LITERARY CRITICISM RESEARCH October 26, 2009
Posted by Ms. Klemundt in Help with Assignments.trackback
Here are some suggestions for students in American Lit, World Lit, and Brit Lit who are beginning their literary criticism research papers. Don’t hesitate to stop by the library if you need more help finding resources.
BACKGROUND READING
Background reading on your author can provide information on the author’s life, the publishing history of the book, literary terms associated with the author and his/her works (genre, literary movements, themes, style, etc.) and any adaptations of the work. Use Britannica Online (http://www.school.eb.com) or a print encyclopedia (find them in the Res Library at REF 031). If you use a print encyclopedia, look up your author in the index volume. That way you’ll find all of the references to your author in the entire set and you will have a greater understanding of their writing and their significance. If you use an online encyclopedia, read all of the entries that come up in the Results list, not just the first one.
Check if there is an entry for your author in American Writers (REF 810.9 AME) or British Writers (REF 820.9 BRI). These entries are a terrific introduction to your author so although they might be quite long, they are well worth the effort. If you print out the information on your novel or play from the Gale Literary Index (http://www.galenet.com/servlet/LitIndex) , you will know exactly which volume to check.
REFERENCE BOOKS
There are several series of reference books you can consult, either in the Res Library or at your local public library. The printout from the Gale Literary Index (http://www.galenet.com/servlet/LitIndex) will come in handy here once again, especially to find critical essays in Contemporary Literary Criticism, Nineteenth Century Literature Criticism, and Twentieth Century Literary Criticism.
- American Writers (REF 810.9 AME)
- British Writers (REF 820.9)
- Literature and Its Times (REF 809.93 LIT)
- World Literature and Its Times series (REF 809 MOS)
- Contemporary Literary Criticism (REF 809.3 CON)
- Twentieth Century Literary Criticism (REF 809.3 TWE)
- Great World Writers : Twentieth Century (REF 809.04 GRE)
- Dictionary of Literary Biography
- Nineteenth Century Literature Criticism
Browse the 800s in the Reference section for other possible sources. Your public library has many more sets and series that will be useful, so don’t neglect a trip there.
CIRCULATING BOOKS
Depending on your author and title, you may find entire volumes of literary criticism devoted to that work. Or you may find books about your author containing a chapter or two about the particular work you are researching. The Subject Heading format for finding literary criticism about an author or about a particular work is as follows:
[author's last name, author's first name] — Criticism and interpretation
[author's last name author's first name]. [title of the work] — Criticism and interpretation
Use the Res Library catalog or your local public library catalog to search for books of literary criticism by selecting the Browse feature and entering a Subject search for the author’s name (last name, first name). The Browse features lists all of the Subject headings in a row and you can scroll down the list to see if there are Subject headings that match the formats shown above. Then click on that Subject heading to get the list of books. It sounds complicated but it’s really a quick way to find critical essays. If you need a demonstration, stop by the library. Here are the web addresses for some of the local public libraries:
- Chicago Public Library (http://www.chipublib.org)
- Niles Public Library (http://www.nileslibrary.org)
- Park Ridge Public Library (http://www.parkridgelibrary.org)
There are several series of books of literary criticism, either about all of the author’s works, or about a single work. There are even some books that focus on a specific literary character. Search for books edited by Harold Bloom or for books in the Twayne’s series, e.g. Twayne’s United States Authors, Twayne’s English Authors, Twayne’s World Authors, etc.
RES LIBRARY DATABASES
The Res Library subscribes to a number of databases and two of them will be of particular use to you in this research project. If you don’t have the usernames and passwords for these databases, stop by the library and pick up a blue sheet. We’d be happy to give you a little demonstration if you’re having trouble using either one of these databases.
- Gale Literature Resource Center (http://infotrac.galegroup.com/itweb/reshs) contains biographical materials, literary criticism, and other material. At the Basic search screen, enter the title of the book you are researching and click the radio button for Name of Work, then click the Search button. The Topic & Work Overviews and Literature Criticism tabs will be the most helpful to you. Look at the right side of the Results list for more information to help you decide whether or not you want to look at the article. The Reviews & News tab can lead you to reviews of books of literary criticism about the author or the work. Then you can decide if it’s worthwhile to try and find that book.
- FirstSearch (http://firstsearch.oclc.org) is really a number of databases under one umbrella. You can search up to 3 databases at one time. For literary criticism, your best bets are WilsonSelectPlus, ECO, and ArticleFirst. Once you login, click on the List All Databases link. To select a database to search, click in the checkbox to the left of the database name. Once you have selected your databases, click the Select button. Click on the Advanced Search link; this will give you more control of your search and better results. In the first search box, put in the name of your author (last name, first name). From the drop-down menu to the right, select Subject because you want articles about your author, not articles written by that person. In the second search box, enter the title of the work you are researching and put the title in quotation marks. This will help narrow your search to articles that at least mention the particular book or play you are researching. You will (hopefully) get a list of “hits.” Click on the title of an article to get more information about that article; most article citations have at least an abstract or summary to help you get an idea of what the full article is about. Some articles have a link for View Full Text in HTML format and/or View Full Text in PDF format. You can click on those links and get the full text of the article. If you have an option, choose PDF. Some articles in your Results list will only have a link that says See more details for locating this item. If you think the article will be useful to you, print out the citation and bring it to the library and we will request a copy of the article from another library.
This is just a basic introduction to these two databases. If your class doesn’t come to the library for an introduction to finding critical essays, stop by the library on your own for some help. We are open from 7:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. on most days. And don’t forget to use the databases available through your local public library.
CITING YOUR SOURCES
Your Writing Stylus will help you follow the MLA format in citing your sources and creating your bibliography. The library has the latest edition of the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers (REF 808 GIB). In addition, here are two websites that can help:
- Online Writing Lab (OWL) at Purdue University is an excellent resource to consult (http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/557/01/)
- Oregon School Library Information System provides a nice set of examples of MLA citations in a PDF document (http://old.oslis.org/docs/MLAcitexamprtnprt8-07.pdf).
SOME TIPS FOR RESEARCH
- Collect the information for your bibliography as you go. It takes so much more time to backtrack and figure out where the notes or printout or article came from than to write down the citation information you need right from the start.
- Use bibliographies in books, articles, and websites to help you find more resources. Even if a book wasn’t helpful, check the bibliography or Works Cited or Further Reading pages.
- Research takes time — lots of time! Don’t procrastinate.
This is a big project so make sure you stop by the library throughout your research and writing process and let us know how we can help.
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