HIST 498 - Conversation, Coercion and Conversion

Conversation, Coercion and Conversion: Interfaith Encounters in the Pre-Modern World

Background Sources | Finding Books | Finding Articles | Finding Primary Sources | Websites

Most of the databases linked from this page are restricted to UW students, staff and faculty. To connect to these databases from home you will need to first click on the Off-Campus Access link in the upper-right hand corner and login.
For research help, please contact Theresa Mudrock, the history librarian. Either drop by my office hours beginning on March 31, every Thursday from 11:00-1:00 in Smith 210c or contact me by email at mudrock@u.washington.edu.

Background Sources

Encyclopedias and dictionaries provide background information and can be used to identify key people, events and dates which can then be used as search terms for finding additional information. More importantly, because encyclopedias often cover the major issues surrounding the subject, they can help you narrow your research from a broad “who, what, where, when” topic to a “how or why” question.

Most of the books listed here are located in Suzzallo Reference, first floor Suzzallo Library.

Dictionary of the Middle Ages
        Suzzallo Reference - D114 .D5 1982
The Encyclopaedia of Islam [UW only]
        Suzzallo Reference - DS37 .E5 1960
Encyclopedia of barbarian Europe : society in transformation
        Suzzallo Reference - D135 .F73 2003
Encyclopedia of early Christianity
        Suzzallo Reference - BR162.2 .E53 1997
Encyclopedia of religion
        Suzzallo Reference - BL31 .E46 2005
Encyclopedia of the crusades
        Suzzallo Reference - D155 .A6 2003
Europe 1450 to 1789 : encyclopedia of the early modern world
        Suzzallo Reference - D209 .E97 2004
Medieval England : an encyclopedia
        Suzzallo Reference - DA129 .M43 1998
Medieval Iberia : an encyclopedia
        Suzzallo Reference - DP99 .M33 2002
Medieval Jewish civilization : an encyclopedia
        Suzzallo Reference - DS124 .M386 2003
The Oxford encyclopedia of the Reformation
        Suzzallo Reference, Undergraduate Reference - BR302.8 .O93 1996

Finding Books

Use the following databases to locate books in the UW Libraries and in other libraries around the region, nation and world. Books unavailable at the UW can be requested through Summit (if available at one of the member libraries) or through Interlibrary Loan.

UW Libraries Catalog
A listing of the books, journal subscriptions and other material available at the University of Washington Libraries.
Summit
Joint catalog of more than 25 academic libraries in Oregon and Washington. Books can be requested and shipped to the UW for pick-up.
OhioLINK
Use OhioLink to access chapters of recent books, use the "Words" search option. Once you identify chapters you need, search for the title of the book in the UW Libraries Catalog to see if we have a copy.
OCLC WorldCat [UW only]
Joint catalog of thousands of major libraries in the U.S. and abroad.

Finding Articles

Use indexes (databases) to find articles (from scholarly journals, popular magazines and newspapers and sometimes books, dissertations, government reports, etc.) on a topic. There are indexes covering all sorts of subjects, use those which best fit your research topic. For a complete list of databases see Research Databases on the UW Libraries Homepage.

Once you identify articles you need make sure you have the complete citation (author, title, journal name, volume, pages and year), then look in the UW Libraries Catalog for the journal name (do a title search for the journal name to see if the UW subscribes) to see if and where the journal is kept (library location and call number).

Databases marked UW Only require that you use the Off-Campus Access link on the top right-side corner of this page to logon before you use the databases from home. Articles from journals which the UW does not own can be requested via Interlibrary loan.

ATLA Religion Database [UW only]
Major index to articles and books on religious history.
The early church : an annotated bibliography of literature in English
Suzzallo Stacks - BR162.2 .R63 1993
Expanded Academic Index [UW only]
Interdisciplinary index to magazine and journal articles in all subjects, includes some full-text. For a similar database also see Research Library [UW only]
Historical Abstracts [UW only]
Major index to articles dealing with post-1450 world history.
Index Islamicus [UW only]
Index to articles and books dealing with all aspects of Islam and the Muslim world.
Iter Gateway to the Middle Ages [UW only]
Index to articles and books dealing with the middle ages and renaissance period.
International Medieval Bibliography
Index to articles and books dealing with the middle ages in Europe and the Middle East.
JSTOR [UW only]
Searchable collection of back issues of selected journals including the Speculum, Church History and the English Historical Review.
Late antiquity : a guide to the postclassical world
Suzzallo Reference - DE5 .L29 1999
Rambi
Index to articles on Jewish Studies in Hebrew and western languages.

Finding Primary Sources

The library has a limited number of primary sources medieval history. Many primary sources from this period are in Latin. Some works such as accounts of the crusades have been translated into English.

In the UW Libraries Catalog:

Search for books written by key people such as Martin Luther
Use special subject terms that designate primary sources:
sources, personal narratives, early works to 1800
Example:

crusades and sources
islam and early works to 1800

For those working on the medieval Church, works in Latin include Patrologia Latina [UW only], Corpus Christianorum Continuatio Mediaevalis [Suzzallo BR60 .C49] Corpus Christianorum. Series Latina [Suzzallo 281.08 C817] and CETEDOC Library of Latin texts [Library CD-ROM workstation].

Websites

This just lists a couple of starting points for finding information on the Web dealing with Medieval and religious history.

Internet Medieval Sourcebook
Collection of primary and some secondary sources dealing with all aspects of Western (including the Middle East) medieval history. Also see the Internet Islamic History Sourcebook and the Internet Jewish History Sourcebook.
On-line Reference Book for Medieval Studies
"The Online Resource Book for Medieval Studies (ORB) is a cooperative effort on the part of scholars across the internet to establish an online textbook source for medieval studies on the World-Wide Web." Included is the ORB Encyclopedia and the ORB Textbook Library

Slides | History Subject Page | Religion Subject Page

18 April 2005

Questions or Research Help? Contact
Theresa Mudrock - mudrock@u.washington.edu