Databases for Finding Articles and Books
- MLA International Bibliography This link opens in a new windowCovers journal articles in the fields of literature and folklore more comprehensively than any other source. Also includes some linguistics. Also includes references to individual book chapters, which is an important way of publishing in this field. You might want to limit your search to English and German. Go to the Advanced Search screen, and hold down the Ctrl (or Cmd) key while you select those two options.
- Gale Literature This link opens in a new windowHas some literature criticism, but its best feature is the overviews of works.
- ZSR Homepage Search & Primo
Good place to start when your topic is cross-disciplinary. Try using German-language keywords to retrieve German-language results.
Databases from Related Fields
- International Medieval Bibliography This link opens in a new window
- Iter: Gateway to the Middle Ages and Renaissance This link opens in a new windowTwo databases that cover all aspects of the medieval period. Many of the citations you'll find will overlap with MLA, but there is unique content as well. Go to the Advanced Search screen to limit by language (but these databases only let you limit by one language at a time).
- Film and Television Literature Index This link opens in a new windowIf your topic is film adaptations.
Finding German Dictionaries
German dictionaries are shelved in PF — some in the Reference stacks (4th floor, Wilson Wing); others in the Main Stacks (Reynolds 5). Besides basic dictionaries, specialty dictionaries cover topics like:
- Austrian German (Wie sagt man in Österreich?)
- Plattdeutsch, Dutch and Yiddish
- Historical and etymological dictionaries
- Monolingual German dictionaries
- Umgangssprache
- Nazi-Deutsch (e-book; print book)
- Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic
A few special-topic dictionaries are shelved in other places, zB scientific terms in the Science section. To browse the entire collection, search the catalog for
Search Tips
Watch out for variant spellings of names of works, characters, etc.
Example: An article about The Ring of the Nibelung may use the title Der Ring des Nibelungen, even if the article is in English.
Use a * to cut off a word at its stem, e.g. Nibelung*
Type the word AND (or use the second row) if you want to enter more than one word that is not an exact phrase.
Therefore
ring AND nibelung*
will retrieve the most complete set of matches.
If you can't use a star to search for spelling variants, use OR
brynhildr OR brunnhilde
Special MLA Style Rules for German
Consult the MLA Handbook Plus for citation advice.
Specific rules for German are given for the capitalization of titles of works, capitalization of terms and names of persons.
