Information Literacy Class*

Research Guide

Spanish 350: Masterworks in Spanish I

The information on this page is periodically revised and updated.

I. Introduction

• Catalog and Selected Databases
• Full-text Articles in Scholarly Journals
• Interlibrary Loan (Worldcat and ALL WALDO Search)
• Term Paper Center

.

II. Reference Books

Here are a few Reference Books which you might find helpful for background information.

• The Feminist Encyclopedia of Spanish Literature REF PQ6055.F46
• Medieval Iberia: an encyclopedia REF DP99.M33 2003
• Castillian Writers, 1400-1500 REF PS126.D5 v.286
• Cassell's Spanish-English, Spanish dictionary = Diccionario españnol-inglés, inglés-español REF PC4640.C35 1978
• Cassell's Spanish dictionary: Spanish-English, English-Spanish PC4640.C35 1960

eBooks

The following encyclopedias are good resources to use for background information.

• Encyclopaedia Britannica
• Gale Virtual Reference Library --This database contains the following encyclopedias: Gran Enciclopedia de España; Latinas in the United States: A Historical Encyclopedia; Encyclopedia of Latin American History and Culture and other encyclopedias.
• Oxford Reference Online Premium--This database has bilingual dictionaries, encyclopedias, and other reference sources.
• Literature Criticism Online

 

III. Finding Books

To casually browse the library's circulation collection, go to the 3rd floor. Browse the following call numbers:

• PQ6032.V3 1950 (Spanish Literature)
• PN671.C36 2000 (Medieval Romance)
• PQ6058.N4 1986 (Literary composition in Medieval Spain)
• PQ6058.D86 2003 (Literature and Music in the Middle Ages and Renaissance)
• PO6064.I54 1992 (Siglo de Oro)
• PQ6040.C663 2004 (Santa Teresa de Ávila)
• PQ6375.M5 (Cantar de mio Cid)
• PQ6402.J8 (Juan Manuel studies)
• PQ6055.M84 2002 (Women in Spanish literature)
• PQ7081.P27 (Diccionario de la literatura latinoamericana)
• PQ7652.L813 2002 (Literatura gauchesca)
• PQ6522.P35 1990 (criticism, José de Espronceda)
• PQ6070.S35 1998 (criticism, Espronceda, Zorilla)
• PQ7081.A1 C35 1996 (The Cambridge history of Latin American Literature)

 

To find book in the library, use Jaspercat, the library's online catalog. Visit the library's "Catalog and Selected Databases" web page.

• Basic Search in Jaspercat using a "Keyword" (and, or not "phrase") may be helpful:

1. Spanish AND* encyclopedia
2. Manual AND Spanish Literature
3. Spanish AND dictionary
4. Spanish thesaurus AND slang
5. Spanish AND dictionary AND literature
6. Espronceda AND criticis

   *Note the boolean operator and connects words/phrases.

• The use of truncation in searches is easy! Use a question mark (?) in your keyword searches.

  Example: Espronceda AND crit? (This truncated search will look for the phrase Espronceda and also words beginning with crit- such as critique and criticism.

• You may also wish to try using a subject search. Subject searches are different from keyword searches. Words and terms used as subject headings come from an official list of terms created and developed by the Library of Congress (LC). Jaspercat uses LC subject headings.
• Subject Headings are useful, for example, when more than one term is used to mean the same thing:
• Espronceda AND crit?
• Espronceda AND interpretat?
• Crit? (criticism, critique) means the same as interpretat? (interpretation, interpretative, etc.). The LC has chosen "criticism and interpretation" as subject headings in this case.

There are also times when subject headings are used to distinguish between words that have two different meansings such as "depression" and the "Great Depression." Cross references in the catalog will help you find the appropriate subject headings. Also, the print publication entitled, Library of Congress Subject Headings (REF Z695.L695) may be used to find useful subject headings. Jaspercat displays LC subject headings in the "Full View" of a record while the "Brief View" does not provide this detailed information.

 

IV. Finding Articles

The library has many databases that will provide you with full-text scholarly articled in peer-reviewed journals. The databases will also provide you with full-text articles in trade magazines and newspapers as well as book reviews and letters to the editor.

To view the list of periodicals, you may use the "Library Periodical List" found on the "Catalog and Selected Databases" web page. This list includes all types of periodicals: scholarly journals, trade magazines, newspapers, etc.

General Periodical Databases

• Proquest
• Ebscohost
• JSTOR
• Full-text journals (A-Z Periodical List)
• Worldcat [Interlibrary Loan (ILL) materials]
• You may also search the ALL Waldo Search in Jaspercat [for Interlibrary Loan (ILL) materials].
• NYC and Suburban Libraries

Arts & Humanities Databases

• MLA International Bibliography
• Informe
• Twayne's Authors Series

Other Databases

• Google Scholar
• Google Book Search

 

V. Other Libraries

• New York Public Library (NYPL)
• The Donnell Library Center and the Mid-Manhattan Library have good selections in Spanish and Latin American Literature.
• Mid-Manhattan Library (NYPL)
• Humanities and Sciences Library (exclusively the research library of NYPL)
• El Instituto Cervantes, Biblioteca Jorge Luis Borges

 

*This page is based on a library instruction class given to Dr. Joan Cammarata's class in the Fall 2008 and Fall 2007. This web page is a preliminary research guide for students in "Spanish 350: Masterworks in Spanish I" course.

 

© 2008 Bernadette López-Fitzsimmons.

Last modified: 06 November 2008

.

.