Databases

Scholarly, peer-reviewed journal articles may be located by searching our subscription databases. Listed below are suggestions for the most useful databases for articles on topics in German language or literature. A complete list of all our Digital Resources are available from the Databases link.

• Academic Search Premier [INFO]
• Humanities International Index [INFO]
• MLA International Bibliography[INFO]

Books and More

The Library catalog (LOLA) is a collection of books and other print/non-print materials, such as videos/DVDs, music CDs, and scores. The catalog offers a variety of searches - Keyword, Subject, Author, Title, and Call Number. There are hundreds of topical subject headings for specific literary genres, defined periods, movements, or other concepts pertaining to literature.Genre headings are fairly uniform, are organized by nationality, and may be subdivided by century, or other time period. There is also a great variety of other literary subject headings. A few select examples:

• Subject search for German literature (or fiction, poetry, drama, etc.)
• Subject search for German language
• Subject search for Germany civilization

Note: for information about the period from 1945 to 1990, also look under Germany east or Germany west.

• Subject search for Germany intellectual life
• Subject search for Authors, German

To search for works by or about specific writers:
Search by SUBJECT to find biographical and/or critical material about the writer.
Search by AUTHOR to find books written by the author.
Always enter personal names in INVERTED order; punctuation and capitalization not necessary.
EXAMPLE: To find books about the writer Franz Kafka, search under SUBJECT as follows:

• kafka franz

Note specific subdivisions after the name heading that designate:

• biographical works
• criticism in general
• or critical analyses of specific works

Reference Material

Reference sources are usually a good starting point for research - they provide background information on a topic, define key concepts, or cite critical research that has been done. Some key resources for German language or literature are listed below.

• Encyclopedia of contemporary German culture
• The Oxford companion to German literature
• German writers and works of the High Middle Ages, 1170-1280
• German writers and works of the early Middle Ages, 800-1170
• German writers in the age of Goethe : Sturm und Drang to classicism
• German writers in the age of Goethe, 1789-1832
• Nineteenth-century German writers, 1841-1900
• A Companion to twentieth-century German literature
• Contemporary German fiction writers

Additional titles may be identified by seaching the Library catalog, by consulting with a Reference Librarian, or browsing the PT section of the Reference Shelves.

Web Sites

In general, web sites are not the best choices for serious research because there is no guarantee the information posted there is authoritative, current, or sufficiently in-depth. Only use sites that you know are reputable, scholarly, current, and unbiased. The following are links to sites that seem to meet these criteria:

• Electronic Text Collections in Western European Literature/German
• AATG
• Internet Handbook of German Grammar
• Internet Resources for Germanists
• Rainer Maria Rilke Archive
• International Brecht Society
• German Studies Trails on the Web
• Grimm Brothers
• Study Guide for Goethe’s Faust
• Die Zeit
• Der Spiegel

More…

• Ask a Librarian
• Subject librarian: Lissa Zinfon

discipline=gr, subj=german, hint=german, format=subject guide