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Foreign Language Literatures

Literature, Film, Couse Assignments in Languages

Norw 350: Vikings and Sagas

Your assignment is to create an annotated bibliography with at least 7 sources (not including textbooks) on a topic of your choice relating to the Vikings. These can be a combination of primary and secondary literature cited in MLA 8th Edition format.

This guide will help you get started on refining your topic and finding resources.  On this guide are:

 

  • Reference books to help you find a topic of interest
  • Tips on how to find books available in the library, as well as how to find and request books not in our catalog
  • Tips on how to find articles, including how to refine your topic
  • A list of academic journals compiled by your instructor
  • A link to an explanation of how to cite in the MLA style.

You'll be utilizing the tutorial "How to Prepare an Annotated Bibliography" from Cornell University Libraries; refer to this article for general questions on how to format you annotated bibliography.  The UND Writing Center formatting guidelines may also be useful to you.  On the formatting guidelines page, select MLA Formatting and Documentation to find formatting information pertinent to your assignment.

Reference Books can help you find a subject of interest.  Browse through their contents to find an area of Viking history and culture that you wish to focus on

Note: Reference material can no longer be found in the reference section. They have been moved to the stacks on the 3rd and 4th floors.

In-library Reference Books:

Online Reference:

Need to FIND A BOOK @ Chester Fritz Library? 

  • Go to the Library's Web Site and start typing a topic in the Library Search box
  • Select "in Books+" from the drop-down options
  • To limit your search results to EBOOKS, under "Availability," select "Available online"
  • You can use the Advanced Search to limit by material type "Books" and search by "Subject"

Subject Terms

Library of Congress subject headings can be helpful when searching for books available in the library. For example, try searching the library catalog with terms listed below:

  • Viking History
  • Viking Culture
  • Viking Saga
  • Old Norse Literature
  • Scandinavia History
  • Ancient Scandinavia
  • Viking Art
  • Medieval Art

Need to FIND A BOOK  *NOT* @ Chester Fritz Library? 

  • Use WorldCat - Available from QuickLinks.  You can search books from anywhere in the country and request Chester Fritz Library borrow that book for you. If it turns out that the book is available from our library, you'll see Image indicates book is available at UND. You can have our library borrow a book from another library (called an InterLibrary Loan) by registering and requesting the book here.

In-library call number ranges:

Materials on Norwegian history and culture can be found on the fourth floor of the library and materials on Norwegian language and literature can be found on the third floor of the library, in the following call number ranges. 

 

Fourth Floor DL401-596 Norway
Fourth Floor DL443-537 History
Third Floor PD2501-2999 Norwegian 

Start with these databases to find scholarly articles:

Using the databases:

You likely have an idea of what area of Viking life you want to focus on for your annotated bibliography.  Now when finding articles, you'll want to refine your subject and break it down into simple search terms.  Here are some examples of searching for articles:

For this search, we are attempting to find articles related to Viking jewelry.  'Viking' is put in the first search term and labelled a Subject Term on the right.  Jewelry is placed in the search box below it, and the two search terms are connected by 'AND'.  Note that in the search box with jewelry. there are other terms connected to it by using 'OR'.  This allows us to bring up articles that contain 'Viking' and any of the search terms in the second box.  Use 'OR' to broaden your search by adding synonyms and similar terms to your search. Use 'AND' to narrow and refine your search by adding more terms that an article must have in order to show up in your results.

 

 

In this search, we are attempting to find articles on the domestic life of Vikings.  Again, the first search term is 'Viking', which is chosen as a Subject Term.  The next term used is 'households OR home Or domestic'.  However, using these two search boxes alone gives messy results.  We get articles on Viking TV programs, the appliance company Viking Range Corp., and the Minnesota Vikings.  So, to get rid of these unwanted articles, the boolean operator 'NOT' is selected on the left of the third box, and in the box we've added terms that relate to the unwanted articles.  Now, any articles that contain 'TV', 'Football', or 'Range' will not show up in the results.  Use 'NOT' to exclude search terms.

Recommended Journals

Here is a list of Journals recommended by your professor which may be useful for your research:

For more database options, check the Finding Articles Page in this guide

 

 

Here at the Chester Fritz Library,  we have many resources available for you! One that we highly recommend is the PRC (Peer Research Consultant) program. The PRCs are students just like you who are available to anyone who needs research assistance! You can find them on Starfish for appointments, as well as at the info desk within the library.

 

We also have excellent subject librarians who can get you started in your research! They are also available through Starfish for appointments, and can be found at the library.

 

Lastly, we have an excellent 24/7 Chat available on the library website at library.und.edu. This is open all the time for any research assistance you may need!

How to Cite in MLA Style:

Credit to the UND citation style guides page