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French

The French program at the University of Wyoming is part of the Department of Modern & Classical Languages. Bachelor's and Master's degrees are offered, as well as a minor. The Department "seeks to make its undergraduates sufficiently bilingual to enter the world with the very skills which bring success both personally and for the state and nation."

This page is a selective guide to books, articles, reference sources, and Internet resources for French.

Keyword Search Strategies:
"Books & More" takes you to the UW Libraries catalog where you can search for books, reports, theses, etc. Keyword search generally gives you the most flexibility. Just use the Keyword Search tab on the main catalog page. When dealing with foreign language resources, the ability to set limits is particularly helpful. Two examples: first, if you wish to see which works by or about Jules Verne the library has that are in the original French, on the Keyword Search screen click "Set more limits". Then highlight "French" from the Language drop-down box and click "Set Limits". Next, select Author (By or About) in the "Find Results in" drop-down box, then type either verne jules or jules verne in the "Find This" search box (the name order does not matter) and click Search.
On the other hand, if you wanted to see if the library had Sartre's work Nausea in English translation, you would set English as the limiter, enter Sartre in one search box as Author (complete names are not required in Keyword mode), and enter nauseain the second box.
Finally, if you simply wish to see which works the library has by a given author, the "Author" search on the Basic search screen usually works well. Here, however, after highlighting Author in the "Find Results in" box, the word order does matter: type last name, comma, space, and first name (first initial generally works OK too). You are taken to an alphabetic list of author names beginning with what you typed, and can then click on the one of interest.
 

LC Subject Headings:
More structured subject searching than is possible in keyword searching is facilitated by a standardized vocabulary system called Library of Congress (LC) Subject Headings. To take advantage of the navigational help they provide, highlight "Subject" in the "Find Results in" box on the Basic Search screen. If this approach doesn't seem to work, use the Keyword Search tab as discussed in the preceding section, then highlight "Subject" in the "Find Results in" box. This, again, allows for additional flexibility in defining a desired topic.
The selected subject headings below are divided into two sections: language (materials covering word definitions, grammar, general French instructional texts, etc.) and literature.
 
 Language:
 French language dictionaries (retrieves dictionaries exclusively in French)
 French language dictionaries English (retrieves bilingual dictionaries with word lookups in both French and English)
 French language grammar
 French language readers
 French language Textbooks for foreign speakers English (Here are found basic language instructional texts for those whose first language is English)
 French language usage
 
 Literature:
 French literature History and criticism
 French drama
 French fiction
 French poetry
 Note: Many of the subject headings relating to French literature, including all of the above, can be subdivided by historical period or specific formats (for example, "bibliography" or "readers").

Reference Sources:
A highly selective list of general reference sources. To locate reference books such as language dictionaries, consult the subject headings listed in the previous section.
 Dictionnaire de Litterature Francaise Contemporaine. Coe Ref PQ 305 .B584
 Dictionnaire Encyclopedique de la Litterature Francaise. Coe Ref PQ 41 .D54 1999
 Guide to French Literature. Coe Ref PQ 41 .L48 1994
 The New Oxford Companion to Literature in French. Coe Ref PQ 41 .N49 1995
A comprehensive reference work covering medieval times to the present. Treats authors, critics, historians, savants, and scientists, as well as individual works, places, and institutions, along with general survey articles on French literary life and movements.
 Tresor de la Langue Francaise; Dictionnaire de la Langue du XIXe et du XXe Siecle. Coe Ref PC 2625 .T7
A 16-volume, highly comprehensive dictionary covering the history, usages, syntax, etc. of each word. Comparable to the Oxford English Dictionary in scope and content.

Article Indexes:
 Academic Search Premier
 MLA International Bibliography
 Web of Science (Humanities, Social Sciences, Sciences)

Electronic Journals:
 
 [PURL:858http://www-lib.uwyo.edu/e-journal.cfm?subject=FREN&Go%21=Go%21[/PURL]

Internet Resources:
This is a selective list of free web sites that have been evaluated for quality and usefulness to the field. Most contain numerous links to related sites, so they tend to serve as helpful starting points for locating additional relevant Internet resources.
 Tennessee Bob's Famous French Links. A very wide array of information sources and links (including such things as art, business, and terrorism in a French context).
 Hapax. Links to French-related Web resources of interest to university-level teachers and students. Includes an index of literature and language-related resources such as dictionaries and lessons.
 CLICNET. Gathers "virtual French resources" for students and teachers of French as a foreign or second language, and for anyone else interested in French culture, arts, or literature. Among the categories covered are jokes and humor, classic literary texts, teaching tools, dictionaries, communications media, and daily life.
 French Studies Web (WESSweb). . Produced by the Western European Specialists Section of the Association of College and Research Libraries, this site provides well-organized access to scholarly resources in French Studies. These resources have been evaluated and selected for quality. Geographical coverage includes France and the francophone regions in Belgium, Canada, Switzerland, Africa, and the Caribbean.
 ABU (Association des Bibliophiles Universels): la Bibliotheque Universelle. Offers free access to a collection of French-language, public domain texts.
 American and French Research on the Treasury of the French Language. Includes a collection of nearly 2000 French texts, consisting of over 150 million words, from the 13th to the 20th centuries. The purpose of this continually growing collection is to aid researchers in close textual analysis. Access to the full set of texts is restricted to those affiliated with institutional members of ARTFL; selected materials are available to anyone.