Library Research Guides: ENG 213: Chaucer: Home

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Welcome to the Research Guide for ENG 213: Chaucer. Here you'll find some useful starting places for your research. Please feel free to contact me with questions or assistance with any aspect of the research process. I'm here to help!

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Specialized encyclopedias, dictionaries, handbooks, and other reference works can be good starting places for getting overviews of a topic or work, a synthesis of scholarly discussions, biographical information, definitions of key concepts, vocabulary for searching, and suggestions for further reading.

The Chaucer Encyclopedia, 4 Volumes (2023)
Nearly 1400 entries by scholars provide a comprehensive overview of the life, times, works, sources/analogues, and influence of Chaucer.
Tip: Click "View and download full book" to browse the alphabetical and thematic list of entries or to search for a keyword across all four volumes.
A New Companion to Critical Thinking on Chaucer (2021)
Bringing together scholars from around the world, this Chaucer companion and adopts a novel approach: Each chapter explores a single word from the Chaucerian corpus to develop readings that extend across the author's works. Contributors model scholarly thinking in action, posing questions and offering analyses from textual, theoretical, historical, and material approaches.
A New Companion to Chaucer (2019)
Chaucer specialists from around the globe provide points of entry to a wide range of approaches to Chaucer's works.
The Oxford Companion to Chaucer (2003)
Entries by an international team of scholars provide information on Chaucer's life, times, and works, including his language and metre, his reading and the creative uses he made of it, and his major moral and literary themes.

Middle English Dictionary This link opens in a new window
English vocabulary and usage. Each definition lists quotations from historical documents (including literary, religious, medical, and legal works) exemplifying how the word is used.
Dates: 1100-1500 CE

Key Databases

These databases contain a combination of full text articles (ready to read online) and citation information about articles, book chapters, or books.

Best Bets

MLA International Bibliography This link opens in a new window
Use this database to find books, book chapters, and articles on topics in language and literature (including literary criticism). Follow the "Find it! @Wellesley" links to get full text. If we don't have it, you can request it through Interlibrary Loan.
Iter Bibliography This link opens in a new window
Peer-reviewed articles, scholarly books, and academic theses published from 1859 to present on all aspects of medieval and Renaissance life (400 CE to 1700 CE).
Dates: 1859 CE-Present

Online Chaucer Bibliography
The Online Chaucer Bibliography includes materials from the Annotated Chaucer Bibliography published annually in Studies in the Age of Chaucer and is sponsored by the NCS and the library of the University of Texas at San Antonio.

Additional Resources

Historical Abstracts with Full Text This link opens in a new window
Peer reviewed articles and book reviews of world history (excluding the US and Canada), 1450 CE to present and searchable by historical time period.
JSTOR This link opens in a new window
Scholarly journal articles and books in the humanities, social sciences, and sciences. Does not include the most recent 3-5 years of many journals.

Search Tips

use synonyms and truncation to find all the ways your topic is expressed--databases are very literal
combine multiple concepts using AND / OR for best results

sample topic: Chaucer's construction of marriage

(Chaucer OR "Franklin's Tale" OR "Wife of Bath's Tale") - synonymous concepts

AND (marriage OR wyf* OR wife* OR housebonde OR husband OR [other specific examples]) - truncation

Search the Library Catalog

Catalog Search Tips

Start with a keyword search. Once you find a book that is relevant to your topic, click on the title of that book, then look for Subjects in the full record of that book to help you find "more like this."

Sample keyword search:

gender chaucer

leads to linked subject terms and more books on this topic:

Chaucer, Geoffrey, -1400 -- Characters -- Women
Women -- England -- History --Middle Ages 500 - 1500 and criticism
Chaucer, Geoffrey, -1400. -- Criticism and Interpretation
Chaucer, Geoffrey, -1400. Canterbury tales

Not finding enough, or found an item that's checked out? Search WorldCat and request a copy.

Borrowing from Elsewhere

Can't find what you're looking for at Wellesley?

Use WorldCat Discovery to search and request directly from libraries worldwide via Interlibrary Loan.

Questions? Interlibrary Loan Guide

ENG 213: Chaucer

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