top toolbar to re-execute the search as a keywords search (example: general prologue). Then scan the CONTENTS field of each entry for the title of the work you need.

TO FIND INFORMATION ABOUT A SPECIFIC TOPIC BY SUBJECT HEADING:

Click on Subject at the CONSULS Main Menu, then type the Library of Congress subject heading which best describes your topic. Correct spelling and word order are important. The complete list of Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) is published in a set of big red books available in the Reference Area on the first floor of the Haas Library.

Example: english poetry middle english 1100-1500 (press RETURN or ENTER)

Or just: english poetry middle eng (press RETURN)

Other pertinent Library of Congress subject headings:

Christian poetry--English--Middle English 110-1500

English literature--Classical influences

English literature--Middle English 1100-1500

English poetry--Roman influences

Literature, Comparative--English and classical

Literature, Medieval--Criticism, textual

Literature, Medieval--History and criticism

Literature, Medieval--Translations into English

Manuscripts--English, Middle

Ovid, 43 B.C.-17 or 18 A.D.--Influence

Rhetoric, Medieval

Allegory

Apocalyptic literature

Christian pilgrims and pilgrimages in literature

Clergy in literature

Courtly love in literature

Love in literature

Mythology, Classical in literature

Pilgrims and pilgrimages in literature

Prophecies in literature

Religion in literature

Storytelling in literature

TO FIND INFORMATION ABOUT A SPECIFIC TOPIC BY KEYWORD(S):

Click on Keyword(s) at the CONSULS Main Menu, then type the keywords which best describe your topic, in any order.

Example: (chaucer or canterbury) and general prologue press RETURN or ENTER

Narrower: (chaucer or canterbury) and general prologue and (irony or ironic or or humor) press RETURN

Or: (chaucer or canterbury) and general prologue and (verisimilitude or appearance*) press RETURN

Use the * (asterisk) as a truncation symbol to retrieve variant forms of a word root. Use the Boolean OR to expand your search by including synonyms and related terms. When using two different Boolean commands in the same search statement ("and" and "or" in the preceding examples) you must include parentheses to indicate which command is to be performed first.

TO REQUEST MATERIALS FROM THE OTHER CSU LIBRARIES:

If the item you need is owned by one of the other CSU Libraries (CCSU, SCSU, or ECSU) but not by WCSU, or if WCSU's copy is checked out, you may order the item electronically via Inter-Campus Loan by clicking on Request at the full record display in CONSULS. Then type your University network username and password OR your University ID number and library PIN. Be sure to specify a pickup location (Haas or Young Library) before clicking on the gray bar to initiate your request. If you need assistance with your library PIN, please contact the Circulation Desk at (203) 837-9100.

There is a limit of ten (10) Inter-Campus Loan requests per person. Videos are available via Inter-Campus Loan. Please allow 4-5 working days for delivery to the Haas Circulation Desk. Items borrowed via Inter-Campus Loan may be renewed for an additional borrowing period if no one else has placed a HOLD on the item.

JSTOR

Coverage: Issue number one to within 2-5 years of present

Location: Under Articles & Databases: Most Popular on the WCSU Libraries Homepage.

Scope: Full-text of over 500 core scholarly journals in more than 25 disciplines, including language and literature (complete backfiles).

MLA International Bibliography

Coverage: 1963 - present

Location: Under Articles & Databases: A-Z at the WCSU Libraries Homepage.

Scope: Indexes books, book articles, journal articles, and Ph.D. dissertations in literature, language, linguistics, and folklore. No abstracts; some linked full-text. Also available in print in the Haas reference area.

Academic Search Premier in EBSCOhost

Coverage: 1990 - present (earlier for many publications)

Location: Under Articles & Databases: Most Popular at the WCSU Libraries Homepage.

Scope: Indexes approximately 8,000 newspapers, magazines, and scholarly journals in most fields including language and literature, with 4,000 available in full-text, including Chaucer Review (embargo: 6 months) and Medium Aevum (1996 - present).

WorldCat via OCLC FirstSearch

Coverage: The year 1100 to the present

Location: Select OCLC FirstSearch under Articles & Databases: A-Z at the WCSU Libraries Homepage.

Scope: Indexes 100+ million books, manuscripts, theses, and non-print materials. If the item is not owned by WCSU, you may use the free ILLiad Interlibrary Loan service.

To find out if WCSU subscribes to a specific periodical in print or online:

1. Select Journal Title at the CONSULS main menu, then type the name of the periodical (example: chaucer review) and press RETURN. If a title list appears on the screen, select the desired title, then look inside the box to find WCSU holdings. Be sure to scroll to the bottom of the page to see if WCSU owns backfiles on microfilm or microfiche.

2. To find out if a given periodical is available in full-text in one or more of WCSU's online databases, use the A-to-Z Journal Title Locator available under Articles & Databases on the WCSU Libraries Homepage (library.wcsu.edu).

If the CSU Libraries do not own the book you need, or if WCSU does not subscribe to the periodical you need, you may request delivery of the item via Interlibrary Loan using the online ILLiad system available at: libguides.wcsu.edu/ill.

There is a limit of 5 Interlibrary Loan requests per person per day. Videos are not available via Interlibrary Loan. Under most circumstances, Interlibrary Loan is a free service, but please allow at least ten working days for delivery. You will be notified as soon as the material arrives. Faster document delivery service is available for a reasonable fee. Please see the librarian at the Reference Desk or call the Interlibrary Loan Desk at (203) 837-9114 for more information.