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In-Depth Research Guide: German

Librarians for German

Danielle Boulay, Research & Instruction, x3107
Steve Smith, Collections, x2103

Contents

Course Guides

Library instruction pages for previous semesters have been archived, and are no longer updated. The pages list several topic-specific resources that could be helpful.

 

 

Offcampus Access · Databases A-Z · Research Guides by Subject | by Course · Reference Books Online · Library Catalog


Find books  

Wellesley College Library catalog - The catalog lists books, journal titles, videos, and other items in the Wellesley College Libraries. Note that individual journal articles are not listed in the catalog. To find articles about your topic, use the resources below.

WorldCat - Use this database to find books, journals, videos, etc. in other libraries.

Find background information  

Dictionaries

Beaton, K.B., A Practical Dictionary of German Usage. (Clapp Ref PF3460 .B35 1996)
Brockhaus Wahrig: Deutsches Wörterbuch in sechs Bänden. (Clapp Ref PF3625 .B7)
Betteridge, Harold T. Cassell's German-English, English-German Dictionary. (Clapp Ref PF3640 .B45 1978)
Collins German-English, English-German Dictionary: Unabridged. (Clapp Ref PF3640 .C68 1998)
Guide to German Idioms. (Clapp Ref PF3460 .L86 1984b)
The Oxford-Duden Pictorial German-English Dictionary. (Clapp Ref PF3629 .O9)
Oxford Language Dictionaries Online provides access to excellent French, Chinese, German, Italian, Russian, and Chinese dictionaries.
Reference Grammar of the German Language. (Clapp Ref PF3105 .L43)

General

Modern Germany: An Encyclopedia of History, People, and Culture, 1871-1990. (Clapp Ref DD14 .M64 1998)
Encyclopedia of Contemporary German Culture. (Clapp Ref DD290.26 .E53 1999)

History

Fest, Wilfried. Dictionary of German History, 1806-1945. (Clapp Ref DD256.5 S57)
Wattenbach, Wilhelm. Deutschlands Geschichtsquellen im Mittelalter bis zur Mitte des Dreizehnten Jahrhunderts. (Clapp Ref DD86 .W3)

Literature

Encyclopedia of German Literature. (Clapp Ref PT41 .E53 2000)
Oxford Companion to German Literature. (Clapp Ref PT41 .G3 1997)
Modern German Literature. (Clapp Ref PT401.D6

Find articles and essays  

The following indexes and databases provide either full-text articles, or citations (information about when and where the article was published). Once you have a citation for an article, do a title search in the Wellesley College Library catalog using the name of the journal as the title. If Wellesley does not have the article, you can request it via Interlibrary Loan (ILL).

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

Arts & Humanities Citation Index - Use this to find articles 1975 to the present.

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

JSTOR contains a scholarly collection of journal articles that cover the major disciplines from the first issues of that journal but NOT the last five years.

LexisNexis Academic - Use this to find articles from U.S. and International news sources. German-language sources can be accessed by going to the Sources line, choosing Deutsche Presse, and searching with German terms.

MLA Bibliography - Use this to find articles about literature, languages, linguistics, folklore from 1963-present.

PAIS (Public Affairs Information Service) - Use this to find journal articles, books, hearings, reports, gray literature, government publications, Internet resources, and international publications covering public affairs, law, and social sciences. Covers 1937-present.

PIO (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 & social sciences.

Project Muse Academic journals in the humanities & social sciences, from the past five years - see JSTOR for prior years

Times of London Full facsimile images of specific articles from the Times for the years 1785-1985.

Other databases may be useful for you, depending on your specific topic and approach. AskUs and get some customized suggestions, or request an appointment with the library research liaison.

Key Websites 

Confoederatio Helvetica homepage (Federal Authorities of the Swiss Confederation).

FemBio - Produced by the Institute for Women's Biography Research/Institut für Frauen-Biographieforschung. News about women, mostly in German, but some English.

German Studies Web - Gateway to German history, literature, politics and government, performing arts, newspapers, library catalogs, reference resources, and other German studies Web sites compiled by the Association of College and Research Librarians' Western European Studies section..

Goethe Institut - Links to popular information on German art and culture, politics and current events, economics, education, science, travel, and on learning German.

Sophie: Literature - A digital library of works by German-speaking women with texts in literature, journals, drama, music, etc.

Spiegel Online- Online version of the weekly magazine displays the Table of Contents from the print version, and selected full-text articles.


Wellesley College Library · IS · Danielle Boulay · last modified: August 17, 2009