Reviews and bibliographies

Resources for research in French

This list is not exhaustive, but gives details of some of the most useful research resources for French studies. All of the printed resources are available in the Arts and Social Sciences Library. The Library subscribes to a range of electronic research resources. Please visit the French databases page or MetaLib to find out more about, and to access them.

Research methods
Style manuals
Theses
Current postgraduate research
Library catalogues
Bibliographical handbooks
Retrospective bibliographies
Current bibliographies
Dictionaries and encyclopedias

 

Research methods

Author, title, date

Location

Richard D Altick and John J Fenstermaker, The art of literary research, 4th edition (New York: Norton, 1993)

PR 56 ALT

Jacques Barzun and Henry F Graff, The modern researcher 6th edition (Belmont, CA: Thomson/Wadsworth 2004)

D 13 BAR

Wayne C Booth, Gregory G Colomb and Joseph M Williams, The  craft of research 2nd edition (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2003)

Q 180.55.M4 BOO

Pat Cryer, The research student’s guide to success (Buckingham: Open University Press, 2006)                           

LB 2369 CRY

A handbook to literary research, 2nd edition, ed. by Delia de Sousa Correa and W R Owens (London: Routledge, 2010)                                       

PN 73 HAN

Estelle M Phillips and D.S. Pugh, How to get a PhD: a handbook for students and their supervisors 4th ed (Buckingham: Open University Press, 2005)

LB 2391.G7 PHI

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Style manuals

Author, title, date

Location

The Chicago manual of style 15th ed (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2003)

Z 253 CHI

Joseph Gibaldi, MLA handbook for writers of research papers 5th ed (New York: Modern Language Association, 1999)

PN 147 GIB

Joseph Gibaldi, MLA style manual and guide to scholarly publishing 2nd ed (New York: Modern Language Association, 1998)

PN 147 GIB

MHRA style guide: a handbook for authors, editors, and writers of theses 2nd ed (London: Modern Humanities Research Association, 2008)

PN 147 MHR

www.mhra.org.uk

The Oxford dictionary for writers and editors 2nd ed, ed. & compiled by R M Ritter (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000)

Ref PE 1628 OXF

The Oxford style manual, ed. & compiled by R M Ritter (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003)

PN 147 OXF

Elsie Myers Stainton, The fine art of copyediting (New York: Columbia University Press, 2002)

PN 162 STA

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Theses

Author, title, date

Location

American doctoral dissertations 1964/5-

Serial Z 5053.A5

EThOS [allows researchers to download available UK theses to their desktops] Available via MetaLib
Gernot U. Gabel, Répertoire bibliographique des thèses françaises (1885 - 1975) concernant la littérature française des origines à nos jours (Köln: Edition Gemini, 1984) Z 5055.F79 GAB

Index to theses [listings of doctoral theses in Great Britain and Ireland from 1716 onwards]

Available via MetaLib

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Current postgraduate research

Title

Location

Current research in French studies [maintained by the University of Sheffield]

http://www.hri.shef.ac.uk/frenchstudies/

 

Fichier central des thèses [directory of current doctoral research in France] Available via MetaLib

 

Library catalogues

Author, title, date

Location

British Library integrated catalogue

http://catalogue.bl.uk/

 

Catalogue Bn-Opale plus [Bibliothèque Nationale de France online catalogue]

http://catalogue.bnf.fr/

COPAC (Consortium of University Research Libraries online public-access catalogue)

www.copac.ac.uk

 

Library of Congress online catalog

http://catalog.loc.gov/

 

Système universitaire de documentation [union catalogue of French university libraries and other higher education institutions in France]

http://corail.sudoc.abes.fr/

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Bibliographical handbooks

Author, title, date

Location

The new Walford: guide to reference resources. Volume 2, the social sciences (London: Facet Publishing, 2008)

Ref. Z1035.1 NEW

Walford's guide to reference material. Volume 3, generalia, language and literature, the arts, 7th edition (London: Library Association, 1998)

Ref. Z1035.1 WAL

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Retrospective bibliographies

Author, title, date

Location

A critical bibliography of French literature, 6 volumes [in 12], general edtior D.C. Cabeen (New York: Syracuse University Press, 1947 - 1994)

Z 2171 CRI

Many other bibliographies relating to specific periods of French literature can be found at classmarks Z 2161 - Z 2189

 

The library also has many bibliographies of individual authors, starting at Z 8000. For example, a bibliography of Molière would be found at Z 8586, and for Zola at Z 8998.5

 

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Current bibliographies

Author, title, date

Location

Bibliographie der französischen Literaturwissenschaft (Klostermann, 1956 -) Serial Z 2171.B48
Bibliographie linguistischer Literatur (Klostermann, 1978 -) Serial Z 7003.B6
French XX bibliography: critical and biographical references for French literature since 1885 (French Institute, 1969 -) Serial Z 2173.F74
Linguistic bibliography for the year (Kluwer, 1939 -) Serial Z 7003.B5

Year’s work in modern language studies (Modern Humanities Research Association, 1920 -)

Serial Z 2015.Y4 and online via MetaLib

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Dictionaries and encyclopedias

Author, title, date

Location

Oxford Language Dictionaries Online Available via MetaLib

M.H. Abrams, A glossary of literary terms, 8th ed. (Boston, Ma: Thomson, Wadsworth, 2005)

PN 44.5 ABR

Ian Buchanan, A dictionary of critical theory (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010) PN 44.5 BUC

J A Cuddon, A dictionary of literary terms and literary theory, 4th ed (Oxford: Blackwell, 1998)    

PN 44.5 CUD

Hendrik van Gorp [...et al.], Dictionnaire des termes littéraires (Paris: Honoré Champion, 2005) PN 41 DIC
Maurice Grevisse and André Goosse, Le bon usage: grammaire française, 14th ed. (Paris: Duculot, 2007) PC2111 GRE

Jeremy Hawthorne, A glossary of contemporary literary theory, 4th ed. (London: Arnold, 2000)

PN 44.5 HAW

The new Oxford companion to literature in French, ed. Peter France (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1995)

PQ 41 NEW

Le nouveau Petit Robert, ed. Josette Rey-Debove and Alain Rey (Paris: Dictionnaires Le Robert, 2008) PC2625 ROB

Oxford dictionary of quotations, 5th ed. ed. by Elizabeth Knowles (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999)

Ref. PN 6081 OXF

Oxford English dictionary, 2nd ed. prepared by J.A. Simpson and E.S.C. Weiner (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1989)

See also the updated online version via MetaLib, at http://metalib.bris.ac.uk/

Oversize PE 1625 OXF

Routledge encyclopedia of narrative theory, ed. David Herman, Manfred Jahn and Marie-Laure Ryan (London: Routledge, 2005)

PN 212 ROU

The library holds many French language dictionaries, at classmark PC2625; and French-English dictionaries at PC2640. Some major dictionaries are shelved in the Oversize collections.

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