Sorry your browser is not supported!

Agh! This is annoying me, I am trying to research the languages of ancient Mesopotamia in relation to their literature too etc. based on some university work. The internet seems to have a lot of the answers...but that's the problem the maximum use of internet resources I'm allowed is 30% of all research.

So I started looking for general books on Mesopotamia and Mesopotamian/Cuneiform writing (Semurian, Akkadian, Babylonian etc.) in the library, nothing, closest thing I could find was an English rendering on the Epic of Gilgamesh (great, but it's not even a translation) and the closest thing to the civilisation of Mesopotamia was the architecture of Babylon...I looked over the book shops...nothing - they had plenty on Mongolia, Egypt, Rome and Greece, but not even a mention of Ancient Mesopotamia and well by then it was annoying.

Good news though, Waterstones have ordered me in a translation of the Epic of Gilgamesh rather than a rendition.

More good news, my language text book contains a couple of pages on ancient writing including the Mesopotamians, Egyptians and Greeks. But a couple isn't enough - it just talks about types of writing and a couple of examples from Cuneiform and Egyptian.

But when researching things like this - what do people usually do, I mean for A Level it was no problem, they didn't care if what I got was from the internet or from a book (plus A Level research was easier anyway). So what kind of things do any of you guys do when looking for a specific piece of information and research, I mean it seems I am having trouble...I mean for goodness sakes there must be a blooming book around in the library or somewhere with information on the Mesopotamians and their range of writing!

Oh and by the way I did check Amazon , but what I found on there didn't seem to signify if it has exactly what I need as it wasn't all that clear. So perhaps if anyone knows of any great websites where I can find about books relating to something as specific as this or ways to see if the amazon books are worth buying and perhaps some blooming research techniques.

Cheers dudes - sorry for the rant included within the question, I'm sure it could have been much shorter.

Go to a copyright library. Think there are 2 in the UK. One was where I went to Uni (Aberystwyth). Think they are supposed to have every english language book published every year or somesuch, and some real old documents. Annoyingly to get in you need to be like at least a PHD student or a 3rd year with a fantastic project. Oh, and references from doctors, MPs, anyone important etc. Think you then get in only with a pencil and paper with a clear baggie. I really love libraries, but not that much...

Cheers

Does your Uni have access to Journal articles, etc?
You may be able to find some information in those databases, none of which is counted as 'internet' source, since they're all published articles (and referenced as such) that were later digitized.

Most (in some cases all) of my research comes from journal articles, but then again, we have no limit on types of research, and my course is about making games, not doing research, so... yeah

[EDIT]
Or, I just came across WorldCat
[/EDIT]

Oh yeah, failing all that, then try asking the library for Microfiche. You know those little machines that browse a load of little slides like in all those cop shows. Our place had quite a few.

Cheers

Brilliant idea Dazzag! Unfortunately I'm a fresher doing a BA... Well, perhaps if John Major remembers me I can convince him to try and pull some strings...Or perhaps plan B, which is a more likely story.

Anyway, some good ideas there, I'm going to head down the library tomorrow with those in mind (it would help if our class did a library tour like everybody else (to know what the facilities are and how to use them))

Also, I'm checking out world cat now.