GERMAN R5B: Germanic Peoples in the Early Middle Ages

This course guide was created during a previous semester, and is no longer being actively maintained. Here is a list of current course guides.

The library website is your gateway to research at UC Berkeley. 

• Library hours and maps
• Types of resources
• Over ten million volumes
• Several dozen libraries

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Use OskiCat to locate materials on the shelves of the UC Berkeley libraries and also to:

• renew books online
• find course reserves and to
• place holds on items that are checked out.

Use Melvyl to locate materials at other campuses in the UC system, or worldwide, and also to

• request materials from another library if we don't own it
• find articles from some article databases
• easily format a citation for copying into a bibliography
Melvyl will also show you the location and availablity of items that we own.

The Library of Congress Subject Heading link for Sagas--History and Criticism provides a great list of relevant sources.

Dictionary of Literary Biography, see especially:

• Vol. 148: German Writers & Works of the Middle Ages: 800-1170.
• Vol. 293: Icelandic Writers.
• Vol. 115: Medieval Philosophers.

• The Online Medieval and Classical Library
  "A collection of some of the most important literary works of Classical and Medieval civilization [in translation]."
• The Digital Scriptorium
  "A growing image database of medieval and renaissance manuscripts that unites scattered resources from many institutions into an international tool for teaching and scholarly research."

See also the complete list of Medieval Studies article databases at Berkeley.

• International Medieval Bibliography (IMB)
  Indexes over 4500 periodicals and more covering all aspects of the middle ages (400-1500 A.D.) in Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa.
  
• ITER: Gateway to the Renaissance
  Indexes over 300 journal titles related to the Middle Ages and the Renaissance (400-1700).
  
• Feminae: Medieval Women and Gender Index
  Covers journal articles, book reviews, and essays in books about women, sexuality, and gender during the Middle Ages.
  
• MLA International Bibliography
  Indexes journal articles and more supporting critical scholarship on literature, language, linguistics, and folklore.
  
• Academic Search Complete
  A multidisciplinary index to articles in more than 10,900 journals and other publications in English, Spanish, German, French, Italian and Portuguese; full-text is available for over 5300 journals.
  

Once you've used an article database to find articles on your topic, you may need to use this button: in order to locate and read the full text of the article. 

UC-eLinks will link you to the online full text of an article if UCB has paid for online access; otherwise, UC-eLinks will help you locate a print copy on the shelf in the library. If UCB doesn't own the article in print or online format, UC-eLinks can also help you order a copy from another library.

For more information, watch this video tutorial (about 4 min.)

You can also set up UC-eLinks to work with Google Scholar.  For more information, watch this video tutorial (about 2 min.)

To use library databases from off campus you have to set up the proxy server: this changes your browser settings.

• Different browsers [Firefox, Chrome, Safari...] have different instructions- they are all here.
• You can set it up on multiple devices
• You log in with your CalNet ID
• There's an alternative: the VPN

Doing good research requires different skills than searching. Searching online encourages ways of thinking that can create false expectations and poor research results. Here are a few tips:

• Slow down.
• Look at the advanced search page
• Iterative searching
  • Learn from the search results
  • Too many results? Too few?
  • Look at citations from good sources
• Try
  • Various keywords
  • Various subjects
  • Multiple databases (information silos!)

Critically Analyzing Information Sources (Cornell)

Searching for scholarly sources

• choose the right database
• limit results to "peer-reviewed" sources

• Citing Your Sources - a brief online guide to the main citation styles and a brief discussion on what constitutes plagiarism. 
• The Chicago Manual of Style (UCB-only access) 
  15th ed. Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press, 2003. Searchable, online version of the Chicago Manual of Style(15th edition). 
  Many print editions available throughout the UCB Libraries.
• Cite Right: A Quick Guide to Citation Styles--MLA, APA, Chicago, the Sciences, Professions, and More (UCB-only access) Charles Lipson. Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press, 2006. 
  Many print editions throughout the libraries.
• Columbia Guide to Online Style (UCB-only access)
  Janice R. Walker and Todd Taylor. 2nd ed. NY: Columbia Univ. Press. 2006.
  Many print editions throughout the UCB libraries.
• MLA handbook for Writers of Research Papers. 7th edition. New York : Modern Language Association of America, 2009.
  Doe Reference Reference Hall LB2369 .G53 2009
  Main Gardner Stacks LB2369 .G53 2009
  Many older editions available throughout the UCB libraries.
  

Go to the research help page to have librarians answer your questions online:

• 24/7 Chat Reference
• Email Reference
• Phone Reference
• Library Liaisons (for in-depth, upper-level research)

Research Advisory Service for Cal Undergraduates

Book a 30-minute appointment with a librarian who will help refine and focus research inquiries, identify useful online and print sources, and develop search strategies for humanities and social sciences topics.

• German
• Library Subject Guides
• Library Course Guides