Tips and Tricks to L'Année Philologique

Description of the Database

L'Année philologique (APh) is the most comprehensive international index to scholarly research in Classical Studies from prehistory to 800 C.E. APh has been published annually as a print index since 1924. Harriet Irving Library holds the print volumes (Call Number PA3001 .A54) from 1924–2002 (1924–1949 HIL-REFAB 1st floor and 1950–2002 HIL-REFBIB Basement).

The online version of APh (purchased and hosted by UNB Libraries) contains references to all materials published from 1924 onward. The database covers a wide variety of subjects including archaeology, ancient history, language, literature, law, philosophy, religion, science, and technology.

Two important points to note when using the online version of APh:

1. References to books/journal articles indexed in APh are often in languages other than English. It is not uncommon for an abstract to be either in French, German, English, Spanish, or Italian. However, even though the abstract may be in a different language, if the title of the book/article is in English, it is fairly safe to assume that the entire work will be in English.
2. There is a two-to-three year delay before references are indexed in the APh database. If more recent references are required, they can be located using other research databases listed under the "Find Articles" tab of the UNB Libraries' Classics Subject Guide (e.g., Arts & Humanities Citation Index, Academic Search Premier, Scopus, or the free TOCS-IN database from the University of Toronto).

How to Access APh

1. Go to UNB Libraries' website at www.lib.unb.ca
2. Click the Article & Research Databases tab
3. Select Année Philologique from the drop down “database title list” and click GO
4. On the description page, click the title Année Philologique to open the database and to begin your search

Searching APh

To search, select from the items on the Search Bar at the top of the page or click Advanced Search. Any one of the criteria on the Search Bar can be incorporated with another to refine your search further.

Full-Text Searching

• The first search box on the purple search bar offers users various options in its drop down menu. For most students, Full Text is the preferred method of searching; however, the term “Full Text” is a little misleading as APh only searches the citations and abstracts in its database, NOT the complete text of articles.
• The middle search box is where you enter your search query (e.g., women athens). Multiple terms can be entered and are processed with a Boolean AND between each term by default.
• The third search box allows you to refine by choosing options from a drop down menu. Options include: Sort by Author, Sort by Title, Sort by Date (oldest first), Sort by Date (newest first), and Sort by Relevance.
• Click the Search button to initiate your search.

Results

After posing your query in APh (e.g., women athens), a screen will appear showing your search, the number of results (92 results) and several additional options.

Results are listed in the order requested; in this case, newest records appear first, as is shown on the screen below:

If you have more than one page of results, click on the page numbers that appear at the top and bottom of the screen to reach additional pages.

Viewing Results

To view the full citation, click on the title and a detailed record like the following example will appear:

Journal titles are often abbreviated in APh. To identify abbreviations in a record, if the journal title is in hypertext, you can “mouse over” the abbreviation and the full journal name will appear (in the example above CQ = Classical Quarterly).

Linking to the Full Text at UNB Libraries

APh has a tab to Check for Full Text. Clicking this link will take you to our UNB Libraries’ Link Resolver which will try to link you directly to the article if it is available from UNB Libraries, as shown in the screen below:

• Please Note: It is possible that our UNB Libraries' Link Resolver may not be able to link you to an article but our libraries do have the journal in question.
• When in doubt, it is always a good idea to check with staff at the Harriet Irving Library Research Help Desk or the Classics Librarian, Leanne Wells, for a fuller explanation about full-text linking in APh.
• During your APh session, to return to your results screen at any time, click Back to Results. Results for all searches are stored under Search History until logout.

Modifying Search

If you wish to obtain more accurate results, click Modify Search and the following screen will appear:

Adding Filters/Limiters

Searches can be combined using the Boolean operators (AND, OR and NOT) used in many other databases. Enter your additional modifications; in the example above, English language is specified. Results should only show English articles (in this case, 79 results instead of the original 92 results).

Place your mouse over the down arrows and discover that additional limiters are offered in the drop down menu as the screen below shows:

Print, Email, or Save Records

Records can be marked and either printed, emailed, or saved (for export to RefWorks). Mark the specific records (as shown below) and then click on either the Print, Email, or Save buttons on your results screen.

Customizing APh

Users can set up their own personal account within APh in order to set individual preferences and save searches. Account registration is available on the front screen of APh.

Need Help?

• APh contains its own user guide. Simply click the User Guide button on the bottom right of each page in the database.
• Contact the Harriet Irving Library Research Help Desk for assistance at: http://www.lib.unb.ca/help/ask.php/.

Document Delivery

APh is a very comprehensive and complex database; it is quite possible that UNB will not have some of the materials that are indexed in APh.

If UNB does not hold the item you need, you can request it online using UNB Libraries’ Document Delivery service at: http://www.lib.unb.ca/requests/docdel/. Please remember that it may take a little time for the materials to arrive.

For additional information or feedback, please contact the Librarian for Classics, Leanne Wells, at lwells@unb.ca.

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Last Update: June 2010