Getting Started

Writing about Chaucer

Bloom's How to Write about Geoffrey Chaucer by M. Sauer
Call Number: PR1924 .S28 2010, Third Level
Publication Date: 2009
Assists students in developing paper topics about the works of Geoffrey Chaucer.

This guide is intended for students who are enrolled in Literature 530, or for those interested in researching the works and times of Geoffrey Chaucer.

Reference works are an excellent way of getting background information on your topic. They're usually trustworthy because they've been written and reviewed by subject experts.

Electronic Reference Sources

Off-campus access requires my.emich authentication.

Chaucer MetaPage
A trustworthy guide to vetted Chaucer resources freely available online (including links to "Visualizing Chaucer" from the Middle English Text Series, "The Harvard Chaucer Page", etc.).
The Canterbury Tales (Librarius)
The Librarius site allows you to read the Middle English while using a hypertext glossary.
MED (Middle English Dictionary)
The MED is a massive and essential resource, now freely available online. Containing, according to their website, "a comprehensive analysis of lexicon and usage for the period 1100-1500, based on the analysis of a collection of over three million citation slips, the largest collection of this kind available. This electronic version of the MED preserves all the details of the print MED, but goes far beyond this, by converting its contents into an enormous database, searchable in ways impossible within any print dictionary."

Oxford English Dictionary and Historical Thesaurus (OED Online) This link opens in a new window
Subjects: English Language, Word Origins
Info type: reference source, definitions, etymologies, quotations
Gale Virtual Reference Library This link opens in a new window
Search and display the full-text of reference books.
Subjects: Many subjects, including History, Education, Film, Health, Science, Social Science
Info type: encyclopedia and reference book entries.
List of sources.

An Electronic Edition of the General Prologue to Canterbury Tales
An electronic version of the General Prologue including audio samples in Middle English and a side-by-side translation into Modern English. A drop-down menu also allows you to jump to the first line of any pilgrim's description.

Specific Reference Titles

All Things Chaucer by S. Rogers
Call Number: PR1903 .R55 2007; First Floor -- Reference Collection
ISBN: 0313332533
Publication Date: 2006
Encyclopedia of the Medieval World by E. English
Call Number: D114 .E55 2005; First Floor -- Reference Collection
ISBN: 0816046905
Publication Date: 2005
Approximately 2,000 entries offer coverage on significant personalities, archaeology, arts and architecture, literature, philosophy, religion, law, science and warfare.
A Dictionary of Medieval Terms and Phrases by C. Corèdon
Call Number: DA129 .C67 2004; First Floor -- Reference Collection
ISBN: 1843840235
Publication Date: 2005
Contains 3,400 terms as headwords, ranging from the legal and ecclesiastic to the more prosaic words of daily life.