The online catalog, COAST, tells you which books, periodicals, and media materials this Library owns.
You may search by: Author, Title, Journal Title, Subject using Library of Congress Subject Headings, Keywords/ Words, Author/Title, or Call Number.
You may search in specific Library collections, as well as View My Library Record, Request Interlibrary Loans.
Examples of some useful Library of Congress Subject Headings [LCSH] for finding materials on folklore, mythology, and fairy tales are these:
Folklore Topics (General)
Folklore
Folklore--[place or region or country]
[name of group]--Folklore
Ethnic Folklore
Folk Festivals
Folk LIterature
Folk Medicine
Folk Music
Folklorists
Literature and Folklore
Material Culture
Oral Tradition
Psychoanalysis and Folklore
Storytelling
Urban Folklore
Mythology Topics (General)
Mythology
Mythology, [group name in adjective form]
Art and Mythology
Demythologization (Literature)
Mythology in Literature
Mythology in Motion Pictures
Mythology, Welsh, in Literature
Fairy Tales Topics (General)
Fairy Tales
Fairy Tales--[Place]
Fairy Tales, [Culture]
Fairy Poetry
Fairy Tales--Film and Video Adaptations
Fairy Tales--Psychological Aspects
Fairy Tales--Religious Aspects
Fairy Tales--Social Aspects
Folklore, Mythology, and Fairy Tales Topics (Specialized)
Animals--Mythology
Animals, Mythical
Bears--Mythology
Birth-Mythology
Fairies
Geographical Myths
Gods
Grail
Monsters
Moon-Mythology
Mother-goddesses
Mountains--Mythology
Rainbow Serpent
Sacred Marriage (Mythology)
Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616--Knowledge--Mythology
Sirens (Mythology)
Sky-gods
Tricksters
Women--Mythology
Indexes and Abstracting Services: Sources which provide access to the contents of (usually) periodical publications, and (sometimes) books and media. They are usually limited to a stated subject area.
The Major Sources:
Modern Language Association International Bibliography of Books & Articles on Modern Languages & Literatures, 1921-62, Ref PB 1 .M64; since 1963-date as: MLA Bibliography,in: E-Ref
The MLA Bibliography, sometimes called the PMLA Bibliography, began modestly enough with a 29-page listing of the American scholarship on modern (post-classical) languages and literatures published in 1921. It has expanded over the years to become the International Bibliography (in 1956), and now annually adds 40-50,000 items (books, book collections (of essays), journal articles, book articles (essays in collections of essays), and doctoral dissertations) to its listing of materials. It includes an extensive selection of materials on folklore and mythology, especially as related to literature, languages, and cultural studies
Academic Search Complete [some full-text]. E-Ref
Academic Search Complete indexes articles, reviews, and editorials in more than 1800 journals and magazines, and several newspapers. It also provides the full-text of some of these articles, plus links to our COAST catalog so you may determine if the CSULB Library owns those publications which are not full-text in the database. Useful for all kinds of folklore, mythology, fairy tales, urban legends, etc.
Humanities Abstracts,1974-date; and Humanities & Social Sciences Index Retrospective, 1907-1984, both in E-Ref. [Print version called Humanities Index; preceded by: International Index, [later,] Social Sciences & Humanities Index]
The Humanities Index provides access to approximately 400 scholarly journals in the humanities, including language, literature, philosophy, religion, history, theatre, film, broadcasting, journalism, classics, archaeology, art, and music. The CSULB Library has approximately 70% of these journals.
Other Potentially Useful Sources:
ABC-Lit: An Index to Children's Literature Scholarship.
ABC-Lit is a nascent index to literary scholarship on children's literature.It does not have a great many citations as yet, but is growing.
American Humanities Index, 1975- . Ref PN 2 .A35
L'Anne'e philologique: Bibliographie critique et analytique de l'antiquite greco-latine, 1924/26- . PA 2 .A56
L'Anne'e philologique provides access to the world's scholarship on classical antiquity, history, literature, philosophy, etc. Use it if you are interested in classical folklore.
Arts and Humanities Citation Index. See below: Web of Science.
Chicano Database, inE-Ref [for: Chicano Periodical Index, 1967/78- .E 184 .M5 C46; since 1965-1989, 1991-1993]
ERIC: Educational Resources Information Center, 1966- . E-Ref
The index to consult on all matters educational, including teaching literature and language arts from pre-kindergarten to post-doctoral studies. This database would be particularly useful if you need to research the teaching of folklore, mythology, and/or fairy tales. NOTE: ERIC Document (ED) microfiche are in Lower Level.
Ethnic NewsWatch [full-text], 1994- . E-Ref
Film Literature Index, 1973- [Section Two: Television/Video, 1986- ]. Ref PN 1993 .F628
The Film Literature Index is particularly useful for articles on films based on folkloric or mythological materials.
GenderWatch [full-text]. E-Ref
HAPI: Hispanic American Periodicals Index, 1970/74- . Ref F 1401 .H35; and, Ref F 1401 .H36
Index to Black Periodicals [formerly, Index to Periodical Articles By and About Blacks/Negroes], 1950-98 . AI 3 .I55
International Index to Black Periodicals [some full-text], 1998- . E-Ref
Lexis/Nexis Academic [formerly, Academic Universe; full-text]. E-Ref
For the student of folklore and mythology, the major use of Lexis/Nexis Academics to find newspaper articles on contemporary urban myths, or reviews of books (approx. 1970-date).
Library Literature and Information Science, 1933-1999. Z 666 .L69; since1984- , with some full-text in: E-Ref
19th Century Masterfile, 1786-1922. E-Ref
This index provides access magazine and newspaper articles as found in these indexes: [Series I] Poole's Index to Periodical Literature, 1802-1906 (Ref AI 3 .P7),Index to Periodicals, 1890-1902, Index to Legal Periodical Literature, 1786-1922, and An Alphabetical Subject Index and Index Encyclopediato Periodical Articles on Religion, 1890-1899; and [Series III] indexes to the New York Times, 1863-1906, the New York Daily Tribune, 1875-1906, the London Times, 1880-1890, and the Oregon Spectator, 1846-1854. Hint: Since these indexes were created in an earlier age, you must search them, sometimes, using terminology of an earlier age. Please consult the Instructional Guide for information.
Reader's Guide Abstracts [popular magazines], 1983-date, in E-Ref; and, Reader's Guide Retrospective, 1890-1983, in E-Ref
The Reader's Guide indexes popular, mass-market magazines, e.g., Time, Newsweek, Los Angeles Magazine, America, Nation, People Weekly, Seventeen, and Rolling Stone. Would be useful for urban myths.
Science Fiction and Fantasy Research Database.
The SFFRD indexes more than 55,000 critical, historial, and news items about science fiction, fantasy, and horror literature and media materials, including fairy tale materials. The sources indexed are scholarly, popular, and news publications from both the mainstream and specialist press. You may perform Quick simple searches and more Advanced (boolean) searches. For further information on science fiction and fantasy, see the research guide: Science Fiction & Fantasy Literature and Media.
Voice of the Shuttle[meta-site]. http://vos.ucsb.edu
Web of Science [including Arts and Humanities Citation Index], 1996- E-Ref
For earlier volumes of Arts and Humanities Citation Index, 1977-91.NX 1 .A1 A83 (Storage; request volumes at Media/Reserve/InterLibrary Loan Desk)
Women Studies Abstracts, 1972- . HQ 1101 .W63
WorldCat, 12th century- . E-Ref
To identify books, media, and other materials in nearly 40,000 libraries, WorldCat is a great resource.
This site includes "retellings of American folktales, Native American myths and legends, tall tales, weather folklore and ghost stories from each and every one of the 50 United States. You can read about all sorts of famous characters like Paul Bunyan, Pecos Bill, Daniel Boone, and many more." There are also lesson plans and teacher's resources, ESL readings, tongue twisters, and more. A fun site!
Bulfinch, Thomas. Bulfinch's Mythology. BL 721 .B84 [various dates]or online
Frazier, James George, Sir. The Golden Bough.BL 310 .F7 [many editions]
Graves, Robert. The Greek Myths. BL 781 .G65 [many editions]
Hamilton, Edith. Mythology. BL 310 .H3 [several editions]
"The Encyclopedia Mythica is an online encyclopedia on mythology, folklore, and legends. It currently contains over 6,100 entries on gods and goddesses, heroes, legendary creatures and beings from all over the world. Some of the topics you can find here, are about: gendary animals such as unicorns and dragons; mythical objects like Excalibur and Mjollnir; gods and goddesses from many religions, including Greek, Japanese, Hindu, and Native American; imaginative places such as Atlantis, Avalon, and Thule; supernatural creatures such as ghosts, gnomes, leprechauns, and fairies; . . . and much, much more."
Man, Myth, and Magic: The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Mythology, Religion, and the Unknown. Ref BF 1407 .M34 1995
An extensive site arranged by regions and language groups.
Thompson, Stith.Motif-Index of Folk-Literature: A classification of narrative elements in folktales, ballads, myths, fables, mediaeval romances, exempla, fabliaux, jest-books, and local legends. 6v. Ref GR 67 .T52
Zipes, Jack, ed. The Oxford Companion to Fairy Tales. Ref PN 3437 .O94 2000
University Style and Format Guidelines for Master's Theses and Project Reports [aka: The Thesis Manual]
CSULB Master's theses on folklore, mythology, or fairy tales may be retrieved through a search of COAST, the Online Catalog, by doing either:
Keyword search: thesis beach [topic word(s), e.g. myth*; vampire*; folklore]
This will bring up all CSULB theses with the [topic word(s)] in the title or subject headings.
Thesis Students: If you would like to discuss research and information resources for your thesis, please feel free to contact me,Leslie Kay Swigart [The Literature Librarian] by clicking here or at (562) 985-8327. I am available for email, telephonic, or in person consultations on your topic.
Are you are feeling discouraged about your thesis? Take a look at the Dead Thesis Societywebsite, which "is a thesis support community of graduate students. This is a place to vent for those who have stalled or feel frustrated with their theses." They also have an e-mail forum which "provides a supportive environment for people to discuss problems and ways to keep focused and motivated during the writing and revision stages of a thesis." Help with other support groups, thesis writing advice, time management, enotional rescue, and faculty supervisors/advisors, and general survival. For graduate students in all areas, both Masters and Doctoral candidates.
[forthcoming]
"An interdisciplinary organization dedicated to the creation and support of mythic art." Includes the online Journal of Mythic Arts, a reading room (fiction & non-fiction), gallery (art),coffeehouse (poetry), and Endicott Scuttlebutt (book reviews, events, reading lists, and more).
Halloween: Facts and Misinformation
Beliefs, customs, traditions, and opinions about Halloween. Includes references to sources and links.
The Mythic Imagination Institute "creates experiences of the mystery and metaphor in myth and story through art,hands-on activity and cross-disciplinary conversation . . . [conducts] conference and performance festivals . . . endeavor to bring together artists, scientists, business people, psychologists, scholars, performers, educators, philosophers, writers, astronauts, farmers and anyone else who'd like to be a part of it through the common medium of story . . . "
Online Archive of American Folk Medicine
UCLA's Online Archive of American Folk Medicine is a searchable database of systematically documented beliefs and practices relating to folk medicine and alternative healthcare. Indexing is by condition, belief, method of treatment, region and place of collection of the belief/practice, informant ethnicity and gender, and bibliographic citation for publications.
Top 100 April Fool's Day Hoaxes of All Time
The name of the site says it all. The Museum of Hoaxes, which hosts this site, also hosts the Top 10 Worst April Fool's Day Hoaxes Ever. Consider some of these hoaxes to be kissing cousins of the Urban Legend.
