Research in Literature

Suggested Databases:

MLA international Bibliography

Gale Group Literary Index

JSTOR

ProjectMUSE

Twayne Author Series-Twayne World, English and US Authors

Finding Books:

Check our catalog, ConnectNY and WorldCat for books.

In our catalog and in ConnectNY always search an author’s name as an author (last name first), as a subject heading (again, last name first) and as a keyword. A keyword search is important in our [catalog and in ConnectNY because keywords search across the entire book description, including the contents and notes information. For some writers, there may not be a whole books devoted to their works, but there might be an essay in a book that is about a larger idea or movement or group. So the author’s name might appear in the Contents or Notes section, and nowhere else in the description.

When searching for information about a particular work, search the title of that work as subject heading and as a keyword.

WorldCat is a catalog of thousands of library catalogs, including all the major research libraries and many, many specialty libraries. Repeat the searches you performed in our catalog and ConnectNY. If you find a book you want to read, come to the Reference Desk and talk to the librarian about an Interlibrary Loan.

Finding Journal Articles:

The MLA International Bibliography, is just about one-stop shopping for journal articles and essays in literary criticism. Use the Advanced Search, and search on the author’s name or the title of the work as a subject or a descriptor. If you get too many hits, try adding a keyword (maybe the title of a specific work if you're searching an author's name or a particular aspect of the work) that might narrow your subject down. If there is full-text available through EBSCO, the vendor who hosts the MLA Bibliography, JSTOR or ProjectMUSE, you'll see links at the bottom of the citation. If there are no links, click on the link to our A-Z list to see if we subscribe to that particular journal. If the journal is not in our A-Z Journal List, see the librarian at the Reference Desk about an Interlibrary Loan.

JSTOR and ProjectMUSE are excellent sources for full-text articles in Literature. In JSTOR, use Advanced Search and make sure that you enclose the title of the work in quotation marks ("bleak house") and limit your search to the Language & Literature subset of journals. In ProjectMUSE, you can use the subjects headings you found while searching for books.

To get an overview of the criticism about a work or author, try the Gale "Brown Books" -- collections of excerpts of significant literary criticism, organized by time period, author and work. These are the Brown Books series that we subscribe to:

Classical and Medieval Literature Criticism, PN610 .C53

Literature Criticism from 1400 to 1800, PN86 .L53

Shakespearean Criticism, PR2965 .S44

Nineteenth-Century Literature Criticism, PN761 .N56

Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism, PN771 .B69

Contemporary Literary Criticism, PN771 .C59

They are located in the Reference Section of the library on the first floor of Kellogg and they're very easy to find -- just walk past the shelves until you see large sections of cocoa colored books.

To search their contents, go to their online index Gale Group Literary Index. Search on the author or title to get the series title, volumes and pages of criticsm about a specific work.