Humanities 9: Mr. Pomeroy

Society of Chaucer Pathfinder

"Chaucer, Geoffrey." Student Resource Center.
Thomson Gale. 21 April 2006
<http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/SRC>

Understanding the society in which Chaucer lived and the Canterbury Tales were written will give you a setting and background knowledge for interpreting and analyzing the epic poem.

You have been assigned to one of the topics below. Research your topic and find the suggested details. You are not limited to these items, however. Find out as much as you can.

Turn in a one page paper and be prepared to take up to 2 minutes to tell your classmates what you learned.

Since the information you are required to find is strictly common knowledge, we are not requiring you to cite your sources in a formal way. Include the title of the databases you used at the end of your paper. NOTE: You may NOT use sites from the free Web, such as Wikipedia.

If you have questions about note taking or using the databases, ask Ms. Jansen.

Topics

Chaucer's life: When did he live, write, what was his day job, who were his contemporaries, and what was his relationship to the throne?
Chaucer's English: What makes it Middle English, what are its distinguishing characteristics, and what other epic poems are written in this language that we should be aware?
Thomas à Becket's life: Who was he, why did he die, why did he become a martyr, who was his king, and why is he buried in Canterbury Cathedral?
Canterbury Cathedral: Where is it, how does one get there from Southwerk or London, what does it look like, why do pilgrims go there in 2006, and why did they go there in 1406?
Black Plague: What was it, where was it, how did it spread, how was it stamped out, how many people died, what might be a connection between the Black Plague and Chaucer?

Resources from St. Andrew's subscription databases
(You may NOT use sites from the free Web, such as Wikipedia.)

Try these keywords (depending on your topic) when searching the online databases (you typically won't use capital letters when searching).

NEW SEARCH TIP #1: Once you find a relevant article, use the Edit-Find... in your browser to locate the keywords in the question prompts in your topic above. For example, once you find Thomas à Becket, use Edit-Find... to locate the word "martyr" in the article. If martyr is not found, what other words mean the same or about the same? Suffer, afflicted? Now find "king" in the article. Is it the answer to the question? If not should you change the word king to something else?

REVIEW SEARCH TIP #2: Search first by Subject, then if you are not successful, search by keyword, then full-text (or all text).

REVIEW NOTE: Searching for keywords and related words--You do not need to (nor should you) use capital letters when searching. You will often get better results if you use all lower case. However, the newer search engines tend to ignore case, but if they don't, jsut get in the habit of searching using lower case.

Keywords and related words from topic and question prompts above:

chaucer, geoffrey; chaucer; english poetry, english poets

middle english, origins, dates, authors, middle english literature

thomas à becket; à becket, thomas

canterbury cathedral; canterbury

black plague; black death; plague; pandemic

All of these reference databases are available on our Subscription Database page:

Encyclopædia Britannica: use the version "for high school students and up"
Gale: Student Resource Center Gold
SIRS Knowledge Source: Click SIRS Renaissance
ProQuest eLibrary
EbscoHost: MagillOnLiterature Plus (click on MagillOnLiterature in the list of databases) for Middle English literature, not for other historical information
EbscoHost: Student Research Center

Don't neglect to look at the related links and various other links that come up for each search.
Printing: Always use the Print option on the page when you are printing from these databases. You get a cleaner copy that is easier to read and make notations.
Three Rules of Searching: 1. Be patient! 2. Try several different searches. 3. Be patient!
See Ms. Jansen for passwords for home use or pick up a flyer in the library or if you need help using the databases.

[Form for note taking]

Humanities 9: Mr. Pomeroy

Topics

Resources from St. Andrew's subscription databases (You may NOT use sites from the free Web, such as Wikipedia.)

Resources from St. Andrew's subscription databases
(You may NOT use sites from the free Web, such as Wikipedia.)