The UC Berkeley Libraries possess a wealth of resources in many formats and languages available to you for conducting research in this course. This Library à la Carte guide is a simple pathfinder to many useful article databases, printed and electronic books, and reference sources. While most of your research needs can be met with the Library's array of e-resources as well as print sources located in the Gardner "Main" Stacks, you may choose to consult primary resources housed in more specialized libraries such as the Bancroft, Earth Sciences/Maps, Ethnic Studies, or Anthropology libraries.
For those interested in using French language materials, there are broader subject guides for both Canadian Studies and French Studies. Last but not least, the subject groupings for African American Studies, American Studies, Canadian Studies, Ethnic Studies, Film Studies, French Studies, History, and Native American Studies in the Electronic Resources Finder accessible through the Library's home page provide more complete lists of electronic resources for each of these disciplines.
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You can also view/download a PDF map of library locations. For library contact information and building addresses, visit our directory.
A large part of the library's collection is stored off campus in an environmentally secure building called the Northern Regional Library Facility [NRLF].
Submit online requests via the REQUEST button in OskiCat to borrow material shelved at NRLF. To receive electronic or paper copies of book chapters or journal articles, submit an online request via the "Request an article from NRLF (photocopy or web delivery)" link that appears in eligible titles in OskiCat. Staff at public service desks of any campus library can assist you with further questions.

Log in to Request with your Calnet ID and fill out the screens. Choose the volume you want, for periodicals:

The Bancroft Library is one of the treasures of the campus, and one of the world's great libraries for the history of the
American West.
Some Bancroft materials are available online via Calisphere, which includes primary sources from many California libraries and museums.
Before you go:
1. Be prepared! Read secondary sources and know something about your topic.
2. Search OskiCat so you can bring call numbers with you. Use the Entire Collection pull-down menu in OskiCat to limit your search to the Bancroft Library only. (Remember that there are primary sources in many other campus libraries as well.)
3. Learn about the Bancroft's policies: read about Access (bring a quarter for lockers) and Registration (bring two pieces of ID). You may want to read about the new camera policy ($10/day, no flash) or about getting photocopies.
Read moreIn the Library's catalogs, you can use keywords or Library of Congress subject headings to locate relevant books of interest on your topic.
Use truncation or wildcards (* or ?) for variations of words (e.g. vatican*) to begin a keyword search and use subject headings like these below to explore further in your search:
Here's a selection of books discovered through the subject headings below that might be of interest to you:
The Library offers over 130 e-book and text collections in specific subject areas. Many of these e-books also available through OskiCat and Melvyl. You can limit your search in OskiCat to "Available online," and in Melvyl to "Online resources."
University of California E-book Projects
HathiTrust
Pronounced "hah-tee", this cooperative system contains millions of books scanned from UC and other major research libraries, including those digitized by Google and the Internet Archive. Search on information about the book (such as author or title), or words in the text. Full text is available for items that are not protected by copyright. Items in the HathiTrust catalog can be grouped into collections and shared online. For details, see the FAQ page.
Google Book Search
Books on many subjects, including titles from the UC libraries, digitized in partnership with Google. Full text can be displayed only if the book is out of copyright (generally, published before 1923) or if the copyright holder has given permission.
Internet Archive: Text Archive
Several hundred thousand books in the public domain, from the Open Content Alliance (OCA). Includes many books from our collections.
UC Press E-Books Collection, 1982-2004
1,400 titles on a wide range of subjects from the University of California Press. Includes about 30% of UC Press books, both in and out of print. Books can be viewed but not downloaded.
Here are eleven periodical indexes useful for research in this course. For more, please check out the Library's Electronic Resource Finder (ERF).
Once you've searched an article index or database to find articles, you may need to use
to link to a PDF or html file if the full text is not immediately available. Each database is a bit different, but a good rule of thumb is this: when you see the UC-eLinks icon click on it to view your article access options, which can range from full text to a call number to an Interlibrary Loan request:

For more information, here's a tutorial on using UC-eLinks.
General and subject specific dictionaries in any language, dual language dictionaries, thesauri, dictionaries of quotations, and acronym lists.
*Blue asterisk indicates that the resource was recently added to the guide.
Online
Argot & français populaire / Jean-Paul Colin. Nouv. ed., enrichie et mise a jour / par Jean-Paul Colin. Paris: Larousse, 2006.
Doe Reference PC3741.C64 2006 Dictionaries
Le dictionnaire culturel en langue française / sous la direction d'Alain Rey. Paris: Le Robert, 2005.
Main Stacks PC2625 .D445 2005 v.1-4
Dictionnaire de l'ancien français jusqu'au milieu du XIVe siècle / A. J. Greimas. Paris: Larousse, 1969.
Graduate Services PC2889.G76
Bancroft Reference PC2889 .G76 1977 2e éd., rev. et corr.
Dictionnaire de l'argot français et de ses origines / Jean-Paul Colin, Jean-Pierre Mevel. Nouv. éd. mise à jour et enrichie. Paris: Larousse, c2001.
Main Stacks PC3741.C65 2001
Dictionnaire étymologique de l'ancien français / Kurt Baldinger; avec la collaboration de Jean-Denis Gendron et Georges Straka. Québec: Presses de l'Université Laval ; Tubingen: Niemeyer; Paris: Klincksieck, 1974-
Graduate Services PC2883.B3 1974 Dictionaries v.G1-10; H1-5; index G; G1-G3, H, I1-4, J1-5 (1974-2008)
Dictionnaire étymologique du français / Jacqueline Picoche. [Nouvelle presentation.]. Paris: Dictionnaires Le Robert, 2006.
Main Stacks PC2580 .P48 2006
Dictionnaire étymologique et historique de la langue française / Emmanuele Baumgartner et Philippe Menard. Paris: Le Livre de poche, 1996.
Main Stacks PC2580.B38 1996
Le grand Robert de la langue française. Nouv. ed. augm. Paris: Dictionnaires Le Robert, 2001
Doe Reference PC2625.R58 2001 Dictionaries v. 1-6 & online via Library Databases
An Illustrated Dictionary of French Similes / Keith Foley. Lewiston [N.Y.] : E. Mellen Press, 2000.
Main Stacks PC2440.F65 2000
Graduate Services PC2889.G74 2001
Multi dictionnaire de la langue française / Marie-Éva de Villers. 4é ed. Montréal: Québec Amérique, 2003. Collection Langue et culture.
Doe Reference PC2625.V54 2003 Dictionaries
Moyen français / Algirdas Julien Greimas, Teresa Mary Keane. Paris: Larousse, c1992, 2007.
Main Stacks PC2650 .G74 2007
Trésor de la langue française: dictionnaire de la langue du XIXe et du XXe siècle (1789-1960), publié sous la direction de Paul Imbs. Paris: Editions du Centre national de la recherche scientifique, 1971-
Doe Reference PC2625.I41 Dictionaries v. t.1-16 (A-zzz...) (1971-1994) & online
Library Databases
Different disciplines approach research in distinct ways, and it is important to examine types of information sources in each area of study. For example:
| Discipline | Humanities | Sciences | Social Sciences |
| Purpose of Research | To understand and analyze the meaning of individual events, people, and creative works | To observe and understand natural phenomena | To solve social problems and understand group interactions |
| Research Methodology | Qualitative | Quantitative | Qualitative, Quantitative |
| Examples of Primary Sources | Creative works, diaries, letters, interviews, news footage | Results of experiments, research and clinical trials | Census data, statistics, results of experiments of human behavior |
| Examples of Secondary and Tertiary Sources | Books, journal articles, textbooks, reference material | Books, journal articles, textbooks, reference material | Books, journal articles, textbooks, reference material |
The Library features several pages that can help you find primary sources in the UC Berkeley Libraries and beyond.
A good first step is our guide to Finding Historical Primary Sources. It includes information on a number of specific formats:
The American Library Association provides a very helpful guide to Using Primary Sources on the Web where nearly primary sources in all formats can be found.
Library Databases
Here are some primary source databases selected from the Library's Electronic Resources Finder that may help you to locate digitized or born-digital primary source materials on your topic.
All web resources listed below were discovered, selected, and annotated by students enrolled in the French 142AC course in summer 2010:
France in the New World | French Louisiana | African Americans in France | French/American Film | French Food in the US
This website offers documents concerning the diplomatic relations between France and the United States between 1778 and 1843. Among all the texts, the treaties, the alliances, the contracts, and conventions, there are important documents about the Louisiana Purchase.
This site sells antique maps, sea charts, and atlases. Images can be viewed free of charge.
Online database of over 22,000 maps focusing on eighteenth- and nineteenth-century North America and South America.
A Quebec-based multimedia encyclopedia project with contributions from specialists in Canada and beyond. English translations available of some articles. Articles enhanced by bibliographies of important references and useful images or maps. For example, the article on Chateaubriand traces his documented travels in North America. Entries on literary works also include links to full text when available.
A Library of Congress website and important resource. It includes sections on French colonies in America and also a chronology of France in America. Maps are also included on this site.
French-language website of a scholarly journal. Includes information about the journal’s content (full text available through Project Muse or other databases) as well as links and articles relative to French in North America, especially Canada. Also includes links to online exhibits sponsored by the University of Ottawa such as “400 ans de présence française au Canada, 1604-2004.”
A very useful website created by the French Ministère de la culture et de la communication in honor of the two-hundredth anniversary of the Louisiana Purchase. Traces the history of French in America from early exploration to the present day. English version available at http://www.louisiana.culture.fr/en/som.html.
This website offers gives biographies of Jesuits martyrs whose stories once fascinated the French reading public. Of particular interest is an image of scenes of martyrdom. This image is included in a maps presumed to be drawn by a Jesuits. In most reproductions of the map, the image is, however, barely visible.
An Online Educational Resource from LSU Libraries Special Collections. The particular topics covered in here are: Louisiana as a French Colony, Louisiana as a Spanish Colony, The Louisiana Purchase, and The State of Louisiana. Other topics are Native Americans in Louisiana and, finally, slave revolts and insurrections.
A virtual map site of the French Empire in North American. These selections are from David Buisseret’s Mapping the French Empire in North American: An Interpretive Guide to the Exhibition Mounted at the Newberry Library on the Occasion of the 17th Annual Conference of the French Colonial Historical Society.
This website contains useful information about France’s evolution as an imperial power. It also describes us the first explorations made by the French in the American continent and it narrates the first adventures of Jesuits. We can also read about the economic relations between Jesuits and Natives.
Part of the Library of Congress’ site “France in America.” Maps collected by royal geographer, Jean-Baptiste Bourguignon d’Anville (1697-1782). Links to Gallica, the online collections of Bibliothèque Nationale de France, open images of each map. Includes 330 digitized documents relating to North America (excluding the Antilles), of which more than 50 are manuscripts. This selection reflects the geographic knowledge of North America in France during the second half of the eighteenth century. Nearly 180 maps concern regions controlled, explored or coveted by France, such as Hudson’s Bay, Newfoundland, Acadia, the St. Lawrence Valley, the Great Lakes region, Louisiana and the American West. This online collection shows the evolution of the cartographic image of New France.
This website name is The Jesuits Relations and Allied Documents 1610 to 1791 and it contains the entire English translation of The Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents. Each downloadable file contains the English translation of one published volume.
This site automatically scans the web for Cajun and Zydeco content. That includes festivals, dance, music, etc. You can even make your own custom schedule to follow in your area.
Website dedicated to the promotion and preservation of Cajun music. Includes a page of links to websites of various Cajun musicians and bands (http://www.cajunfrenchmusic.org/lnks.html).
Official website of the Council for the Development of French Louisiana. In French, English, and Louisiana Creole. Includes invaluable information about history of Louisiana French as well as current efforts to promote Louisiana’s French language and culture.
A key resource for French history and culture in Louisiana from LSU Special Collections. Includes documents, images, and many useful biographies.
Creole paintings, pictures, Louisiana heritage, ancestry, colonial beginning, Creole heroes. It contains the video, Too White to Be Black…Too Black to be White.
Cajun French dictionary from the Louisiana State University’s Department of French studies..
A French perspective on French in North America. Information about Louisiana as well as Franco-Americans of New England.
Online library of Louisiana literature in French, including a substantial collection of important works from nineteenth-century New Orleans. Some texts in French Creole. Selected English translations. Printed editions of some texts available from http://www.centenary.edu/editions/index.html. For links related to Louisiana culture, language, and music, see http://www.centenary.edu/french/louisiane.html.
History of free people of color in nineteenth-century New Orleans. Contains an annotated list of genealogy resources, history collections, and translated records.
Full text with images of Louisiana Life. Articles are written for a general audience, but often provide useful information images.
An online library of Louisiana institutions with over 144,000 digital materials.
Louisiana traditional culture. Cajuns and Creoles in Louisiana. Cultural subgroups in Louisiana.
St. Louis Cathedral in New Orleans and is the oldest cathedral in use in the United States. It was established in 1720 and the website contains the history of the cathedral, mass times, news and events and other church related information.
Online Resources include videos (http://www.hnoc.org/espace/vid_docs.html), newsletters, and a youtube channel. Of particular interest are high quality pdfs of past exhibits, including “Four Hundred Years of French Presence in Louisiana: Treasures from the Bibliothèque nationale de France” (http://www.hnoc.org/exhibitions/pdf/400_years_cata.pdf).
A contemporary view on the long-standing debate over the meaning “Creole.” This website talks about how Creoles are not a race and rather a culture.
A bilingual website of a leading Cajun musician. Includes biographical information, sample music and video downloads, and lyrics with English translations. The French site also has links to Richard’s poetry.
This website is actually on Black Culture Travel in France, but it has a section that is dedicated to African American writers in Paris.
This page includes a short biography of Chester Bonar Himes, an African American expatriate in Paris. He is known for his series of black detective novels which he wrote while he was abroad. Some of his works are listed on here and notes are included with them.
A two minute and thirty-eight second clip of historian Tyler Stovall talking about the African American community in Montmartre during the 1920s. He mentions writers like Langston Hughes, Countee Cullen and Claude McKay and also performers like Josephine Baker. A full-text transcription of the clip is also available here.
A three minute and thirty-four second clip of the story of Louis Mitchell, the first African American to record a jazz record in Paris in 1922. This is selected from a special broadcast that was aired in the United States on February 7th, 2010 to celebrate Black History Month.
An entire webpage dedicated to James Baldwin, the African American writer in France. It includes several online literary critiques, videos and teaching resources that are related to James Baldwin.
This web page gives a brief introduction to the Jazz Age in Paris when many African Americans migrated to Paris to become musicians. It points out at that Montmartre is where most of these musicians resided and worked. Montmartre became famous for its entertainment venues and artistic culture during that time.
Site about Josephine Baker, an African American entertainer who took Paris by storm in the 1920s.
Le Monde is a French newspaper which can be considered as a well respected source of information. Several articles talk about French-American movies. One interesting example is the controversial movie "In the Electric Mist" by B. Tavernier. Le Monde offer not only offers the point of view of the French audiences but also provides several interviews with the American producer, Michael Fitzgerald.
This website is a good index where all the French-Americans venues are listed. One can also learn a lot about cinematographic events in Louisiana like the Bayou Film festival.
This website promotes Creole and Cajun Cinema in Louisiana. Several movies excepts can be viewed like for instance "Belizaire the Cajun"; a movie from Glenn Lepitre. Many documentaries are also presented. Most of them are related to the historic past of the Creole community or notorious events that marked New Orleans during the last decade.
A very large amount of resources can be found on this website. One can look at the listings of all the Louisiana productions, directors, film specialists or even festivals.
The website gathers comments and articles about documentaires by Pat Mire, including Mon Cher Camarade about Cajuns in France during World War II. One can also find a series of interviews with Cajuns and French directors.
This is the website of the Louisiana Film Museum. One can find a very exhaustive filmography where movies from the nineteenth to the twentifirst century are displayed on a timeline. Interestingly, several Cajuns movies are present, mainly during the 1990s. The category “The Board of directors" provides a list of several directors with for each of them, a detailed profile.
Looking for a French movie? This is the right place. With more than 2000 French directors, 9000 actors and over 10000 movies titles, this website offers a really exhaustive list of resources. The filmography is not only detailed but also contains numerous illustrations from the 20th century. Cinematographic events like the Festival de Cannes are ordered by years inside a very simple interface. The timeline goes from 1946 to 2010 and is updated frequently.
French Food and Other Elements in the US
Julia Child goes over how to make omelettes. She shows various different types of omelettes to make. Her didactic personality shows in her TV show, and at the end of each cooking segment she displays the final product.
Highlights the story of a French woman who gained weight in the US. She notices how the Americans don’t appreciate their food and she found that Americans found eating as more of a chore than an enjoyment to life..
Pollan talks about how when he was a child, Julia Child inspired his mother to cook exquisite cuisine. Child upgraded the culture of food in America according to Pollan because Child took the fear out of cooking. However, Pollan mentions about how in contemporary America people are not cooking as much, and Julia Child’s approach to cooking is not heavily used anymore.
An hour long segment where Judith Jones reminisces about Julia Child. She talks about her legacy that she had, her impact in America, and how she changed the perception of French cuisine in the mid-20th century.
Talks about a revolutionist movement called Le Fooding. Le Fooding set out to eliminate the pretentious connotations associated with French cuisine. Le Fooding wants to break down the slowness and the snobbery with French cuisine. However, Le Fooding recognizes that food plays a central role in the French way of life, and they want to portray French food to Americans while removing the bad connotations associated with French cuisine.
Talks mostly about contemporary reflections of how the French view the US today and vice versa. Polls show that Americans view France mostly in a positive spotlight. The French also had sympathy for the Americans after the 9/11 attacks, even though France did not agree on the US foreign policy to invade Iraq. This article gives an extensive overview of the different types of perceptions present in different categories in France and in America regarding one another. He concludes by saying that the French regard US favorably but the American side seems overtly anti-French now.
The website goes over how the perception of America in France has changed over the past few centuries. In the eighteenth century, France viewed America as the cold continent whereas in the 20th century, France feared America as a superpower. Generally, contrary to popular belief, the French respect America with a 62% favorable rating.
Willcox’s article mentions how American restaurants have crept into France. These American restaurants have affected the local businesses. Willcox in particular does not appreciate the American culture creeping into France as well. The food is not up to par with French cuisine, and Willcox hopes that fast food restaurants do not dominate over the French culture.
The Library Prize for Undergraduate Research recognizes excellence in undergraduate research projects that show evidence of significant inquiry using the library, its resources, and collections and learning about the research and information-gathering process itself.
Citation management tools help you manage your research, collect and cite sources, and create bibliographies in a variety of citation styles. Each one has its strengths and weaknesses, but any are easier than doing it by hand!
It's always good to double check the formatting -- sometimes the software doesn't get it quite right.
Using APA 6th? Purdue has produced this very handy quick guide. The fulltext of APA 6th is not available online, but we do have print copies in the EdPsych Library in reference and short term reserve at BF76.7 P83 2010