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Professor
Fr. Tom Kass, C.S.V.
Library Liaison
Keith Chevalier
Contents
Introduction
Research Basics
Reference Sources for
Background Information
Find Books/Secondary Sources
Find Journal Articles
Selected Websites
How to Cite Your Sources
Subject Guide
English
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This is a guide to selected sources of information related to modern fiction in the Geisel Library. It is meant as a starting point for your research. For further research assistance, please stop by the Reference Desk in person or pose your question online at Ask a Librarian.
The reference librarians have created a group of webpages named Research Help, and a tutorial called Searchpath, designed to help teach you the basics of library research and to introduce you to Geisel Library. On the Research Help pages, you will find a guide on Research Basics that walks you through the seven steps of doing successful college-level research. Please take advantage of these resources.
Reference books are shelved by call number in the reference stacks near the reference desk. They may not be checked out, but photocopiers are available on the lower level of the Library. A few selected titles are listed below.
Online reference sources can be found in the library catalog or listed on the E-Reference Resources page. Use reference resources to find background information on authors and literary works, as well as the social issues, historical periods, and themes being addressed in this course.
General Resources
Oxford Reference Online
This database enables you to search within many of Oxford's highly-regarded reference works in the fields of literature and history, including the Oxford Companion to African American Literature, Oxford Companion to American Literature, and A Dictionary of Writers and Their Works.
Oxford Encyclopedia of American Literature
This encyclopedia provides in-depth essays on American literature from the 1600s through the present. Author entries provide both biographical information and commentary on works, while other entries revolve around particular literary movements, periods, and themes. The essays address not only literary works but also the historical and social contexts in which they were written.
Oxford Encyclopedia of British Literature
The Encyclopedia provides comprehensive coverage of literature from the Abbey Theatre to Israel Zangwill, covering the entire history of literature in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland in the major literary languages (Anglo-Saxon, English, Welsh, Scots, Irish, and Latin). It includes substantial accounts of individual authors and detailed histories of particular themes, movements, genres, and institutions, whose impact upon the writing or the reading of literature was significant.
Literary Criticism
Contemporary Literary Criticism
Ref PN94.C65
Contains excerpts from critical material found in selected books and periodical articles; use the index in the final volume for best results.
Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism
Ref PN94 .T83
Though this only provides excerpts of critical works, it is a good starting point to discover patterns of thought on authors and movements and criticism on selected works. Use the bibliographies to explore relevant criticism in other publications.
Author Biographies
American Writers: A Collection of Literary Biographies
Ref PS129 .A55
The Oxford Encyclopedia of American Literature (4 vols.)
Ref PS21 .E537
Critical Companion to James Joyce: A Literary Reference to his Life and Work
Ref PR6019.O9 Z533376
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Examples of subject headings to search in the Catalog:
Try searching some of these phrases as Subject Headings in the catalog. This method often finds a higher percentage of books that are directly relevant to a particular topic. If you are researching a particular author or work, try searching the author's name as a Subject to locate biographies and literary criticism.
- Joyce, James
- Baldwin, James, 1924–1987 — Criticism and interpretation
- O'Connor, Flannery — Religion
Examples of keyword searches to use in the Catalog:
- African American authors and criticism
- Religion and literature and southern states
- criticism and text* and joyce, james
Use the * (asterisk) as a truncation symbol to retrieve variant forms of a word root; for example, text* will catch books with the words "text" or "textual" in the catalog record. Use the Boolean AND to combine together multiple concepts, and use the Boolean OR to expand your search with synonyms and related terms.
WorldCat
If you are unable to locate enough materials in the Geisel Library catalog, search the collections of libraries worldwide using WorldCat. This enables you to identify relevant books owned by other colleges and have them delivered to Geisel Library for your use, via our Interlibrary Loan (ILL) service. Try searching on the same keywords and subject headings that you used in the library catalog. If you find a relevant book, click on the title and look for the Request ILL link. Once you submit the request, the book is typically delivered to Geisel Library within 7–8 days.
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Below are several databases that may yield useful journal articles for your research. Some focus on literary criticism while others will provide historical and socio-cultural context for the literature. Try searching on the same keywords that you used in the book catalog. Remember to use Boolean operators and wildcards (the asterisk symbol) to improve your search.
In the results screen, if there is no full-text link readily available, click on the  icon to determine whether the journal is available in the Geisel Library or in full-text via another electronic database. If the article isn't available, consider clicking on the Interlibrary Loan link to request a PDF copy of the article from another library. Articles requested via ILL will be delivered to your email inbox within about a week. To learn how to use WebBridge, please watch our video tutorial (3.5 mins; includes audio).
Core English Research Databases
Literature Resource Center
Find biographical information on authors, as well as bibliographies, plot summaries, and literary criticism of their works. This resource also provides the full text of articles from more than 100 literary journals.
MLA International Bibliography
Produced by the Modern Language Association of America, this electronic index consists of bibliographic records pertaining to literature, language, linguistics, and folklore. (1963–present) User Guide
Academic Search Premier
Gain access to full-text as well as indexing and abstracting for a wide range of journal titles covering business, social sciences, humanities, general science, and education. Includes publications such as: James Joyce Quarterly, Southern Quarterly, and Christianity & Literature.
Arts & Humanities Citation Index
This index provides citations to more than 1,300 arts and humanities journals, which include articles, bibliographies, editorials, letters, and reviews. Note the cited references feature, which may enhance your search. (1980–present)
Additional English Research Databases
JSTOR
JSTOR contains the full text of back issues of major journals in the humanities and social sciences. Use this to find articles in selected scholarly literature journals. You can set limiters, such as selecting the 'Language & Literature check box for journals covering subjects such as African American studies, literary criticism, and twentieth century literature. Coverage is generally from the beginning of publication to within 5 years of the current issue. JSTOR is an archive of back issues of selected journals. User Guide
Project MUSE
"Project MUSE provides online, worldwide, institutional subscription access to the full text of more than 200 scholarly journals in arts and humanities, social sciences, and mathematics." Includes relevant journals in literature research such as the Southern Literary Journal, Criticism, and The Hemingway Review.
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These websites were handpicked for their relevance to your course topic. You may also want to conduct keyword searching on your topics in a search engine such as Google, but be sure to look for indications that the site's information is authoritative, objective and reliable.
Useful websites for individual authors and subjects can be found using the online database, Literature Resource Center. Under the tab "Additional Resources" you will find websites selected by editors of the database.
Flannery O'Connor Criticism
This website lists criticism on Flannery O'Connor and is arranged alphabetically by author. You can also use WorldCat to help locate these titles if our library does not own them.
James Joyce Centre
An interesting source for information on James Joyce and his works. Especially useful for its bibliographies on his publications.
James Joyce Scholars Collection
Created in collaboration with Professor David Hayman, one of the pioneers of Joyce scholarship, this collection includes a broad range of works related to the study of Joyce, and includes books currently out-of-print and Hayman's own highly regarded publications on the subject.
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See the library's How To Cite Your Sources guide for resources on how to properly cite research materials. Always confirm the style required by your instructor.
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