Reference Sources
Some good starting places for reference sources would be in the Reference section of Young Library, in the West Wing on the 2nd floor. Here, like the rest of the library, sources are in order by Library of Congress call number, so conducting a search in InfoKat may be useful if you know a certain source or type of source that you are interested in.
Following the same advice as the “Locating Books” section would really help in finding reference books. Some general areas of reference sources are explained in more detail below, including general encyclopedias, subject specific encyclopedias, dictionaries, directories, handbooks and manuals, biographical sources, and geographical sources:
General Encyclopedias
Encyclopedia Mythica. 2012. Web. <http://www.pantheon.org>
This source is an electronic encyclopedia that deals not only with mythology and religion, but also with folklore, including fairy tales. It is a good general source that includes fairy tales and is easy to navigate with an easy to find search bar at the top of the page. They have an entire folktales section that is really great for looking up fairy tale related entries.
Following the same advice as the “Locating Books” section would really help in finding reference books. Some general areas of reference sources are explained in more detail below, including general encyclopedias, subject specific encyclopedias, dictionaries, directories, handbooks and manuals, biographical sources, and geographical sources:
General Encyclopedias
Encyclopedia Mythica. 2012. Web. <http://www.pantheon.org>
This source is an electronic encyclopedia that deals not only with mythology and religion, but also with folklore, including fairy tales. It is a good general source that includes fairy tales and is easy to navigate with an easy to find search bar at the top of the page. They have an entire folktales section that is really great for looking up fairy tale related entries.
Haase,
Donald, ed. The Greenwood Encyclopedia of
Folktales & Fairy Tales. Westport, CT:
Greenwood Publishing Group, 2008. Print.
Library of Congress call number: GR74 .G73 2008 (Young Library 2nd floor Reference) This source covers almost everything related to fairy tales, from their origins in antiquity to modern day representations and has a global and multicultural scope, including tales and references to creatures from all over the world. This encyclopedia encompasses three volumes and is organized in alphabetical order. Many entries are illustrated and are often cross-listed, making it easy to compare entries and understand relationships between characters, places, and tales. |
**If you look around the GR section near The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Folktales & Fairy Tales, you’ll find other useful reference sources related to folktales and fairy tales, including other encyclopedias.
Subject Encyclopedias
Alexander,
Marc. A companion to the folklore, myths
& customs of Britain. Stroud: Sutton,
2002. Print.
Library of Congress call number: GR141 .A39 2002 (Young Library 4th floor) This is an excellent encyclopedia to reference when looking for folklore or fairy tale references that are specific to England. Marc Alexander includes images with several of his entries, with several color pages of images in the center of the work. Arranged alphabetically, this source contains entries of varying length, with several relating to fairy-related topics alone. |
A good place to look for subject specific material would be to go to the GR141 section on the 4th floor of Young Library and look around where this subject encyclopedia is. You may find some other great sources there.
Dictionaries
Searching the GR141 section on the 4th floor of Young Library is the best place to find dictionaries related to British fairy tale specific terms, though general dictionaries, like the Oxford English Dictionary, which is one of the best dictionaries available, could also provide not only a definition of the term you wish to know a definition for, but also the history of it. Sometimes combining both a general dictionary definition, along with a specialized dictionary definition of a term can help gain a fuller understanding of a term, especially when it comes to fairy tales and other fictional terms.
Searching the GR141 section on the 4th floor of Young Library is the best place to find dictionaries related to British fairy tale specific terms, though general dictionaries, like the Oxford English Dictionary, which is one of the best dictionaries available, could also provide not only a definition of the term you wish to know a definition for, but also the history of it. Sometimes combining both a general dictionary definition, along with a specialized dictionary definition of a term can help gain a fuller understanding of a term, especially when it comes to fairy tales and other fictional terms.
Simpson,
Jacqueline and Stephen Roud. A Dictionary
of English Folklore. Oxford: Oxford
UP, 2003. Print.
Library of Congress call number: GR141 .S573 2000 (Young Library 4th floor) You can also view this source online at: http://infokat.uky.edu/vwebv/holdingsInfo?bibId=3188517 Simply follow the link in the record where it says “Internet Access.” This dictionary provides very detailed entries for each term, offering readers a fuller understanding of what terms like “cauls” or “hill figures” mean, but also providing short references to people as well, like Joseph Jacobs, who the authors attribute to Jenny Greenteeth, a creature of a fairy tale said to catch children and drown them in pools. This is a great resource for those interested in looking up relevant terms in English folklore. |
Briggs,
Katharine M. A Dictionary of British
Folk-Tales in the English Language. Great Britain:
IUP, 1970. Print.
Library of Congress call number: GR 141 .B69 (pt. A v.1; pt. A v.2; pt. B v.1; pt. B v.2) (Young Library 4th floor) While it may be from the 1970s, this is a great collection of folk narratives and folk tales from England. Katharine Briggs includes the original tales, as told by word of mouth, untranslated with the exception of a few tales that were in medieval Latin. This resource is excellent for actually reading tales and referencing original material for research. |
Directories
Ashliman, D.L. Folklinks: Folk and Fairy-Tale Sites. 2006. Web. <http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/folklinks.html>
This website, compiled by D.L. Ashliman, is a great directory containing lists of search engines, encyclopedias and general reference works, research libraries, electronic text indexes, directories of electronic text sites, directories of folk and fairy-tale sites, libraries of electronic texts, general fairy-tale sites, individual stories and tales, film and fairy tales, storytelling, for children, parents, and teachers, organizations and journals, and foreign-language sites. Anything that you would like to find relating to the field, it can help direct you to.
There may not be much cause to use a directory, as most things you’ll need are the tales themselves, research and criticism, and perhaps a citation manual or two. If you need to know a scholar or look someone up, I recommend looking at the two scholars listed in the “Important People" section.
Ashliman, D.L. Folklinks: Folk and Fairy-Tale Sites. 2006. Web. <http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/folklinks.html>
This website, compiled by D.L. Ashliman, is a great directory containing lists of search engines, encyclopedias and general reference works, research libraries, electronic text indexes, directories of electronic text sites, directories of folk and fairy-tale sites, libraries of electronic texts, general fairy-tale sites, individual stories and tales, film and fairy tales, storytelling, for children, parents, and teachers, organizations and journals, and foreign-language sites. Anything that you would like to find relating to the field, it can help direct you to.
There may not be much cause to use a directory, as most things you’ll need are the tales themselves, research and criticism, and perhaps a citation manual or two. If you need to know a scholar or look someone up, I recommend looking at the two scholars listed in the “Important People" section.
Handbooks and Manuals
The handbooks and manuals that are useful related to the topic of British fairy tales are citation handbooks for when you are writing about the tales or including them in your work. Here are the three most commonly used citation manuals and a little about why you might use each:
The handbooks and manuals that are useful related to the topic of British fairy tales are citation handbooks for when you are writing about the tales or including them in your work. Here are the three most commonly used citation manuals and a little about why you might use each:
This is the most helpful for any kind of humanities or general education class. MLA is probably the most common writing style. If you do not want to purchase the actual citation manual, the Purdue OWL website is absolutely fantastic at explaining how to construct MLA citations. You can visit their website at: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/01/ |
This is the most helpful for any kind of social sciences course - psychology, sociology, or even education. The Purdue OWL website is absolutely fantastic at explaining how to construct APA citations as well. You can visit this website at: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/ |
This style is most helpful for literature, history, and the arts. Purdue OWL also has a fantastic website for Chicago citations at http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/717/01/, though the 16th edition of the actual manual is online too at http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/16/contents.html |
Biographical Sources
With the topic of British fairy tales, there are multiple routes that you could take for biographical sources:
With the topic of British fairy tales, there are multiple routes that you could take for biographical sources:
- If you were
interested in biographies of the compilers of British fairy tales, you may
want to start with Joseph Jacobs since he is one of the most widely
recognized compilers of British fairy tales. A possible biography you
might use for him might be from the Australian
Dictionary of Biography since he was born in Australia (http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/jacobs-joseph-6817).
There are multiple databases available through the University of Kentucky that would also work too. A good recommendation would be to look at the Biographical Information Research Guide put together by Rob Aken, a Reference Librarian at Young Library. You can access this guide at http://libguides.uky.edu/Biog. Research guides put together a list of resources for students in an organized way, separating them into tabs like “Books, journals & and electronic resources” and “Literary figures” which would be helpful for this topic.
Databases like the Dictionary of National Biography may also be useful for searching for deceased compilers like Joseph Jacobs. This is an excellent biographical database for people who have passed on and who were important in some regard. Joseph Jacobs has a decent sized entry in this database.
- If you are interested in the biographies of the scholars of fairy tales, you may want to look at sources in the Biographical Information Research Guide, but with the names of scholars like Jack Zipes and Maria Tatar, who you can read more about in the “Important People” section.
Geographical Sources
Barnes, Ian. The Historical Atlas of the British Isles. Yorkshire: Pen and Sword Books, 2011. Print.
Library of Congress call number: G1811 .S1 B376 2011 (Special note: This is in the Science Library, which is also where our Map Library is located. The Science Library is also known as the King Library and is behind the President’s House in Maxwell Place). This source would be excellent if you are interested in studying the history of the British Isles and the movement of people into and around the British Isles as relates to the movement and spread of fairy tales. If you’re interested in how tales ended up where they did, perhaps you want to check this out to see where people were moving around to and from in Britain during different time periods as this atlas does an excellent job of showing movements through Britain clearly during different time periods from early periods of its existence through more modern times. |
There are not a lot of geographical sources specifically related to British fairy tales, but there are a lot of maps and resources related to England and places where you can trace the movement of people and possibly the tales.