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Guide to L'Année Philologique

As the most comprehensive index to scholarly work in Classical Studies, L'Année Philologique (APh) is an essential source for serious research.  Print volumes covering each year's journal articles, books, and conferences have appeared since 1924.  The web version currently covers the years from 1959 onwards.

 

Database Quirks

  1. Search ancient authors names in their Latin forms: "v" appears as "u" unless the name starts with V. For example:

    Livy -> Liuius (Titus)
    Ovid -> Ouidius
    Virgil -> Vergilius Maro

  2. "Full Text" does not search the complete text of articles, only the citations and abstracts in the database.
     
  3. The article's title will be the best indication of its language. Abstracts can be in English, French, or German, and don't necessarily correspond to the language of the article. You can also limit your search by language.

 

How Do I Find Works About an Ancient Author or Text?

Searching by "Ancient Author" will find texts by the author (new translations, editions, or commentaries) and works about him. All names are given in Latin. Names are automatically truncated.

E.g., for Pliny the Younger, search Plinius, then select the appropriate variants from the list:

Screen shot of plinius search

 
To focus a search for works about a particular text, especially one that does not have a unique title, combine an 'Ancient Authors' search with a 'Full Text' search.

For example, to find articles or books about Ovid's Fasti:

Ancient Author:  ouidius
Full Text:  fast* (* = truncation. Retrieves Fast, Fasti, Fastes, Fasten...)

   Q1 and Q2   (stands for Query 1 and Query 2)

A 'Full Text' search includes the modern author, title, summary, and keywords, but excludes ancient author names (unless used in the title or summary).

 

How Do I Find Works About a Subject?

To find articles or books on specific topics, use a 'Full Text' search. If you enter more than one word, the words won't be searched as a phrase, but all must appear somewhere in the record. For example, if you were interested in the relationship between the ancient calendar and festivals:

Full Text: calendar* festival*  (* = truncation, for various word endings)

If you search using English terms, the references matched are likely to be in English.

It is also possible to browse the "Subjects and Disciplines". These broad subject categories correspond to the subject arrangement of the print volumes, and can be used to obtain an overview of an area. Selected categories can be combined with additional searches, or limited by "Date" or "Other Criteria" (including Language).

 

How Do I Find Works By a Modern Author?

Because author names may appear in various ways - with first or middle names, or only initials - it's safest to search only the last name, and then pick from the resulting list. Author names are automatically truncated.

E.g., a search for McGinn will match

Author

 

Interpreting the Results

Results are listed in chronological order, with the oldest references first. To find more detail on an article or book chapter, and to get an abstract or summary, click on the open book icon to the right.

Abstracts may be written in English, French, or German, and need not correspond to the language of the article.

 

 
Journal references are typically abbreviated. In the full display, hovering over the abbreviation will often pop-up the full journal title. However, if pop-ups do not appear, for example with book review sources, you can find the full journal title by searching under Other Criteria - Periodical. For example, a search on A&A (reference 97) would show it to be the journal, Antike und Abendland. The final step would be to search for 'Antike und Abendland' in Acorn, the library catalog, to see if Vanderbilt has a subscription.
 

The full record for articles in books gives other chapter titles and references to book reviews. E.g., for reference 100, above:

 

 

 

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I limit to just English books or articles (or French, or German...)?
Languages can be searched under Other Criteria. You can then combine a search on English (for example) with your searches by Author or Subject.

Why doesn't the library have more of the books/journals?
Unlike a source like TOCS-IN, which limits itself to the core or most important journals in the field, APh attempts to be comprehensive. No single library contains all of the materials it indexes, and you will inevitably come across sources not held by Vanderbilt. If you have sufficient time to wait for the materials to be delivered, Interlibrary Loans can obtain the items for you.

 

Minor Revisions August 2005
http://www.library.vanderbilt.edu/central/classics/aphguide.html
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