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First, remember that your first draft should
generally focus on the primary source (story/novel itself). Thus, you
should refer to outside sources only after you have figured out for
yourself what you want to say about the literary work.
Quick Hits
Use these books for quick
information on a particular topic or author. Generally, you wouldn't
use these in a research paper – but if you do, you'd need to quote and
cite them.
- The Reader's Companion to World
Literature.
Excellent basic reference book: belongs on every English Major's
bookshelf. Covers American, English, and world literature. Though
dated, it's a great place to get an overview on a literary work,
figure, or concept.
- Bennett's Reader's Encyclopedia
( 803 B465 reference section)
A fine compendium of terms, phrases, authors, and works. Short
(paragraph or two) entries provide you with a quick overview.
- A Handbook to Literature (
803 H236 reference section)
Strictly definitions and terms.
Reference Books
These should be your first choice. The essays
included in these volumes are generally short and to the point –
perfect for the busy undergraduate. These are found in the reference
section, 1 st floor.
- Nineteenth Century Literary Criticism
(NCL on spine of volume)
A great source (111 volumes) for writers from the nineteenth century.
You'll find here excerpts from articles by a variety of critics on a
variety of writers. Use the index in the last volume to find references
to the writer you are looking for.
- Twentieth Century Literary Criticism
(TCLC on the spine of volume) Similar to the above – different century.
- Poetry Criticism (809 P745
reference section, 1 st floor)
- Literature and Its Times.
809 L776 (reference section, 1 st floor)
A great source for historical and cultural backgrounds on a variety of
texts.
- The Reader's Companion to American
History. by Eric Foner. 973.03 R285 1991.
Great source for quick historical background .
Books from the Stacks
- Cultural History of Reading
(028.9 C968R V. 2)
An overview of reading - from bibles to zines' – in America . A fine
source for a general idea of the intellectual and aesthetic history of
America.
- A Norton Critical Edition
of any of the works we've read is a great source. Each of the essays is
considered a separate source. Find these in the library's catalog.
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Online Sources
General web sites (the kind you get when you
conduct an online search via Yahoo, AOL, AltaVista, etc.) are
notoriously unauthoritative. However, there are databases which the
college subscribes to (and pays big bucks for) that collect articles
originally written in paper form and repackaged for the net.
The two sites below are databases containing
articles that you may use in your essay; any other sites must be
approved by me before being used in your essay. Failure to check source
with me will result in a automatic “D.” Oxford Reference Collection
This database contains many volumes – the main
ones for our course include
Encyclopedia
of the Enlightenment
An
Oxford Companion to the Romantic Age
The
Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms
The
Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable
A
Dictionary of Critical Theory
The
Oxford Companion to the Mind
A
Dictionary of Buddhism
A
Dictionary of African Mythology
Gale Literature Resource
Guide
A great site for general research
in literature. It consists of several parts – bibliographical,
critical, etc. – which are accessed by clicking on the tabs.
JSTOR
One of the premier academic
resources. Use this to find rich, scholarly essays on a variety of
topics.
EBSCOhost
Another online database is
EBSCOhost, which you may be familiar with from English 151. You'll have
to prompt the site to access the Academic Search Elite to find literary
articles. While the articles can be a bit dense, this is the place to
go for up to date research.
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