Religion 90: Folktales and Fairy Tales
Guide to Suggested Library Sources
Finding books:
Use ASA, the library online catalog to locate books or collections of stories
Do a keyword search to look for the name of your folktale or characters in the tales since it may show up in a table of contents note or as a word in a title from book or a collection of tales or stories.
Do an author search to find stories by a particular writer.
Do a subject search to locate materials gathered on a particular topic.
Examples of subject headings:
- Childrens stories
- Childrens literature
- Fairy tales
- Folklore
- Folklore-- Chinese (or other cultures or countries)
- Folklore - Elephants (or other creatures, motifs)
- Folklore in literature
- Literature and folklore
- Tales - History and criticism
Finding articles on your topic
Use the library databases. These are online indexes to articles from journals and magazines. Some of the articles will be available electronically. Use the SFX, or "Lehigh links" button to access the electronic articles or to determine if our library has the journal in print. If we do not own it use ILLIAD to request the article from Interlibrary Loan.
Recommended databases
Academic Index - This multidisciplinary database will provide access to a number of scholarly and popular magazine articles on the topic of folktales and stories.
MLA (Modern Language Association) Bibliography - covers topics in Literature, language, linguistics and folklore. It provides over one million citations for items from scholarly journals and series published worldwide. Indexes books, essay collections, working papers, proceedings, dissertations, and bibliographies.
Type and Motif Indexes
An article," In Search of the Folktale" by Doug Lipman has a good, step by step explanation of the process for using Type and Motif tools. It can be found at the following website http://www.storydynamics.com/Articles/Finding_and_Creating/types.html
A guide to folktales in the English language : based on the Aarne-Thompson classification system / D.L. Ashliman. F-REF 398.2012 A826g
Types of the Folktale, a classification and bibliography by Antti Amatus Arne translated by Stith Thompson. F-REF 398.016 I38
Motif-Index of folk-literature: a classification of narrative elements in folktales, ballads, myth, fables... by Stith Thompson. 6 vols. F-REF 398.016 T476m
Selected Folklore Websites
American Folklore Society http://www.afsnet.org
American Folklife Center http://lcweb.loc.gov/folklife/
Archive of Folk Culture Collections http://lcweb.loc.gov/folklife/archive.html
Cinderella Project http://www.usm.edu/english/fairytales/cinderella/cinderella.html
Folk Narrative Web Site Links http://www.indiana.edu/~libsalc/folklore/Narrative.html
Folklore and Mythology Electronic Texts http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/folktexts.html
International Society for Folk Narrative Research http://www.folklore.org.il/ISFNR/
University of Virginia Folklore Archive http://faculty.virginia.edu/tradcult/
Finding film reviews and criticism
If your topic is one that might require you to find information on films there are a number of sources you might want to consult. Film reviews and articles found in web resources vary in their quality and quantity. Many reviews published in newspapers and academic periodicals are found by using the Library databases listed below. Reviews of many movies more then 20 years old will be found by using the Print indexes that cover the year a movie premiered. Search both Library electronic and print resources and the web sites listed below for the best results.
Encyclopedias, handbooks and other reference books on films can be found in the Linderman Library reference area under the call number 791.
Print Indexes:
Film Review Annual (1982- ) 791.43 F4871 L-3-ROTUNDA collection of full text reviews from major newspapers and journals
Film Review Index (1882-1985) L-1-REF791.43 F4872
Retrospective Index to Film Periodicals, 1930-1971. L-1-REF 791.43016 B336r
Database:
Readers Guide Retrospective Database contains comprehensive indexing of the most popular general-interest periodicals published in the United States and reflects the history of 20th century America. Covers 1890- 1982 For up-to-date general periodicals indexing, see Academic Index (Expanded) or Research Library (ProQuest).
Websites:
MRQE. Movie Review Query Engine
Criteria for evaluating websites
In addition to the print and electronic resources available from the Lehigh Library you may wish to try searching your topic on the Internet with one of the many search engines available such as Yahoo, Google, etc. When you use search tools on the Internet the responsibility for selecting worthwhile resources is up to you , not a librarian or your instructor or the search engine! In fact search engines can vary widely in accuracy and usefulness. So, how DO we select and decide on the merit of information on the Internet? We consider the following:
ACCURACY
• Is the site well researched and information properly cited?
• Are facts and statistics documented?
AUTHORITY
• Can you identify the author/sponsor?
• Is contact information provided?
• What are the qualifications or credentials of the author? What is the institutional affiliation?
• Is copyright clearly stated where applicable?
OBJECTIVITY
• Are the goals/aims of the authors clearly stated?
• Are there biases in the document?
CURRENCY
• When was the site last updated? Are the links up-to-date?
PUBLISHING BODY
• Who "publishes" or sponsors the site? Is there a connection to a larger sponsoring web site? You can sometimes tell something about the site from the URL (Uniform Resource Locator) for the site by checking the letters to the left of the first (/). The abbreviations you see stand for the following information:
.edu refers to a U.S. college or university
.cc.(state).us refers to a community college
.k12.(state).us refers to a school that has grades k-12
.com refers to a business or commercial enterprise
.org refers to a non-profit organization or trade association
.mil refers to a military site
.gov refers to a government agency, official, or organization
.net refers to a network administration organization
COVERAGE
• How does the information compare with other sources available on the topic?
Librarian contact information for additional research help
Kathe Morrow is the Humanities Librarian. Her phone number is 758-3041 and her email address is kem6@lehigh.edu. Her office is in the Linderman Library, first floor rotunda.
Roseann Bowerman ( who is making this presentation in Kathe Morrow's absence) is the Social Sciences Librarian. Her phone number is 758-3053 and email is rb04@lehigh.edu. Her office is in Linderman Library room 100.
webguide created September 17, 2004 - R. Bowerman
religion90folktales.htm