Myths, Legends, and Folklore

The library has a number of reference sources that have information about myths, legends, and folklore. Some books look only at stories from particular cultures while others consider stories from all over the world. Some of the other sources look at particular themes or characters from mythology and folklore such as gods and goddesses, heroes, or nature. The looks listed below should be helpful for your assignment.

Reference Books

Myths and legends of the world Reference BL311 .M97 2000	Pickering, David A dictionary of folklore Reference GR35 .P5 1999
McLeish, Kenneth Myth : myths and legends of the world explore Reference BL303 .M354 1996	Folklore : an encyclopedia of beliefs, customs, tales, music, and art Reference GR35 .F63 1997
Castro, Rafaela Dictionary of Chicano folklore Reference GR111.M49 C37 2000	West, John O. Mexican-American folklore Reference GR111.M49 W47 1988
Scheub, Harold A dictionary of African mythology Reference BL2400 .S24 2000	Gill, Sam D. Dictionary of Native American mythology Reference E98.R3 G46 1992
Medieval folklore : an encyclopedia of myths, legends, tales, beliefs, and customs Reference GR35 .M43 2000	Read, Kay Almere Handbook of Mesoamerican mythology Reference F1219.3.R38 R42 2000
Simpson, Jacqueline A dictionary of English folklore Reference GR141 .S573 2000	Dixon-Kennedy, Mike European myth & legend Reference BL689 .D58 1997
Ashe, Geoffrey Mythology of the British Isles Reference BL980.G7 A74 1990	Ellis, Peter Berresford A dictionary of Irish mythology Reference BL980.I7 E45 1989
Dixon-Kennedy, Mike Encyclopedia of Russian and Slavic myth and legend Reference BL930 .D58 1998	Andrews, Tamra Legends of earth, sea, and sky Reference BL435 .A53 1998
McGowen, Tom Encyclopedia of legendary creatures Reference GR550 .M35	Christen, Kimberly A. Clowns and tricksters : an encyclopedia of tradition and culture Reference GR524 .C48 1998
Stookey, Lorena Thematic Guide to World Mythology Reference BL312 .S76 2004

Getting More Information on Your Topic

In addition to the reference books listed above, you may find other books or articles about your topic in the various library databases.

Books

Books can provide a broad overview of a topic or in-depth information. Use the Library Catalog to find books available in the Cerritos College Library. You can search for books by author, title, subject, or keyword. Listed below are some Library of Congress Subject Headings used in the catalog for books relating to myths, legends and folklore. Use these terms to Search by Subject. Remember, this list is by no means conclusive.

Selected Subject Headings:
You will find the most folk stories by using the subject heading Folklore � you may then break down folklore by a particular country or region. Other useful subject headings are Mythology and Legends � these may also be broken down geographically. See some examples below:

*Folklore--Africa*	*Folklore--China*	*Mythology, Celtic*	*Legends--India*
*Folklore--Haiti*	*Mythology, Egyptian*	*Legends--Mexico*	*Legends, Jewish*

You can also do a Word search to find books on your topic. This may prove especially useful if you are looking for a particular legend or folk tale. If you find one book that is useful to your research, click on the Subject links to see others on the same subject.

Magazine and Journal Articles

Journals and magazines usually provide the most current information on a topic. Journal articles are more scholarly or professional while magazine articles tend to be shorter and more general. To find articles on your topic, use one of the online indexes listed below. They are available at http://www.cerritos.edu/library/http://www.cerritos.edu/library/e-resources.html. Use subject headings or keyword searches similar to those used to locate books.

Online Indexes

EbscoHost MasterFile Premier
Gender Watch
Ethnic News Watch
GaleNet Databases

Print Indexes

Shelved In Reference Section
Reader�s Guide
Humanities Index

See the Library Internet Resources handout for a complete description of our online resources.

Internet Sites

Folklore and Mythology Electronic Texts
http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/folktexts.html

Myths and Legends (links sorted by country and region)
http://home.comcast.net/~chris.s/myth.html

DM 09/02 ; Rev AH 03/06

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