Introduction
This subject guide highlights some key discipline resources to get you started with study and research.
- Refer to the New Students Library Guide for everything you need to know about Library services and resources.
- Build your researching, reading and writing skills with the Research Essentials Library Guide.
- Streamline your access to online resources with the Library's quick access tools.
Korean language learning
Below are some textbooks and reference works to get you started.
For further resources, also check the following subject headings in the Library Catalogue.
- Korean language -- Textbooks for foreign speakers -- English
- Korean language -- Study and teaching -- Foreign speakers
- Korean language -- Dictionaries -- English
Alternatively, you might try the following keywords search in our Library Catalogue:
- Korean AND Grammar
- Korean AND Textbook*
Note: * will pick up variations, eg, textbook, textbooks, which will allow you to search for multiple words in one go.
Textbooks
Dictionaries
Periplus Pocket Korean Dictionary by
It's never a good idea to be overly-relient on technology while traveling! Look up words quickly and easily with this great travel-sized Korean dictionary. Intended for use by tourists, students, and business people traveling to Korea Pocket Korean Dictionary is an essential tool for communication and a great way to learn Korean. It features all the essential Korean vocabulary appropriate for beginning to intermediate students. It's handy pocket format and easy-to read type will make any future trip to Korea much easier. In addition to being an excellent English to Korean dictionary and Korean to English dictionary Pocket Korean Dictionary contains important notes on the Korean language, Korean grammar and Korean pronunciation. All Korean words are written in English as well as Korean script (hangul) so that in the case of difficulties the book can simply be shown to the person the user is trying to communicate with. This dictionary contains: The 11,000 most commonly used words and expressions in the Korean language. English-Korean and Korean-English sections. Hangul and Romanized Korean. An introduction to and history of the Korean language. Designed for English speakers Information on Korean grammar. A guide to pronouncing Korean correctly. Other books from this bestselling series you might enjoy are: Pocket Tagalog Dictionary, Pocket Vietnamese Dictionary, Pocket Mandarin Chinese Dictionary, Pocket Cantonese Dictionary, Pocket Cambodian Dictionary, Pocket Indonesian Dictionary, Pocket Thai Dictionary, and Pocket Malay Dictionary.
ISBN: 9781462918942Publication Date: 2016-08-30
Tuttle Pocket Korean Dictionary by
It's never a good idea to be overly-relient on technology while traveling! Look up words quickly and easily with this great Korean dictionary. Intended for use by tourists, students, and business people travelling to Korea Tuttle Pocket Korean Dictionary is an essential tool for communicating in Korean. It features all the essential Korean vocabulary appropriate for beginning to intermediate students. It's handy pocket format and user-friendly, two color layout will make any future trip to Korea much easier. All entries are written in a Romanized form as well as Korean script (hangul) so that in the case of difficulties the book can simply be shown to the person the user is trying to communicate with. This dictionary includes the following key features: Over 18,000 words and expressions in the Korean language. Korea-English and English-Korean sections Fully updated with recent vocabulary and commonly used South Korean slang. Clear, user friendly layout with headwords in blue. Romanized and Korean Script (hangul) for every entry. Other books from this bestselling series you might enjoy include: Pocket Japanese Dictionary, Pocket Mandarin Chinese Dictionary, and Pocket Cantonese Dictionary.
ISBN: 9781462914449Publication Date: 2015-01-20
Encyclopedias & handbooks
Historical Dictionary of the Republic of Korea by
South Korea (Republic of Korea) is the more successful of the two Koreas in both economic and political terms. Even the Asian economic crisis of 1997-1998, which hit badly, was weathered successfully, and when the next crisis came along in 2007, South Korea coped better than many other countries. This economic strength, taken with the steady progress of democratization since 1987, indicates that when the peninsula is eventually reunified, as one day it probably will be, a new unified Korea will follow the South Korea model rather than that of North Korea This fourth edition of Historical Dictionary of the Republic of Korea contains a chronology, an introduction, appendixes, and an extensive bibliography. The dictionary section has over 700 cross-referenced entries on important personalities as well as aspects of the country's politics, economy, foreign relations, religion, and culture. This book is an excellent resource for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more about the Republic of Korea.
ISBN: 9781538119754Publication Date: 2020-10-13
Routledge Handbook of Modern Korean Literature by
The Routledge Handbook of Modern Korean Literature provides a comprehensive overview of a Korean literary tradition, which is understood as a multifaceted nexus of practices, both homegrown and transnational. The handbook discusses the perspectives from which modern Korean literature has thus far been defined, analyzing which voices have been enunciated, underappreciated, or completely silenced and how we can enrich our understanding of it. Taking up diverse transnational and interdisciplinary standpoints, this volume aims to encourage readers not to treat modern Korean literature as a self-evident category but to examine it anew as an uncultivated and uncharted space, unearthing its internal chasms and global connections. Divided into five parts, the themes covered include the following: Literature and power Borders and boundaries Rationality in literature and its limits Language, ethnicity, and translation Korean literature in the changing mediascape. By introducing new conceptual paradigms to the field of modern Korean literature, this book will appeal to students and scholars of Korean, East Asian, and world literature alike.
ISBN: 9781315622811Publication Date: 2020-03-26
The Koreas: a global studies handbook by
The Koreas delivers border-to-border coverage of North and South Korea, with chapters dedicated to history and geography, social and cultural customs, and economics and politics. It's not hard to understand why Koreans describe their lives as han, which means "living with a great and sustained sorrow." In the 20th century alone, they endured a 35 year Japanese military occupation, one of the most brutal civil wars in history, and decades of occupation by rival superpowers. Yet the story of this hauntingly beautiful, mountainous land is not ultimately one of war and devastation. The Koreas: A Global Studies Handbook tells the story of a warm and generous people who have retained their distinctive language and culture despite repeated foreign occupations, achieved a literacy rate of almost 100 percent, outscored nearly every other nation in science and math, and reshaped their devastated post-war economy into one of the four tigers of Asian economic growth. Analyzes Korea's geography, history, and economic and political development, along with its current social and political problems Offers practical information on culture and etiquette for the first-time visitor
ISBN: 1576072770Publication Date: 2002-04-03
Korea: a Very Short Introduction by
Having spent centuries in the shadows of its neighbours China and Japan, Korea is now the object of considerable interest for radically different reasons - the South as an economic success story and for its vibrant popular culture; the North as the home to one of the world's most repressiveregimes, at once both bizarre and menacing.This Very Short Introduction explores the history, culture, and society of a deeply divided region. Michael Seth considers what it means to be Korean, and analyses how the various peoples of the Korean peninsula became one of the world's most homogeneous nations, before exploring how this nationevolved, in a single lifetime, into today's sharply contrasting societies. He also discusses how Korea fits into the larger narrative of both East Asian and world history, economically, politically, and socially.ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, andenthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.
ISBN: 9780198830771Publication Date: 2020-03-29
The Korean War: an encyclopedia by
First Published in 1996. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.
ISBN: 0824044452Publication Date: 1995-11-01
Books
To find Korean studies related books, either in English language or Korean Language, try a keyword search in the Library Catalogue. English language books are held in Baillieu Library; Korean language books, mainly on the topics of literature and international politics, are held in the General East Asian Collection which is housed in ERC Library.
Before your visit, you can search in the Library Catalogue for the appropriate book and write down the call number which will enable you to quickly locate the book on the shelf.
Tips on searching for Korean language books held in ERC Library
There are three ways to find Korean language books held in ERC Library, you could search in English, Korean scripts, and Korean Romanization.
- Searching in English
For example, if you are looking for Korean literature works written in Korean language, in the Library Catalogue, try a keyword search with Korea* AND (literature OR novel* OR fiction*), and limit your search to East Asian Collections, please see below:
- Searching in Korean scripts
If you know the book title, you could try a title search, see below:
- Searching in Korean Romanization
You could also search with Korean Romanization, see below:
For more information about the Korean Romanization rules, please refer to the McCune-Reischauer Romanization System below:
모음 |
Roman |
자음 |
Initial |
Medial |
Final |
| ㅏ | a | ㄱ | k | k, g (between vowels and after m, n, ng, l), ng (before m, n, l) |
k |
| ㅑ | ya | ㄴ | n | n, l (when preceded or followed by l) |
n |
| ㅓ | ŏ | ㄷ | t | t, d (between vowels and after m, n, ng) |
t |
| ㅕ | yŏ | ㄹ | n | r (between vowels), l (before all other consonants and after n, l), n (after other consonants) |
l |
| ㅗ | o | ㅁ | m | m | m |
| ㅛ | yo | ㅂ | p | b (between vowels and after m, n, ng, l), m (before m, n, l), p (before and after all other consonants) |
p |
| ㅜ | u | ㅅ | s, sh (before wi) |
s, sh (before wi), n (before m, n, l) |
t |
| ㅠ | yu | ㅇ | Not romanized | Not romanized, ng (as syllabic final) |
ng |
| ㅡ | ŭ | ㅈ | ch | j (between vowels, and after m, n, ng) ch (after all other consnants) |
t |
| ㅣ | i | ㅊ | ch’ | ch’ | |
| ㅐ | ae | ㅋ | k’ | k’ | |
| ㅒ | yae | ㅌ | t’ | t’ | |
| ㅔ | e | ㅍ | p’ | p’ | |
| ㅖ | ye | ㅎ | h | h | |
| ㅚ | oe | ㄲ | kk | kk | kk |
| ㅟ | wi | ㄸ | tt | tt | |
| ㅢ | ŭi | ㅃ | pp | pp | |
| ㅘ | wa | ㅆ | ss | ss | |
| ㅙ | wae | ㅉ | tch | tch | |
| ㅝ | wŏ | ||||
| ㅞ | we |
The University of Melbourne Library also has access to the following book database:
- KRpia knowledge reference serviceFull-text collection of Korean classical books. Users may search and retrieve primary sources, oral sources, classical texts, dictionaries, encyclopedias, and general reference works in fields such as Korean history, literature, civilization, medicine, architecture, and natural history. Databases both in Korean translation and in the classical Chinese-language original.
Tips on searching for books in English language held in Baillieu Library
To find English language books for your topic in library Catalogue, use a keyword search. For example:
Korean cinema
Korean War
Confucianism family value
Democratization
Keyword searching often retrieves a large number of results. These four techniques can help you focus your search:
AND
Narrows your search
E.g. Korean AND cinema
OR
Expands your search
E.g. cinema OR film
" "
Searches for an exact phrase
E.g. "Korean War"
*
searches for variant endings
E.g. Confuci* = Confucius, Confucianism, Confucianist
The video below (3:47 mins) explains how you can use these advanced search techniques to quickly find relevant books and ebooks in the catalogue:
Looking for a book we don't have or is not on our shelves?
Inter-Library Loans
University of Melbourne staff and students can request resources through the Library’s Inter-Library Loans service. For more information visit the ILL web page, or you can access the request forms.
A CAVAL card allows you to borrow from other universities and TAFEs. Visit the CAVAL website to find out how to sign up for a CAVAL card.
You can then use the Trove website to see which library has the book you want.
Databases and journals
Use databases to search across many academic resources (including peer-reviewed journals) at the same time.
Refer to the A-Z Ejournals and Databases page for a comprehensive list of available resources.
Korean studies-specific databases:
First of all, try searching in one of these subject-specific databases.
- DBpia Electronic Journals ServiceFull text database including over 1,000 Korean scholarly journals. the journal titles are arranged by 11 subject categories (Business/Economics, Theology, Education, Sociology, Natural Science, Human science, Linguistics, Law/Administration, Artistic and Physical). All journals are available from the first issue of a given title.
- RISS InternationalSearch all data of more than 500 Korean University Libraries + Korean Journal Articles + Korean Theses & Dissertations. Full text only available where accessible via subscribed DBpia database.
Core Arts and Humanities databases:
The selection of multidisciplinary databases below will retrieve results from different subject areas.
- Discovery (EBSCO)Discovery is a major library tool. Discovery combines the information from the library catalogue, the digital repository and many databases into a single database. However, for a comprehensive search it is recommended that you also search individual databases
- Google Scholar(With University of Melbourne authentication) Google Scholar provides a simple way to broadly search for scholarly literature. From one place, you can search across many disciplines and sources: peer-reviewed papers, theses, books, abstracts and articles, from academic publishers, professional societies, preprint repositories, universities and other scholarly organizations.
- JSTORJSTOR is a digital library of thousands of academic journals, books, and primary sources from a wide range academic publishers and university presses. Titles span across disciplines, including core areas such as business & economics, social sciences, education, history, language & literature and science. Current journals are linked and cross-searchable with archival journals and ebooks on JSTOR, helping patrons discover, use, and build upon a constantly expanding range of academic content.
- Oxford JournalsOxford Journals includes current content from all subject areas, the Oxford Journal Archive content going back 140 years and the ‘Oxford Open’ initiative which includes over 100 open access journals.
- Cambridge Core JournalsCambridge University Press currently publishes over 300 peer-reviewed academic journals for the global market. Cambridge Journals Online contain the latest research from a broad sweep of subject areas. From September 2016 titles are available via the Cambridge Core platform alongside Cambridge Books, Histories and Companions.
- ProQuest CentralCovering more than 160 subjects areas, ProQuest Central is the largest aggregated database of periodical content. This award-winning online reference resource features a highly-respected, diversified mix of content including scholarly journals, trade publications, magazines, books, newspapers, reports and videos.
- Bibliography of Asian StudiesBibliography of Asian Studies (BAS) is a comprehensive western-language resource for research on Asia. BAS provides indexing coverage of many important journals, particularly ones published in Asia, which are not indexed anywhere else. It also contains citations to Western-language chapters in edited volumes, conference proceedings, anthologies, Festschriften, and more. BAS covers all subjects (especially in the humanities and the social sciences) pertaining to East, Southeast, and South Asia published worldwide from 1971 to the present.
Newspapers
Theses
Primary sources
Selected Primary Source Databases:
Below is the selected humanities primary source database, you can find more by visiting the A-Z eJournals and Databases website or by clicking the button below.
- Foreign Broadcast Information Service Daily ReportsForeign Broadcast Information Service (FBIS) Daily Reports (1941-1996) consist of translated broadcasts, news agency transmissions, newspapers, periodicals and government statements from nations around the globe. These media sources were monitored in their languages of origin, translated into English and issued by an agency of the U.S. Government. The collection is supplemented by Annexes that were created by the U.S. intelligence community to benefit analysts and policy makers. FBIS Daily Reports from Readex represent a unique resource for the study of foreign affairs, business, law, sociology, political science and more, as they cover all regions of the world.
Click on the button below to browse all online primary source databases the Library subscribes to (it will open in a new tab). You can sort the list by era by choosing a specific time period from the drop down menu labeled 'All Database Types'.
TV & streaming media
Television databases
- EduTV (Informit)EduTV is a Video Streaming service of over 50,000+ broadcast programs from free-to-air and pay TV channels in Australia. Coverage commences with 2006 and includes content across a wide range of learning areas. Free to air content is recorded from the ABC, SBS, NITV, 9, 7, 10, etc. channels. EduTV also includes several programs broadcast on Pay TV such as The History Channel, National Geographic, BBC Knowledge and Discovery channels.
Streaming media
- Kanopy (Kanopy)The Kanopy Streaming Service is the leading supplier of streamed videos to global academic institutions. The service utilises sophisticated platform and delivery technology to offer a new world of online engagement that empowers University of Melbourne Library to stream on demand video at optimal quality to their registered staff and students.
Explore the catalogue of over 20,000 videos from the world’s most prominent filmmakers and production houses. Specially curated collections cover a wide range educational disciplines including literacy, mathematics, history and issues in society. Kanopy also offers a hosting service allowing for DVDs to be uploaded and streamed online provided digital rights is obtained. Kanopy offers a large range of Australian content and videos can be searched using the library catalogue. - Alexander Street VideoAlexander Street Press offers video, audio and text-based resources covering an extensive range of subjects. This site allows users to cross-search the content purchased by the University of Melbourne Library. It features a single, fully integrated platform, offering access to thousands of full-length streaming video titles and audio recordings. Almost every video in the collection is fully transcribed in addition to being indexed for subjects, people, places, release date, language, publisher, and video type. Users can also select to view a single subject collection by using the dropdown menu at the top of the homepage.
Referencing and citing
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