English 325: Chaucer

Primary Sources

Early English Books Online (EEBO)
EEBO contains digital facsimile page images of virtually every work printed in English from 1473 to 1700. To view examples of early printings of Chaucer's works, select "browse" and search for Chaucer.

Books

Use CONSORT to find relevant secondary literature. You can begin with a keyword search, and if you find a book that seems promising, click on the subject heading links at the bottom of the record to see similar items. You can also select "subject heading" in the "search by" box and try the following:

In addition to CONSORT, you can search the OhioLINK catalog, which contains the holdings of 85 academic and public libraries across Ohio.

Journal Articles

The CONSORT and OhioLINK catalogs do not contain information about individual articles published in journals. However, if you have a citation to a journal article--the author's name, the title of the article, the title of the journal, and the date or volume/issue number--you can search by journal title in CONSORT to determine if the library has the journal in print, electronically, or in microfilm.

To search for articles on your topic, use an index or database. In many cases, you can get the full text of the article by following a link from the database. If you're searching in an index without links to full-text articles, you'll need to search by journal title in CONSORT as described above.

The search process will vary for each resource, but here are a few tips to keep in mind:

 

Come up with good keywords. Consider synonyms, alternate spellings, and other ways to approach your topic. For example, if you're interested in the role of gender in Chaucer's works, you might want to search for a combination of the following:

  • chaucer, gender, sex/sexual/sexuality, women, misogyny, masculine/masculinity, feminine/femininity/feminism

Look for subject headings. Most databases will include their own subject headings. When you find a relevant article, click on a subject heading, or refine your search to include both a subject heading and keywords, to find similar articles.

Set reasonable limits. Some databases will let you limit your search--examples of limits include choosing to search just peer-reviewed (scholarly) journals, or just book reviews, or just articles published in English. Sometimes limits are helpful; if you don't want book reviews or articles written in a language you don't read, it doesn't hurt to limit your search accordingly. But be careful not to impose too many limits, especially if you're just beginning your research--extremely narrow searches will rarely lead you to "the perfect article."

Use bibliographies. If you do happen to find the perfect article (or a great essay in a reference work, or a relevant book on your topic), check out the bibliography, and then search for some of these sources.

MLA International Bibliography
Citations to scholarly work in literature, linguistics, and folklore worldwide. Sources include journal and book articles, dissertations, monographs, and series.

JSTOR
Provides access to the full content of a variety of scholarly journals. Coverage generally begins with volume one of a journal, and ends 2-5 years from the present.

OhioLINK Electronic Journal Center: Arts and Humanities Journals
Includes the full text of approximately 40 arts and humanities journals.

ABELL-- Annual Bibliography of English Language and Literature
ABELL provides citations to monographs, periodical articles, critical editions of literary works, book reviews, collections of essays and doctoral dissertations published anywhere in the world.

Iter (Medieval and Renaissance Studies)
ITER is a bibliography drawn from over 400 medieval and renaissance journal titles.

Humanities International Complete
Covers 1700 journals, as well as books and reference sources in the humanities. Provides citation information for articles, essays, and reviews, plus original creative works including poems and fiction. Photographs, paintings and illustrations are also referenced.

Selected Reference Works

Helpful reference works for Chaucer studies include bibliographies, dictionaries, concordances, and glossaries. These resources are shelved in the reference collection on the second floor.

Chaucer Name Dictionary: PR1903 .D4 1988

Chaucer A to Z: PR1903 .R67 1999

Annotated Chaucer Bibliography 1986-1996: PR1905 .B69 2002

Chaucer: A Bibliographical Introduction: PR1905 .L49 1986

Oxford Companion to Chaucer: PR1924 .O94 2003

A Chaucer Glossary: PR1941 .C5 1979

A Concordance to the Complete Works of Geoffrey Chaucer and to the Romaunt of the Rose: PR1941 .T3

Requesting from Other Libraries

Use the barcode on the back of your student ID to request books and articles from other libraries. For a book that's in CONSORT but not at Kenyon, click on the Request This Item button, and enter your name and barcode number. Items from Denison usually arrive in about a day; items from Wooster or Ohio Wesleyan usually arrive in 2-3 days. You can also request books from OhioLINK, but check to make sure that the item isn't available in CONSORT before placing a request. OhioLINK items generally arrive in 3-5 days.

You can also search in WorldCat, a catalog of library holdings throughout the country and the world. If you find a book in WorldCat that isn't in CONSORT or OhioLINK, place an Interlibrary Loan request. Many items arrive within 7-10 days, but keep in mind that it may take longer, depending on the item's availability and location and the time of the semester.

You can request articles through Interlibrary Loan as well; just check to make sure that the journal/specific volume you need isn't available at Kenyon either electronically or in print.

You'll receive email notification when your items arrive for checkout at the Circulation desk. You can also log in to My CONSORT to see what you've checked out, when items are due, and the status of your pending requests.