The Basics

Restricted Access

Many of the resources listed in the sections below are marked Restricted Access. You should have no problem connecting to these from any networked computer on campus. However, by contract, remote access to the Rutgers University Library's indexes, electronic journals, and electronic reserve articles is available only to current Rutgers students, faculty and staff. In order to use these from off-campus, you must log in with your Rutgers NetID. For instructions see the Libraries' Remote Access to Library Resources.

Off-Campus Links

Once you have gone to a Rutgers Libraries page and logged in with your NetID [your pegasus username and password] you can use the "Off-Campus Link" provided for each Rutgers-restricted resource below to connect to that database or article. These links will not work from a networked computer on-campus. Use the link embedded in the citation to access these resources on campus.

IRIS: Find Books

IRIS is the online catalog for all the Rutgers University Libraries except the Newark and Camden Law Libraries. Use IRIS to find out if the Rutgers Libraries have the specific books or journals that you need, or to locate books on topics that you're researching. Show Me How

Getting Books From Other Rutgers Libraries

If a book that you need is not available (not owned/checked out) at the Dana Library, but is available from another Rutgers Library, you can request delivery of that book to Dana by bringing up the record for the book in IRIS and clicking on tbe Deliver/Recall button. Show Me

Book Not Available/Not Owned by the Rutgers Libraries?

The fastest way to get a copy of a book that is not owned or not available (checked out/on Reserve/missing etc.) at the Rutgers Libraries is to request it through E-Z Borrow. E-Z Borrow books are normally received within about five working days. Tell Me More

If a book is not owned by the Rutgers Libraries and is not available via E-Z Borrow, you can place an Interlibrary Loan request. Tell Me More

Finding Articles plus

Humanities Full Text
Humanities Full Text is the basic index for finding articles in the humanities disciplines, including history. It indexes over 550 of the core, English language journals in history, literature, art and music, philosophy and religion. It indexes many journals back to 1984 and, beginning with 1995, includes many full-text articles.
Off-Campus Access Restricted Access.

Need More?

While Humanities Full Text will usually give you what you need for a basic research paper, if you're working on a more extensive project, or a more specialized topic, you will probably need to use one or more indexes that focus specifically on the medieval period. You'll find links to most of these in the Finding Articles section below.

Becoming an 'Expert' User

Want to maximize your use of Library resources? Check out Searchpath, the Libraries' interactive tutorial.

Citing Your Sources

You will probably be asked to use Chicago/Turabian style when citing the sources that you use in your research papers. The Chicago Manual of Style and Turabian's Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations are both available at the Dana Library Reference Desk. The Writing Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison also has a nice introduction to Chicago/Turabian Documentation that will give you the basic information you need to create bibliographic citations.

The above site does not, however, cover citing online resources. The Library of Congress has a guide on How to Cite Electronic Sources that show Turabian-style examples; the Bedford/St. Martin's site also offers useful information on Using Chicago Style to Cite and Document Sources

Not sure when you need to cite something? Check out the Plagiarism Guide

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Getting Started

Scholarly encyclopedias can give you an overview of a topic as well as some basic bibliography

Dictionary of the Middle Ages . 13 volumes. New York, 1982-2003.
About 5000 signed articles, with bibliographies, on all aspects of medieval civilization from about 500 to 1500 AD. An excellent starting point for research! [Sample Pages]
DANA Call Number: Ref. D114.D5 1982

Bibliographies are great for finding out what has been written/is available on a specific topic.

Crosby, Everett Uberto. Medieval Studies: A Bibliographic Guide. New York, Garland, 1983.
The standard guide to scholarly literature. Lists majors collections of sources as well as important secondary sources. Entries include brief annotations. [Sample Page]
Dana Call Number: Ref. CB351 .C76 1983

Tobey, Jeremy L. The History of Ideas: A Bibliographic Introduction. Volume II: Medieval and Early Modern Europe. Santa Barbara, Calif., Clio Books, 1977.
Still valuable bibliographic essays. Includes chapters on Medieval and Renaissance philosophy, science, religion, and aesthetics. [Sample Pages]
Dana Call Number: Ref. Z7125 .T58 v.2

Rizwi's Bibliography for Medieval Islam.
Rizwi S. Faizer's classified bibliography of significant books and articles on medieval Islamic history, thought, and institutions.

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History of Institutions and Ideas

Dictionary of the History of Ideas: Studies of Selected Pivotal Ideas
Digital, searchable version of the classic 5-volume set published in 1973-74 [Dana Ref. CB5 .D52]. A basic resource for tracing the development of major concepts (e.g., Faith, Hope and Charity; Happiness; Love) in history. Lengthy, signed scholarly essays with bibliography.

New Dictionary of the History of Ideas. New York, Charles Scribner's Sons, 2005. 6 vols.
Over 700 signed articles with up to date bibliographies. While the Dictionary of the History of Ideas was decidedly Eurocentric in its approach, articles in the NDHI are written from a global, multicultural perspective. Emphasize is on developments in scholarship since 1970.
Dana Call Number: Ref. CB9 .N49 2005

New Catholic Encyclopedia. 2d edition. New York, Thomson Gale, 2002-2003.
About 12,000 signed articles with bibliographies [Sample Pages]; useful for biographical and hagiological information, as well as articles relating to the history of theological and doctrinal issues.
Off-Campus Link Restricted Access

Encyclopaedia Judaica. New York, Macmillan, 1971-1972. 16 volumes.
Over 25,000 signed articles, most with bibliographies, on all aspects of Judaism, Jewish life and history. The standard encyclopedia.
Dana Call Number: Ref. DS102.8 .E496

The Encyclopaedia of Islam. New edition. Leiden, Brill, 1960-2001. 11 volumes.
Articles on all aspects of the Islamic world; the standard reference work for Islamic Studies.
Dana Call Number: Ref. DS37 .E523

Philosopher's Index
1940- Index to over 480 journals worldwide, as well as books, relating to social and political philosophy and concepts, the philosophy of law, the philosophy of religion, etc.
Off-Campus Link Restricted Access

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Finding Scholarly Articles: Indexes

Basic Indexes

Humanities Full Text
Humanities Full Text is the basic index for finding articles in the humanities disciplines, including history. It indexes over 550 of the core, English language journals in history, literature, art and music, philosophy and religion. It indexes many journals back to 1984 and, beginning with 1995, includes many full-text articles.
Off-Campus Access Restricted Access.

International Medieval Bibliography
1967-. Index of journal articles, conference papers and collected essays on all subjects related to the Middle Ages between 400-1500 AD.
Off-Campus Access Restricted Access.

Related Indexes

ATLA Religion Database
1949- Index of journal articles, books, book chapters on biblical study, church history and history of major religions. Over 600 journals indexed.
Off-Campus Access Restricted Access.

Feminae: Medieval Women and Gender Index
1994- .Index to journal articles, book reviews, and essays in books about women, sexuality, and gender during the Middle Ages (450 A.D. to 1500 A.D., with Russia extended to 1613). Over 400 journals indexed.

Iter: Gateway to the Middle Ages and Renaissance
The Journals bibliography is a searchable index to the complete runs of over 630 scholarly journals relating to the period 400 to 1700 A.D; while the Books bibliography includes citations for monographs, material published in monographs, and collected essays.
Off-Campus Access Restricted Access.

Royal Historical Society Bibliography
Searchable bibliography of historical writing on Britain and Ireland from ancient times to the present. Over 400,000 entries.

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Primary Sources

Davis, Helen Moloney. Primary Sources for Medieval Studies: Primary Sources for the Study of Liturgy, Hagiography and Other Aspects of Medieval Studies
An extremely useful annotated guide to published primary sources.

History of Medieval and Renaissance Europe: Primary Documents
Links to the major online collections.

Medieval Sourcebook
Paul Halsall's (Fordham University) compilation of online texts for classroom use. Selected and excerpted texts; full texts of medieval sources arranged according to type; saints' lives; and law texts. Good, partially annotated index to other Byzantine and Medieval Studies sites.

ORB--Online Reference Book for Medieval Studies
A peer-reviewed scholarly site which includes the ORB Encyclopedia: a topically arranged index to original articles, primary sources, bibliographies, images, and links; ORB Online Textbooks; the ORB Reference Shelf: a large collection of links to excerpts and full texts of primary and secondary sources; and the ORB Text Library: a collection of transcriptions and/or translations of important medieval texts that have not previously been accessible in print or electronic format.

The Fathers of the Church
Extensive collection of online texts from the New Advent site.

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Language and Literature

Middle English Compendium
Includes the Electronic Middle English Dictionary, a comprehensive lexicon for the period 1100-1500; the HyperBibliography of Middle English, a listing of all the Middle English materials which are cited in the Middle English Dictionary with links to the full-text when available; and the Corpus of Middle English Prose and Verse, a select collection of Middle English texts.
Off-Campus Access Restricted Access

MLA Bibliography
1963- .The most comprehensive index to literary studies, MLA indexes critical scholarship on literature, language, linguistics and folklore. Coverage includes journal articles, series, monographs, dissertations, bibliographies, proceedings,etc.
Off-Campus Access Restricted Access

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Web Sites: Starting Sites

NetSERF: The Internet Connection for Medieval Resources
Excellent topically laid out index to sites. A good starting point when searching for web-based resources.

Labyrinth: Resources for Medieval Studies
Search an extensive collection of links by category, type of material, or keyword.

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Corrections?
Natalie Borisovets (natalieb@andromeda.rutgers.edu)
John Cotton Dana Library
October 16, 2006