A request for sources--irony in "Beowulf" and medecine in World War I

Factual Questions
1

I hope this doesn’t violate the “no homework” rule. I just thought that picking the Dopers’ brains might be a good complement to my own source-hunting.

In about a month and a half, I have two short (8-15 page, double-spaced) essays due, so I’m beginning my research now. My one topic is examining the irony with which the monsters are treated in Beowulf, and the other is an examination of the impact the First World War had on medical technology. The medical topic is a bit easier, since I have a couple of books that cover the topic (e.g. Mud, Blood, and Poppycock, and an illustrated history of medecine), whose biographies will provide me with further sources.

The “Beowulf” ones are a little tougher. Many of the sources are essays in larger anthologies, which are a bit harder to search. I will, of course, look on my own, but if anyone has a suggestion or two that could cut down my hunting time, I would be much obliged.

2

First of all, are you sure your instructor actually wants you to use outside sources? I’d ask if this hasn’t been specified, because most instructors in the humanities are going to be interested, first and foremost, in whether you can form an intelligent critical argument of your own and back it up with textual analysis.

Secondly, you should check and see if your college library subscribes to the MLA International Bibliography database, which will allow you to search professional articles in literature and related fields by title, author, and keyword. Plug in “Beowulf + monsters” or “Beowulf + irony,” and see what it comes up with. (There are other electronic databases available which will allow you to do similar things, and some of them even have full text; ask your reference librarian to give you the full rundown.)

3

Thank you for your concern. The only sources I have right now are ones he’s suggested, so I’m quite sure he wants us to do a little research.

And thank you very much for the suggestion. I’d completely forgotten about the university’s journal subscriptions.

4

Is “medecine” some Canadian spelling of “medicine” of which I was previously unaware? :slight_smile:

5

Yeah, they also spell “bibliography” as “biography.” :smiley:

Sorry, Speaker. We’ll let people actually answer your question now.

6

Google Scholar is also quite helpful

7

Uh, nobody says “speak to your academic librarian”? Your library almost certainly subscribes to loads of expensive databases (including the aforementioned MLA) that will probably beat the pants off Google Scholar.

8

Ill second the “ask your librarian.” It always amazed me at how many of my fellow students never bothered with that resource. I would never have found half the sources I did without their help.

9

Heh, I’ve been mistyping “medicine” ever since I wrote my French final last semester.

I hadn’t thought about my librarians. They frighten me with their antisocial tendencies, but I might be able to get over that.