J301: The Crusades (History for Teachers)

Basic information
For an introduction to an event, person or topic, plus recommended reading, or for quick fact checks, try these reference books, located in the Reference Reading Room:

Atlas of medieval Europe (G1791 .M2 1997)
Cambridge illustrated atlas of warfare: the Middle Ages, 768-1487 (G1034 .H6 1996)
The Crusades: an encyclopedia (D155 .C78 2006)
Dictionary of medieval knighthood and chivalry: people, places, and events (CR4505 .B76 1988)
Dictionary of the Middle Ages (D114 .D5 1982)

You can also consult the Encyclopaedia Britannica (this is the full version, not the free web version), the Encyclopaedia of Islam, and two collections of online reference books, Oxford Reference Online (which includes the Oxford Encyclopedia of the Middle Ages) and Blackwell Reference Online.

Finding books on your topic
Use IUCAT to search the IU Libraries collections. You may find it helpful to use the Advanced Keyword search, which allows you to combine keywords with subject terms and to limit your results to materials in English. Some related subject terms:

crusades
religious aspects
sources (combine this with other subjects or keywords to find primary source documents)
syria history 750-1260
jerusalem history latin kingdom
latin orient

You can also use the Begins with (browse) search to browse subject headings starting with crusades--this is a good way to find out what the Library has on a specific crusade or related topic.

WorldCat is like IUCAT but it covers most of the libraries in the US. Use it if you can't find anything in IUCAT--most books you find in WorldCat can be borrowed on Interlibrary Loan (look for the Request materials from ILL link in the WorldCAT record).

You might want to try IU WorldCat which lets you search IUCAT and WorldCat at the same time.

Finding articles by scholars
Use the resources on the Libraries' Medieval Studies resource page, especially International Medieval Bibliography and Iter: Gateway to the Middle Ages and Renaissance. These two online indexes cover thousands of scholarly journals in Medieval Studies.

Tip: Iter doesn't have direct links to full text. Use the Libraries' online journal search to find journal articles, or search IUCAT for books.

If your topic focuses on religion, try ATLA Religion Database. This covers all time periods, so for best results, include (medieval or middle ages) as part of your search.

If you're having trouble finding anything on a very specific topic--an individual, one particular battle, etc--you might have good luck searching JSTOR. This is a giant fulltext database of scholarly journals. Searches for specific, unique keywords work well; searches for broad terms like crusades won't yield useful results.

For Islamic topics, use the resources on the Libraries' Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies page, especially Index Islamicus, an online index to research in Islamic Studies.

For the pedagogy side of your research, use ERIC (EBSCO), the online index to research in Education. You can also search Historical Abstracts, which covers journals such as The History Teacher.

Recommended resources on the free internet
As we all know, you can't believe everything you read, especially on the web. Pay close attention to the sources of any information you find on the web. There are lots of hobby sites on "medieval" topics that are fun to browse, but may or may not contain historically accurate information.

These two "portal" sites will help you find more reliable medieval web pages.

The Labyrinth: Resources for Medieval Studies

ORB: The Online Reference Book for Medieval Studies

Google and Google Books searches will work best for very specific keywords (a specific individual, the title of a medieval work, etc.--don't forget to put phrases in quotes).

Keeping it all together

Keeping track of your research as you go along will save you time and trouble. Several software programs and browser extensions are available to make this easier. The IUB Libraries' Bibliographic Software page has information about products that are either provided by IU or free on the internet.

Help with library resources
Use our Ask a Librarian options, or contact Celestina Savonius-Wroth directly.

Last updated September 29, 2009