Library Research Guide for English 127:
Shakespeare: Adaptation and Appropriation
http://www.library.cornell.edu/olinuris/ref/eng127srm.html
- Where do you get your information?
- What kind of information do you need?
- How do you use and process this information?
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Research Skills and Techniques:
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Beyond Google
Where do you get your Information?
The Web can provide excellent starting places to do your research.
But if you are only using Google and Wikipedia to find your information, you may not be finding all of the information that is available on your topic. Especially if you are being asked to do scholarly research.
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Three very important facts to remember about information:
- Search Engines only retrieve a portion of the information available on the web.
A lot of useful information is not freely available on the web. It is proprietary, meaning someone--an author, a publisher, or institution--owns the information.
- Not all digitized information is created equal.
You need to critically analyze and evaluate the information you intend to use.
- Not all information has been digitized.
There are still books in the Library. And other print and analog resources that do not exist on the Web.
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Research Strategies
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Library and Information Resources:
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The Cornell University Library Gateway is the Library's homepage on the World Wide Web. It is the Library's interface for connecting Cornell faculty, students, and staff to our digital and print collections.
Use the Gateway to:
- Connect to our digital library--thousands of databases, e-books, e-journals, online exhibits, and collections.
- Navigate the physical library--20 libraries, 7.5 million books, maps, microforms, and media.
- Learn more about the information Services the Library provides to connect you with the information you need.
- Contact our knowledgeable staff who are here to assist you with any questions you have.
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Reference Books and Databases - Find background information
Background resources like encyclopedias and dictionaries will help you understand the broader context of your research and tell you in general terms what is known about your topic.
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Use these Reference databases to find and access articles in a variety of encyclopedias and subject dictionaries:
Selected Reference sources for your class
- Bartlett, John, 1820-1905. A Complete Concordance or Verbal Index to Works, Phrases and Passages in the Dramatic Works of Shakespeare, with a supplementary concordance to the poems. New York, St. Martin's Press, 1960.
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Uris Library Reference PR2892 .B28 1960
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- Boyce, Charles. Shakespeare A to Z: The Essential Reference to His Plays, His Poems, His Life and Times, and More. New York: Facts on File, 1990.
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- Uris Library Reference PR2892 B78
- A useful handbook including nearly 3,000 entries on all facets of Shakespeare's life. For each play there is an act-by-act, scene-by-scene synopsis, a commentary, and the theatrical history of the play. There are also entries for individual characters both historical and fictional, major character types, major Shakespeare scholars and performers, and the people who influenced Shakespeare. A suggested reading section and an appendix list entries by broad categories.
- Champion, Larry S. The Essential Shakespeare: An Annotated Bibliography of Major Modern Studies. 2nd ed. New York: G.K. Hall, 1993.
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- Uris Library Reference PR2894 .C45 1993; Olin Library Z8811 .C45 1993
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Lists more than 1,800 predominantly English-language studies in an attempt to identify "the most significant items of Shakespeare scholarship from 1900 to 1991." (Pref.) An earlier edition was published in 1986.
- Dobson, Michael, gen. ed., and Stanley Wells, associate general editor. The Oxford Companion to Shakespeare Oxford: Oxford UP, 2001.
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- Olin Library Reference PR2892 .O94 2001+ and Uris Library Reference
- Also available online as part of the Oxford Reference Online Premium.
- "Comprising more than 3000 entries, it covers topics such as Shakespeare's biography, legend, works, literary features and terms, individuals (both real and fictional), and a host of topics such as Elizabethan and Jacobean literature and theater, which help put in context both the times and the works. Of particular note are the entries on each play, which include scene-by-scene explanations as well as examinations of the play's particular artistic features, critical history, and stage and screen history, and a listing of recent editions and selected criticism." (Library Journal)
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- Olsen, Kirstin. All Things Shakespeare: An Encyclopedia of Shakespeare's World. 2 v. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2002.
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Uris Library Reference PR2892 .O56x 2002
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This encyclopedia describes Shakespeare's physical environment, including subjects such as "coins, clothing, food, drink, animals, occupations, architectural methods, symbolism, agriculture, and rites of passage of the Renaissance." (Introduction) The 200-plus entries include references to the plays, acts, and scenes in which Shakespeare mentions the item or activity being discussed.
- Oxford English Dictionary. Oxford, UK : Oxford University Press, 2000-.
Olin Library Reference PE1625 .M98 1989 (v.1-20);
Uris Library Reference PE1625 .M98 1989 (v.1-20)
The OED presents in alphabetical series the words that have formed the English vocabulary from the time of the earliest records down to the present day, with all the relevant facts concerning their form, sense-history, pronunciation, and etymology.
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The OED Online contains the complete A to Z sequence of the Second Edition, its three-volume Additions Series, and also draft material from the revision programme, which represents the latest progress towards the Third Edition.
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- Early English Books Online. (EEBO) Ann Arbor, MI: Bell & Howell Information and Learning, 1999-.
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- "From the first book printed in English by William Caxton, through the age of Spenser and Shakespeare and the tumult of the English Civil War, Early English Books Online (EEBO) contains over 125,000 titles listed in Pollard & Redgrave's Short-Title Catalogue (1475 - 1640), Wing's Short-Title Catalogue (1641-1700), and the Thomason Tracts (1640-1661)."
- LOCATING PRE-1800 IMPRINTS, BRITISH & AMERICAN
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- Editions and Adaptations of
Shakespeare. Chadwyck-Healey Ltd., 1997-1999.
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"Editions and Adaptations of Shakespeare contains eleven major editions from the First Folio of 1623 to the Cambridge edition of 1863-6, twenty-eight separate contemporary printings of individual plays and poems, selected apocrypha and related works. In addition it contains more than one hundred adaptations, sequels and burlesques from the seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, including the whole of Bell's Acting Edition of Shakespeare's Plays (1774)."
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- Literature Online (LION). Alexandria, VA: Chadwyck-Healey, Inc., c1999-.
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- A full-text collection of poetry, drama, and prose with complementary references sources.
Includes articles, monographs, and dissertations from the Annual Bibliography of English Language and
Literature; full-text articles from literary journals (with links to JSTOR journals); and biographical information on widely studied authors.
- World Shakespeare Bibliography Online. Baltimore, MD: Published for the Folger Shakespeare Library by The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999- .
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The World Shakespeare Bibliography Online is a searchable electronic database consisting of the most comprehensive record of Shakespeare-related scholarship and theatrical productions published or produced worldwide between 1962 and 2007. Containing over 113,100 annotated entries, this collected information is an essential tool for anyone engaged in research on Shakespeare or early modern England.
For additional Reference sources
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Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections in Kroch Library
Frontispiece to the first complete edition of Shakespeare’s plays (1623)
Shakespeare Folios in Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections
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Library Catalog - Find books on your topic
The Cornell University Library Catalog is a database that contains records for materials held in 19 of the 20 of libraries that collectively comprise the Cornell University Library. The Weill Cornell Medical Library, located in New York City, has a separate catalog.
Use the Library Catalog to:
- Find records for books, journals, maps, government documents, DVDs, databases, networked resources (e-journals, e-books, digital collections), sound recordings, etc.
- Obtain call numbers to locate physical materials. (books, print journals, Reserve items, DVDs, etc.)
- Note any special locations. (Periodicals Reading Room, Reserve, Oversize shelves, etc.)
- Check dates and volume numbers to see what issues we have in our holdings.
- Link to full text digital materials from their catalog records.
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This symbol tells you that a resource is either available full text online or that an online Table of Contents exists for the material.
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Services linked from the Library Catalog
- MyLibrary Customized services for managing your Library account, renewing materials, and organizing and managing information.
- Requesting Items (Recalls, Library Annex, Library to Library Book Delivery, Borrow Direct, Interlibrary Loan, and MyDocumentDelivery)
- Interlibrary Services Borrow materials--books, journal articles, DVDs, etc.--from other libraries.
- Borrow Direct Specialized rapid interlibrary loan for BOOKS.
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Find It! - Find Articles, Databases, e-Journals, and Images
- Provides access to over 450 databases.
- Allows you to search multiple databases simultaneously.
- Allows you to search for articles, images, and books on a topic simultaneously.
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Article Search Options:
- Use the Quick search to do a simple search from a set of pre-selected databases, or to find a specific database for in-depth searching.
- Use the Subject Area search to find articles in one or more databases in a particular subject area.
- For more precise searching, click the Advanced Search link on any of the subject area lists.
Database Search Options:
- SEARCH for databases with the Quick search form or the Advanced Search form on any of the subject area lists to find specific databases for in-depth searching.
- BROWSE for databases by subject. Use the Subject Area search or the A-Z List of Databases to find one or more databases in a particular subject area.
Get it! Cornell - Use these links to get articles available online.
Recommended databases:
- Multidisciplinary
- Specialized Subject
- MLA International Bibliography. New York: Modern Language Association, 1963- .
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An international index and database providing references to scholarly articles from over 4000 journals dealing with languages, literature, folklore and linguistics.
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- Humanities International Complete . Ipswich, MA: EBSCO, 199?- .
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- Humanities International Complete provides full text of hundreds of journals, books and other published sources from around the world.
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- e-Journal Collections
- JSTOR New York, NY: JSTOR, c1996-.
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JSTOR is a fully-searchable database containing the back issues of several hundred scholarly journals in the humanities, social sciences, mathematics, music, ecology and botany, business and other fields.
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- Project Muse Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, c1995- .
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Project Muse provides access to the full text of journals covering literature and criticism, history, the visual and performing arts, cultural studies, education, political science, gender studies, and others.
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- Search or browse the 26,000+ e-Journals licensed by the Cornell University Library.
- Image
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Hamlet and Horatio with the grave diggers
Delacroix, Eugène
French, 1798-1863
Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art
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Internet Search Engines
Know better.
- Use the web in an academic way.
- Look for bibliographies. (e.g. Wikipedia Reference lists)
- Use keywords from the sites that you find to create refined searches for more specific information. Try those keywords in Library databases, including the Library Catalog.
- Find web resources that provide scholarly information.
Look for Get it! Cornell links to access full text articles from Google Scholar.
Using Google Scholar to locate Cornell University Library resources
- Try your searches in a variety of Search Engines. Each searches the web for information differently.
Selected Web Sites
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Evaluating Sources
Be Critical. Analyze and evaluate your search results. Have you found the most authoritative, accurate, objective, up-to-date, scholarly information available on your research topic?
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Citing Sources
Give credit where credit is due.
By properly citing the sources you use in your research projects you are both identifying the resources that you used to complete your work and you are formally acknowledging the authors or creators of those resources. This allows others to find what you have found and to verify your research.
Cornell University Code of Academic Integrity
Here is information about the two citation styles most frequently used at Cornell:
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APA citation style
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Publication Manual of the
American Psychological
Association (5th ed.)
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MLA citation style
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MLA Handbook for Writers of
Research Papers
(6th ed.)
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For other citation questions, see the Chicago Manual of Style Online and Online!.
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- RefWorks is a web-based program that allows you to easily collect, manage, and organize bibliographic references and incorporate them into your writing, properly formatted according to the style of your choice.
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Writing Workshop
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Research and Reference Help
Ask your questions in person, by phone, by e-mail, or through an online Chat.
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September 21, 2007
Lance Heidig, ljh5@cornell.edu
URL: http://www.library.cornell.edu/olinuris/ref/eng127srm.html
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