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English 112
Brown Library has a number of
resources for literary criticism. Some of them, such as reserves
and circulating books, are available on the top floor. Other
resources, such as databases and reference books, are available
on the main floor.
Library Handbook
The library handbook for English 112 is modeled after the
library handbook for English 111. There is a chapter for each
database. Some of the databases will be familiar to you and some
will be new.
Online Presentation
The following links take you to a
video presentation done in nine parts. This presentation was
done for Ann Moser's English 112 class. Please be aware that
this presentation is out of date. Several of the databases have
new screen designs. In addition, the library web pages have been
reorganized and the screens have changed as a result. These
presentations will be updated as time allows.
If you have trouble viewing the
video, you may choose instead to watch a still Power Point
presentation. Please be patient.
This video has several images and may take a few minutes to
load.
Reserves
We have a selected number of critical essays and books on
various authors, such as Fitzgerald and Morrison available
upstairs at the circulation desk. Please click here for a
complete list. Search
reserve lists by class, subject or teacher.
Books
Criticism
- To find critical books about an author and his works, use
the book catalog available on the
library home page.
Use the browse alphabetical search on the bottom half of the
screen. Choose search type, subject. Type in the author's name
in this format: Morrison, Toni. To find results, you must
search by the author's name, not the title of the book.
Once you do that you will come to a screen that shows the
author's name repeated several times. Look for the author's
name, plus the words criticism and interpretation. Like this: Morrison, Toni - Criticism and interpretation. Click there
and browse through the results. Remember to keep an open mind.
Not all of the book titles that you will see will mention the
specific novel or story that you are interested in. Many times a
book will have a collection of different articles; some of them
about your particular novel or story and some of them about
other novels or stories that the author has written. Go to the
shelf and browse through them to see what is included.
Historical Context -
Periodicals
This is a
list of periodical titles in
literature. Some of these are
available in Brown Library and some are available in the
electronic databases.
Databases
The library databases include information found in
periodicals such as newspapers, journals and magazines. Using a
database to find these resources is exactly the same as using a
hard-copy source. If your teacher says you can't use an
electronic source, what she usually means is that you can't use
something from the Internet. The best databases for finding
literary criticism are:
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Gale Databases - This group of databases includes abstracts, citations, and
full-text articles from newspapers, magazines and journals.
Focus is on a wide variety of topics and sources, but does
include many literary topics and sources.
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EBSCO
- This is the place to start for general research. This group of databases
includes: Academic Search Complete, Business Source Complete,
Computers & Applied Sciences Complete, CINAHL, PsycARTCLES,
ERIC, and more. Articles may be full-text, abstracts, or citations.
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Gale:
Literature Resource
Center - Includes biographies and literary criticism from
both reference books and periodical articles. There is a
literary timeline and the Encyclopedia of Literature.
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Gale: MLA International Bibliography - Covers citations to
journal articles, books, and dissertations from 1963 to the
present in fields such as language, literature, folklore,
linguistics, and the dramatic arts. These articles are not
full-text, but you can check our
periodicals holdings to
see if we have them in hard copy. If we do not own the item you
need we may be able to order it for you through
interlibrary loan.
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JSTOR - Full-text database covering older journals in a wide variety of fields,
including literature. Includes titles
such as American Literature, Modern Language Notes
and 19th Century Literature.
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Project Muse - Full-text database covering current journals in a wide variety of fields,
including literature.
Reference Books
The library has a huge collection of reference books for
literary criticism. These are located on the main floor near the
reference office in the PN section. Here is a list of
some of the most commonly used titles. Many of these are
multi-volume sets. Usually the last volume contains an index.
This could be either an author index or a title index or both.
Use the index to figure out which volume contains the
information you need.
General Criticism and
Biography
- Dictionary of Literary Biography -
PN466 .D52
- A 200+ volume biographical series. Use the last cumulative
index volume to find the volume including your author.
- Literary Movements for
Students - PN597 .L58 - Research literary movements such
as realism, renaissance, romanticism, modernism, naturalism,
and surrealism.
- Nineteenth Century Literary Criticism -
PN761 .N5
- Authors who died between 1800 and 1899.
- The Oxford Encyclopedia
of American Literature PS21 .E537 - Includes major
American authors as well as literary genres.
- Contemporary Literary Criticism -
PN771 .C6 - Authors now living or who died after December 31, 1999.
- Twentieth Century Literary Criticism -
PN771 .T73
- Authors who died between 1900 and 1999.
Novel
- Survey of Contemporary Literature -
PN44 .M34
- Novels for Students -
PN3385 .N68
- Critical Survey of Long Fiction -
PN3451 .C7
Short Story
- Critical Survey of Short Fiction -
PN3321 .C7
- Short Story Writers -
PN3373 .S398
- Short Stories for Students -
PN3373 .S56
Poetry
- Poetry Criticism -
PN1035 .P635
- Poetry for Students -
PN1101 .P64
- Critical Survey of Poetry -
PN1111 .C7 1992
Historical Context
Look up a year, find out what happened.
Web Sites for Literary Periods
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