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Research Guides : Literature and Literary Sources

Suggested Search Terms / Call Numbers Range

LC Class Number : PN45

Literature: SEARCH ALSO UNDER

  • Philology
  • Authors
  • Authorship
  • headings of the type [topic] in literature, e.g. Children in literature, Realism in literature;
  • also headings of the type [language] literature, e.g. Swahili literature;
  • also headings for national literatures, e.g. American literature, Mexican literature;
  • also subdivision Literatures under names of countries, cities, etc.;
  • and subdivision In literature under names of individual persons, families, corporate bodies, countries, cities, etc., and sacred works

SCOPE NOTE
Here are entered works dealing with literature in general, not limited to aesthetics, philosophy, history or any one aspect.

SUBJECT HEADINGS
Refer to The Library of Congress Subject Headings located near the Reference Desk. Some related and narrower subject headings are:

  • authors
  • criticism
  • drama
  • fiction
  • folk literature
  • poetry
  • women and literature
  • young adult literature

KEYWORD SEARCHING:
Keyword searching may be effective when searching for a specific or a combination of authors, works, topics in literature, types of literature, or criticisms. Some examples are:

  • literature and criticism
  • literature and science
  • fiction and american and women
  • drama and english and criticism
  • afro american and women and biography
  • robert and warren and poems
Databases (FS Only)

Use the literary sources below to find books, essays, and articles from literary journals for authors, works, genres, poetry, drama and theater, literary movements, and literature by time period and location.

AHSearch (via FirstSearch)
Arts and Humanities Citation Index.

Humanities Full Text
Select 'Humanties (HUM)' from the pull down menu under 'Subject Area' Some of the subject areas covered include dance, film, folklore, journalism, linguistics, literary & social criticism, literature, and performing arts.

JSTOR
Beginning with volume 1, number 1 of each journal and continuing to a moving wall of 2-5 years ago, of the various collections currently available include:
• Language & Literature Collection: 54 journals,
• Film Studies: 2 journals,
• Folklore: 3 journals, and
• Performing Arts: 4 journals.

Literature Resource Center
Full text from over 133 literary journals. Includes literary terms, literary criticisms, work overviews, bibliographies, literary-historical timelines, and author biographies from:

  • Encyclopedia of Literature
  • Contemporary Authors Online, offering biographical coverage of more than 115,000 writers
  • Contemporary Literary Criticism Select, Dictionary of Literary Biography Online, containing more than 10,000 bio-critical essays on authors and their works written by academic scholars,
  • and other sources

To learn more use The Literature Resource Center Tutorial http://www.galegroup.com/LitRC/tour.htm

LitFinder
Find poems, short stories, and essays.

MagillOnLiterature
Full text critical analyses and plot summaries of literary works.

MLA International Bibliography
This international database provides an index of journal articles, books and dissertations in literature, language and linguistics, folklore, theory and criticism, etc. Through linking to other EBSCO databases, over 350 journals may be accessed full text through MLA.

Gale Virtual Reference Library - Literature

  • American Women Writers
    This source contains biographical and critical essays on 1,328 American women writers covering all genres and all periods of American history.
  • Modern American Literature
    Contains excerpts by noted critics on 489 of the most significant American authors of the twentieth century. Each author entry gathers a variety of critical approaches and shows the evolution of the critical reception of that author's work. The authors discussed exemplify the best American writing in a variety of genres, from poetry to expository essays, and reflect the diversity of the American experience in the twentieth century.
  • Reference Guide to Short Fiction
    Contains biographical and critical essays on 376 of the most important writers of short fiction writing in English worldwide, and 403 separate essays on selected works.
  • Reference Guide to World Literature
    Contains biographical and critical essays on authors from throughout the world, as well as essays covering specific work or works of an author, with criticism and analysis of those works.

To learn more about Gale Virtual Reference Lilbrary use the online tutorial http://www.gale.com/gvrl/tour.htm

Oxford Reference Online Premium

Under Subject Reference select Literature

• The Concise Oxford Companion to African American Literature
• The Concise Oxford Companion to American Literature
• The Oxford Companion to American Literature
• The Concise Oxford Companion to Classical Literature
• The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature
• The Oxford Companion to English Literature
• The Concise Oxford Companion to Irish Literature
• The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms
• A Dictionary of Shakespeare
• The Oxford Companion to Shakespeare
• The Oxford Companion to Twentieth-Century Poetry in English
• A Dictionary of Writers and their Works

Other useful Oxford Reference sources are under English Language Reference

• The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology
• The Oxford Dictionary of English Grammar
• Concise Oxford Companion to the English Language
• A New Dictionary of Eponyms
• The Oxford Essential Dictionary of Foreign Terms in English
• The Oxford Dictionary of Idioms
• The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Linguistics
• The Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs
• The Oxford Dictionary of American Usage and Style
• Pocket Fowler's Modern English Usage

Electronic Books (FS Only)

Google – Electronic Text Archives
[ http://directory.google.com/Top/Arts/Literature/Electronic_Text_Archives/ ]
Large directory of web sites providing online access to electronic text including classics, fiction and nonfiction, poetry, reference works, and more.. The required readings for a class, including works from anthologies, may be available online in electronic form. Most of the sites are free.

Reference

The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature / edited by Margaret Drabble and Jenny Stringer.
[ Available in Oxford Reference Online Premium - FS Only ]

A Dictionary of Writers and Their Works
[ Available in Oxford Reference Online Premium - FS Only ]

The Oxford Companion to English literature
[ Available in Oxford Reference Online Premium - FS Only ]

The concise Oxford companion to African American literature / editors, William L. Andrews, Frances Smith Foster, Trudier Harris
[ Available in Oxford Reference Online Premium - FS Only ]

Reader's Guide to Literature in English
[ Available in netLibrary - FS Only ]

American Women Writers : a critical reference guide : from colonial times to the present / editor, Taryn Benbow-Pfalzgraf.
[ Available in Gale Virtual Reference Library - FS Only ]

Modern American Literature / Joann Cerrito and Laurie DiMauro, Editors
[ Available in Gale Virtual Reference Library - FS Only ]

The Oxford companion to American literature / James D. Hart ; with revisions and additions by Phillip W. Leininger.
[ Available in Oxford Reference Online Premium - FS Only ]

Reference Guide to World Literature / editors, Sara Pendergast, Tom Pendergast.
[ Available in Gale Virtual Reference Library - FS Only ]

The Concise Oxford companion to classical literature / edited by M.C. Howatson and Ian Chilvers.
[ Available in Oxford Reference Online Premium - FS Only ]

Web Sites - General

Librarian's Index to the Internet – Literature and Books
[ http://lii.org/search/file/literature ]

Literary Resources on the Net
[ http://www.andromeda.rutgers.edu/~jlynch/Lit/ ]

Academic Info - Comparative Literature Gateway
[ http://www.academicinfo.net/complit.html ]

Literary Criticism; critical analysis of authors and their works

To find critical analysis published in books search the library catalog. You can use keywords [(author’s name or words in the title) and criticism]. For example, to find a critical analysis of Maya Angelou’s A Heart of a Woman you could search using the keywords [angelou and woman and criticism]. With this search you will find Maya Angelou: a Critical Companion by Mary Jane Lupton.

Another way to find criticisms of an author’s works in a book is to use the library catalog and search using ‘Subject Browse’
1. Click the ‘Browse’ button
2. Select ‘Subject Browse’ from the pull down menu
3. Type the author’s last name. For example ‘tolkien’ for J. R. R. Tolkien.
4. Look for the subdivision criticism and interpretation

When using the library catalog refer to The Library of Congress Subject Headings kept at the Reference Desk. Use the subdivision criticism and interpretation under literary, music, and film form headings, e.g. english literature—criticism and interpretation. Use the subdivision criticism and interpretation under the names of persons active in literature, e.g. morrison toni—criticism and interpretation.

To find criticisms in a literary journal try one of the databases listed above such as MLA International Bibliography or JSTOR. Be sure to read the help pages for instructions and tips on how to search.

More literary criticisms can be found in Literature Resource Center. All are full text.

Authors : Biographies

To find biographical information about authors published in books search the library catalog.
You can search using “Subject Browse”
1. Click the ‘Browse’ button
2. Select ‘Subject Browse’ from the pull down menu
3. Type the author’s last name. For example ‘poe’ for Edgar Allen Poe
4. Look for the subdivision ‘Biogaphy’

More biographical information about authors can be found in Literature Resource Center. All full text.

More biographical information may be found using other biographical databases. http://www.fscwv.edu/library/findit/subject.shtml#bio

Author Websites

Google – Authors
[ http://directory.google.com/Top/Arts/Literature/Authors/ ]

Yahoo – Authors
[ http://dir.yahoo.com/arts/humanities/literature/authors/ ]

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Last Modified: 3/22/2005