Humanities Information                        

A research guide: books, articles, web sites, & videos

 

Finding Books

 

 

·          How to Find Books in the ODU Library:  Search in the ODU Library Catalog. 

 

·          How to Find Books in Other OhioLINK Libraries: 
Search in the
OhioLINK Library Catalog, or start your search in the ODU Library Catalog and then click on the OhioLINK button at the top of the results screen to search statewide.

 

·          To Help You Search in the Catalogs:
Guides and video tutorials are available online from the library’s Research Help page or in print by the library Reference Desk on the top floor of Spangler.

 

 

Reference Books—A Selection

 

Reference books provide a good starting point for your research. Reference items are located in the Library’s Reference collection, behind the Reference Desk on the top floor of Spangler.

See also these related research guides: American Literature and Literary Analysis, Classic Literature, English Literature and Literary Analysis, Myth, Shakespeare Research, and Theology.

 

Bibliographies and Guides

·          Atlas of World Art. R 702.23 O29a

·          Art Information and the Internet: How to Find it and How to Use it.  R 025.067 J77a, 1999 

·          The Humanities:  A Selective Guide to Information Sources. R 016.0160013 B6144h, 2000

·          Photography: An Illustrated History. R 770.9 S569p, 2002

 

Biographies

·          A to Z of American Women in the Visual Arts. R 704.042 K8451a

·          Contemporary Artists. R 709.22 C7673a

 

Dictionaries

·          Baker’s Biographical Dictionary of Musicians. R 780.922 B178b, 2001 6 vols. 

·          Dictionary of American History.  R 973.03 D543a, 2003 10 vols.

·          Dictionary of Literary Biography. R 928.1 D554 8 vols.

·          Dictionary of the History of Ideas. R 901.9 W423d, 1973 5 vols.

·          Dictionary of the Middle Ages.  R 909.07 S913d, 1982 10 vols.  

·          The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians.  R 780.3 G884s, 1980 10 vols. 

·          The Oxford Classical Dictionary, 3rd edition  R  913.38 C333o, 1996

·          The Oxford Dictionary of Art. R 703 O25d, 2004

·          The Oxford Dictionary of the Renaissance. R 940.21 C1526o

·          World Poets. R 809.1 W89375p 3 vols.

 

Encyclopedias

·          The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Archaeology.   R 930.103 C178, 1980

·          Cinema Studies: The Key Concepts. R 791.4303 H3358c, 2006

·          The Continuum Encyclopedia of Animal Symbolism in Art. R 398.369 W4959c, 2004

·          Encyclopedia of the Classical World.  R 913.38 C948

·          Encyclopedia of Novels into Film. R 791.436 T432e

·          Encyclopedia of the Renaissance.  R 940.23 E197r 6 vols.

·          The Encyclopedia of Sculpture. R 735.2303 E197s, 2004 vols. 1-3

·          Encyclopedia of World Art.  R 703 W927 10 vols.

·          Encyclopedia of World Cultures.  R 306.097 E56 10 vols.

·          Encyclopedia of World History.  R 902.02 E198w 2001 with A/V suppl.

·          Great Composers and Their Works.  R 780.9 Sl54g 2 vols.

·          Medieval England: An Encyclopedia.  R 942 M4688e

·          The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Reformation.  R 270.6 O98, 1996 4 vols.

·          The Oxford History of Western Art. R 709 O982h, 2000

·          Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy.  R 100 R869, 1998 10 vols.

·          Women and Music in America since 1900: An Encyclopedia. R 780.82 W8422m 2 vols.

 

Guides and Handbooks

·          Cambridge Guide to English Usage. R 423.1 P4423c, 2004

·          College Writer’s Reference. R 808.042 F9599c

·          A Companion to Romanticism. R 820.9145 C7381r, 1999

·          A Companion to the Worlds of the Renaissance. R 940.21 C7381w 

·          America’s Musical Life: A History. R 780.973 C858a 

·          Great Lives from History:  Ancient and Medieval Series. R 920.009 M194gr, 1988 5 vols.

·          Great Lives from History:  Renaissance to 1900 Series. R 920.009 M194gr, 1989 5 vols.

·          Historical Atlas of Central Europe. R 911.43 M2757h

·          Homework Helpers: English Language & Composition. RCI 808.042 L6449h, 2005

·       The Official Museum Directory. R 069.025 O27m, 2005 2 vols.

·          Oxford Companion to the Photograph. R 770.3 O24c, 2005

·          The Oxford Companion to Western Art. R 703 O98co

·          The Oxford History of Western Music. R 780.9 T179o vols. 1-6 

·          World Musicians. R 780.922 W89365 

 

Reference Resources Online

 

Art and Architecture Images

Images. Contains art and architecture images contributed by OhioLINK institutions.

 

Editions and Adaptations of Shakespeare

Full-text. Includes 11 major editions of Shakespeare's works, and related works.

 

GroveArt

Full-Text. Compiles reference resources for all aspects of the visual arts worldwide from prehistory to the present day. Updated quarterly.

 

Literary Reference Center

Provides full-text access to many reference resources online, including:

·         Merriam Webster's Encyclopedia of Literature;

·         Beacham's six-volume Research Guide to Biography and Criticism;

·         Continuum’s encyclopedia’s of American, British, and children’s literature;

·         The New Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics and The Columbia Companion to the            20th Century American Short Story;

·         The Oxford Illustrated History of English Literature;  The Literary Encyclopedia;  

·         Masterplots and Masterplots II;Cyclopedia of World Authors, Cyclopedia of Literary Characters, and Magill's Literary Annual;

·         The Harold Bloom series of over 500 books; and additional resources of information on notable authors of long and short fiction, poetry, drama, and philosophy.

 

Oxford Reference Online

Full-text Brings together 100 dictionaries and other reference books in various subjects into one searchable database. Includes full-text dictionaries and guides for Art and Architecture, Classics, English, History, Literature, Modern Languages, Mythology and Folklore, Performing Arts, and Religion and Philosophy.

To access: From the library homepage, click on Books, and select Oxford Reference Online.

 

Vergil Reference on CD-ROM

Full-text.  Available at the Top Floor Circulation Services only (Reserve 873.01 V587r). Includes Latin editions of the Aeneid, Eclogues, and Georgics plus their English translations; assignment guides and search strategies; texts of Distler's Vergil and Vergiliana and Murray's Manual of Mythology; Vergilian word list; Vergilian quotations; and, grammar charts. May be checked out and loaded on any PC in The ODU Library.

 

eBooks

 

NetLibrary

Full-text ebook database. Search among 15,000 ebooks from multiple disciplines, including reference books, other nonfiction, and fiction—including books about children’s literature Search by keyword, title, or author.   To access: From the library homepage, click on Books, and then select NetLibrary.

 

Other Electronic Resources

 

·          Humanities Tutorial on Dominican Learning Network

To access this on-campus tutorial, follow these steps:

1.       Click on the "Start" button in the lower left corner of your desktop.

2.       Click on the "Programs" menu

3.       Click on the "Humanities" menu

4.       Click on "Humanities" item

 

Finding Articles and Book Reviews

 

 

·          Use an online research database to find articles in scholarly journals, general magazines, and newspapers.

·          To access the databases below, from the Library’s Articles in Databases page, select the Arts & Humanities category, or choose from the A-Z index near the top of the page.

·          To Help You Search in the Databases:
Guides and video tutorials are available online from the library’s Research Help page or in print
by the library Reference Desk on the
top floor of Spangler. If you need additional assistance,
ask a librarian.

 

 

Recommended Databases

 

Academic Search Complete

Contains peer-reviewed journal coverage from more than 3,400 scholarly publications.  Covers many academic areas of study, including social sciences, humanities, education, computer sciences, engineering, language and linguistics, arts & literature, medical sciences, and ethnic studies.  Updated daily. 

 

Art Abstracts
Indexes international art publications, including periodicals, yearbooks, and museum bulletins. Topics included are related to art, such as advertising, archaeology, crafts, folk art, graphic arts, interior design, video, film, architecture and art history. Coverage: 1984 to the present.

 

Arts and Humanities Citation Index (ISI Web of Science)

Citations.  Indexes articles from 1,144 of the world's leading arts and humanities journals, as well as covering select relevant items from over 6,800 major science and social science journals. Note: Not intended as a substitute for a comprehensive subject database such as Humanities International Complete, which comprehensively indexes journal articles, books, conference proceedings, and other documents.

 

Bibliography of the History of Art

Includes art-related books, articles from more than 4000 periodicals, conference proceedings and dissertations, and catalogs, covering European and American art from late antiquity to the present.

 

Electronic Journal Center
Presents over 4300 research journals, covering numerous subject areas, including humanities.

 

Film & Television Literature Index
Covers the literature about television and film writing, and provides indexing and abstracts for more than 300 publications and selected coverage of 300 more. Subject coverage includes film & television theory, preservation & restoration, writing, production, cinematography, technical aspects, and reviews.

 

FRANCIS (international humanities and social sciences)

Citations only.  Cites multilingual, multidisciplinary information in the humanities, social sciences, and economics.  Updated monthly.

 

Humanities International Complete

A database covering journals, books and other important reference sources in the humanities. Humanities International Index provides cover-to-cover indexing and abstracting for over 1,900 titles with coverage dating as far back as 1925. HII includes all data from American Humanities Index.

 

International Bibliography of Theatre and Dance

IBTD is a Full Text multicultural and interdisciplinary research tool for theater students, educators and professionals in a fully indexed, cross-referenced and annotated databank of journal articles, books, and dissertation abstracts on all aspects of drama, theatre, film and performance in 126 countries.

 

MLA International Bibliography

Citations only.  Indexes books and articles on modern languages, literatures, folklore, and linguistics.  Updated 10 times per year.

 

Project Muse

Provides online, worldwide, institutional subscription access to the full text of more than 250 scholarly journals in the arts and humanities, social sciences, and mathematics.

 

RILM Abstracts of Musical Literature

Indexes international scholarly writings on music and related disciplines (articles, books, bibliographies, catalogues, dissertations, Festschriften, films and videos, iconographies, critical commentaries to complete works, ethnographic recordings, conference proceedings, reviews, etc.). Concert reviews, recording notes, and pedagogical manuals of scholarly interest are also indexed.

 

 

Finding Periodicals in this Library

 

 

How Do You Find Out if a Periodical Exists in this Library?

 

·          Use the ODU Library Catalog to search for the title of the journal or newspaper you’re trying to find. 
Choose a TITLE search and type in the title of the journal or newspaper you desire.

 

·          The library's journals and magazines are located:
 
(1) In print in the Periodicals section on the top floor, arranged alphabetically by title
(2) Back issues in print (usually prior to 1960) in the Back Issues Room on the bottom floor
(3) In microfilm in cabinets behind the Periodicals section
 
A microfilm reader/printer (with free printing!) is also available on the top floor.
For more information, see the ODU Library Microfilm/Reader page at:

http://www.ohiodominican.edu/library/tour/microfilm/default.asp.

 

·          If you are looking for a specific article in a periodical, be sure to match issue number and YEAR/MONTH of the article to the information listed in our library catalog to make sure we have the specific issue of the journal/magazine you need.

 

 

Finding Web Sites

 

 

Listed below are web sites that may be of particular use to you in your information search.

 

Recommended criteria for evaluating websites:

·          Accuracy of the information

·          Authority of the person or group responsible for the information

·          When the information was created and last updated

 

 

Web Sites—A Selection

See also these related research guides: American Literature and Literary Analysis, Classic Literature, English Literature and Literary Analysis, Myth, Shakespeare Research, and Theology.

 

Art and Art History

·          Art and Architecture [Images and Criticism], from the Digital Media Center Databases http://dmc.ohiolink.edu/art/Login

·          Art and Art History Links on the Web http://witcombe.sbc.edu

·          ArtCyclopedia: Explore 125,000 Great Works of Art http://artcyclopedia.com

·          ArtLex Art Dictionary http://www.artlex.com

·          AskArt http://askart.com

·          New York Public Library’s Digital Gallery http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/index.cfm

 

Classics

·          Best History Web Sites: Ancient/Biblical Resources—Greece http://www.besthistorysites.net/AncientBiblical_Greece.shtml

·          Classical Studies - Directory of Online Classics Resources http://academicinfo.net/classics.html

·          The Internet Classics Archive  http://classics.mit.edu

·          The Perseus Digital Library  http://www.perseus.tufts.edu

 

History

·          Best History Web Sites  http://www.besthistorysites.net

·