Hekman Library: French Guide: Find Articles and Databases

Recommended Databases

MLA International Bibliography (EBSCO)
This is THE database for researching French literature, linguistics, film, and performing arts.
In addition to its research coverage, the MLA database also includes two important scholarly search tools: the MLA Directory of Periodicals and the MLA Thesaurus, a proprietary, searchable collection of thousands of subject terms and personal names used in indexing the bibliography. Learn more about the MLA International Bibliography database, its features and tools, and advanced searching options in these video tutorials.
Historical Abstracts (EBSCO)
Find journal articles on the history, culture and politics of France.
Caribbean Search (EBSCO)
In-depth, full text information about the countries and people of the Caribbean.
Arts & Humanities Citation Index
Arts & Humanities Citation Index, available via Web of Science, provides access to bibliographic and citation information from the world's leading arts and humanities journals.It covers a broad array of topics in the humanities from 1975 to the present.
The Arts & Humanities Citation Index (1975-present) is accessed through the Web of Science platform, with which more databases can be searched simultaneously. To search the Arts & Humanities Citation index exclusively, use the More Settings option at the bottom of the Web of Science search screen.
JSTOR
A database consisting of full-text articles from scholarly, peer-reviewed journals from nearly every discipline taught at Calvin. Relevant subjects for French are Linguistics, Language & Literature, and African Studies.
Project Muse
The most respected full-text scholarly journals in many fields, including Francophone studies. (Articles in Project Muse journals may often appear online before they are available in print format.)
ARTFL - Main Database (FRANTEXT)
Began in 1981 as a collaboration between the University of Chicago and France's Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, ARTFL comprises more than 3,000 historical French language documents. Most texts date from the 18th-20th centuries with others dating back to Renaissance and even medieval times.
Separate databases in the project include works by French women writers, collections of medieval Provencal poetry, Diderot and d'Alembert's massive Encyclopedie and its supplement, Le Journal de Trevoux, (an 18th C. periodical collection), and several others.

Core Journals

Special Resource: French Periodicals and Newspapers

L'Actualite
The leading French news magazine in North America, published in Montreal, Canada.
L'Express
One of the two leading French weekly news magazines.
L'Obs
One of the two leading French weekly news magazines.
La Presse
The most influential French newspaper in North America, published in Montreal, Canada.
Le Monde
Le Monde is a most prominent and influential daily French newspaper.

Searching for articles?

Here's a reminder of how to get started searching for journal articles using Hekman's Primo search.

Primo Searching Basics
For more, check out our How to videos here