WELLESLEY COLLEGE LIBRARY

LIBRARY RESEARCH GUIDE

Always start by using the Wellesley College Online Catalog Try Encore, our new catalog interface & use the refine by: column on the left side to limit your results by format, language, etc.
To find books written about your subject, do a keyword search --- enlightenment philosophy france
To find critical books written about a writer, add criticism to the author's name in a keyword search.-- Montesquieu criticism

Databases A-Z. An alphabetical listing of the College's database titles covering all disciplines.

E-reference Books Now listed under the Articles & more heading. There is a growing list of electronic encyclopedia and dictionary titles, and this is a good resource for background information. For this course, try Britannica Online, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, and Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy.

If you want to check out all of our titles, click on Full list.

Oxford Language Dictionaries Online enter your word in the search box or browse the dictionary.

Citing sources, under the Get assistance column. There are links for electronic citation styles. For Print version citation information, go to the main desk in the Ref Room. Copies of Kate Turabian's Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, & Dissertations, (6th ed.), MLA Handbook, (6th ed.), and Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (APA), (5th ed.) are kept there for the convenience of students working on papers in the library.

Borrow from elsewhere ILL under the Borrowing & ordering heading for titles that are not available here at Clapp. If you have not registered for this service, click on Register for ILL on the left side of the page. NExpress is the fastest service, but if your title is not available there, please request via ILL.

Check out our newest feature, "what is Encore?"

As you work on this assignment or future papers and look for resources, you will find there are basically four options available to you ---

Our libraries own a print copy. Make sure to note the item's location, call number, and availability.

Our libraries have the journal title on microfilm. There is a microfilm reader/printer in Knapp.

The article you need is in full text in one of our databases (See the Databases A to Z list).

Our libraries do not have access to the book or journal title. Request via ILL or NExpress.

Databases for French Topics:

Academic Search Complete The world's largest scholarly, multi-disciplinary full text database. Dates of coverage vary by title.

Historical Abstracts Articles on world history from 1450, excluding US & Canada, written since 1954.

JSTOR - A collection of humanities, social sciences, & natural science journals from the earliest issues but NOT the latest 5 years. A full-text source.

Literature Resource Center has biographies, bibliographies and full-text critical analysis of authors from all genres and eras, including the contents of Contemporary Authors, Dictionary of Literary Biography, and Contemporary Literary Criticism.

MLA International Bibliography This database covers topics in international literature, linguistics, film, and folklore.

Periodicals Index Online is an index to articles published in over 4,500 periodicals, in as many as 40 languages, and covering topics in the humanities and social sciences.

Philosopher's Index contains articles, books, and chapters in books on all aspects of philosophy, 1940 to present.

Project MUSE - This database has the latest 5 years of academic journals in humanities and social sciences. Use the advanced search to limit by language (French) to find articles written in French.

Other databases could be relevant depending on how you are approaching your topic. Feel free to ask a librarian for suggestions!

To find books not at Wellesley College: Use WorldCat to find books audio, DVD titles and other materials not here at Wellesley.

Find French films: In Encore, type "feature films" and the refine results by language: French using the left-hand column. Use the tags on the right-hand side to limit your search further (Ex: historical films)

Wellesley databases for French press/journal titles available at Wellesley:

LexisNexis Academic - This resource provides full-text articles from Le Monde & L'Express. We also receive both titles in paper. Once microform arrives, the paper copies of Le Monde are discarded and patrons must use that format or search in LexisNexis.

Le Monde Diplomatique has articles dealing with political science topics from around the world.

Westlaw Campus Research   Legal encyclopedias & legal analysis, federal & state court cases and statutes, and law reviews, 1789 to present. Also includes current and archival newspapers, magazines, broadcast transcripts, wire services and trade journals, plus translations of foreign news broadcasts.

Print Titles: The latest volumes of the following journal titles are located in the Brackett Reading Room. If older volumes are needed, the correct call numbers are provided below.

Cahiers du Cinema: from 1968 to the present. Clapp Lib - qPN1993 .C25

Communications: from 1975 to the present. Clapp Lib - P87 .C6

Esprit: from 1939 to the present. Clapp Lib (Off-campus holdings before 1970) - AP20 .E78

Francais Moderne: from 1933 to the present. Clapp Lib (Off-campus holdings before 1970 - PC2002 .F3)

Paris-Match: from 1969 to the present. Clapp Lib - fAP20 .P342

Le Point: from 1987 to the present. Clapp Lib - qAP21 .P6

Les Temps Modernes: from 1945 to the present. Clapp Lib - AP20 .T42

If there are further questions on this material, or if anyone would like to have a one-on-one session, please feel free to contact me via e-mail, by phone, or FirstClass chat me!

Danielle L. Boulay x3107 - email address: dboulay@wellesley.edu

Wellesley College Library

September 17, 2009