Last revised: July 2007
Author Criticism and Biography
Scope: This guide will lead the beginning researcher to criticism and biographical material on well-known literary authors, primarily British and American. The emphasis is on material that is readily available in the University of Maryland Libraries' print and electronic collections. Additional information can be found in the English and American Literature Research Guide. Email the subject area specialist at thackman@umd.edu or call 301-314-8521 for more information.
Locating Criticism of an Author's Works
STEP 1: Search the Libraries' Catalog for books of criticism on your author by using the following search strategies. Check the tables of contents and indexes at the end of the books for criticism on specific works.
Use the subject beginning with... search option and type in the author's name (last name, first name), as seen below.
Browse the list of subject headings and choose the headings with the subdivision Criticism and Interpretation, as seen below. You can also look for the subdivision Bibliography. A current, annotated bibliography will list many books and articles about the author's specific works.
STEP 2: For references to scholarly journal articles, books, and dissertations, consult the following databases, available via Research Port:
- MLA
International Bibliography
Indexes journals, books, essay collections, proceedings, dissertations, and bibliographies published worldwide since 1926 in the areas of literary criticism, language, linguistics, rhetoric, and folklore of all countries. - Annual Bibliography of English Language & Literature (ABELL)
Index to articles, essays, books, dissertations, and book reviews on language and literature topics. Also includes the full text of articles from over 100 journals. Indexing back to 1920. - Literature Resource Center
Full-text database of author biographies and bibliographies and criticism and reviews of authors' works. Included is material from many of the publisher's print reference publications including, among others, Contemporary Authors and Dictionary of Literary Biography.
STEP 3: For additional criticism, consult the Gale Literary Criticism Series. These sources contain excerpts of criticism from hundreds of magazines, scholarly journals, and books. The Literary Index database serves as an index to the series. Use this database first to identify the volumes and page numbers in the Series which include entries on your author and/or text. Some materials from these series may be available full-text through the Literature Resource Center, above.
- Black Literature Criticism
LOCATION: McKeldin Reference Stacks
CALL NUMBER: PS153.N5B556 - Classical and Medieval Literature Criticism
LOCATION: McKeldin Reference Stacks
CALL NUMBER: PA1.C38 - Contemporary Literary Criticism
LOCATION: McKeldin Reference Stacks
CALL NUMBER: PN94.C6
- Hispanic Literature Criticism
LOCATION: McKeldin Reference Stacks
CALL NUMBER: PQ7081.A1H573 1994 - Literature Criticism from 1400 to 1800
LOCATION: McKeldin Reference Stacks
CALL NUMBER: PN86.L56 - Nineteenth-Century Literature Criticism
LOCATION: McKeldin Reference Stacks
CALL NUMBER: PN761.N5 - Short Story Criticism
LOCATION: McKeldin Reference Stacks
CALL NUMBER: PN3373.S386 - Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism
LOCATION: McKeldin Reference Stacks
CALL NUMBER: PN94.T93
STEP 4: Consult the following bibliographies and handbooks for criticism on specific poems or short stories.
- American and British Poetry: A Guide to the Criticism,
1925-1990
LOCATION: McKeldin Reference Stacks
CALL NUMBER: PS303.A43 1984 Vols. 1-2 - English Romantic Poetry: An Annotated Bibliography
LOCATION: McKeldin Reference Stacks
CALL NUMBER: PR731.A83 1991 - Guide to American Poetry Explication: Colonial and
Nineteenth-Century
LOCATION: McKeldin Reference Stacks
CALL NUMBER: PS201.R86 1989 - Guide to American Poetry Explication: Modern and
Contemporary
LOCATION: McKeldin Reference Stacks
CALL NUMBER: PS221.L45 1989 - Guide to British Poetry Explication
LOCATION: McKeldin Reference Stacks
CALL NUMBER: PR311.M27 Vols. 1, 3-4 - Masterplots II: Poetry series
LOCATION: McKeldin Reference Stacks
CALL NUMBER: PN1110.5.M37 1992 Vol. 1-9 - Nineteenth Century American Poetry: An Annotated
Bibliography
LOCATION: McKeldin Reference Stacks
CALL NUMBER: PS316.J257 1989 - Poetry Explication: A Checklist of Interpretation Since 1925 of British and
American Poems Past and Present
LOCATION: McKeldin Reference Stacks
CALL NUMBER: PR502.K8 - Poetry for Students
LOCATION: McKeldin Reference Stacks
CALL NUMBER: PN1101.P756
- American Short Fiction Criticism and Scholarship, 1959-1977: A
Checklist
LOCATION: McKeldin Reference Stacks
CALL NUMBER: PS374.S5W38 1982 - Twentieth-Century Short Story Explication: Interpretations, 1900-1975, of
Short Fiction Since 1800. 3rd ed.
LOCATION: McKeldin Reference Stacks
CALL NUMBER: Z5917.S5W33 1977 - Twentieth-Century Short Story Explication: Supplement to the Third
Edition
LOCATION: McKeldin Reference Stacks
CALL NUMBER: Z5917.S5W33 Suppl. vols.1-5 - Twentieth-Century Short Story Explication: An Index to the Third Edition and
its Five Supplements, 1961-1991
LOCATION: McKeldin Reference Stacks
CALL NUMBER: Z5917.S5W332 1992 - Twentieth-Century Short Story Explication: New Series
LOCATION: McKeldin Reference Stacks
CALL NUMBER: Z5917.S5W35 1993- . vols. 1- .
Locating Biographical Material on an Author
STEP 1: Search the Libraries' Catalog for full biographies of authors by using the following search strategies.
Use the subject beginning with... search option and type in the author's name (last name, first name), as seen below.
Browse the list of subject headings and choose the headings with the subdivision Biography, as seen below.
You can also use the word/s anywhere search option. Type in the author's name and the word "biography", as seen below.
STEP 2: For additional biographical material, consult the following print and electronic sources:
-
Literature Resource Center
Full-text database of author biographies and bibliographies and criticism and reviews of authors' works. Included is material from many of the publisher's print reference publications including, among others, Contemporary Authors and Dictionary of Literary Biography. - Biography & Genealogy Master Index
More than 13.6 million biographical sketches with an additional 300,000 added during each update. BGMI indexes current, readily available reference sources, as well as the most important retrospective works that cover individuals, both living and deceased, from every field of activity and from all areas of the world. -
Biography Index
Index to biographical information from over 2,700 periodicals and over 1,800 books for subjects from antiquity to the present from all fields and nationalities. Includes items published from 1984 to present. - American National Biography. Oxford University Press, 1999.
LOCATION: McKeldin Reference Stacks
CALL NUMBER: CT213.A68 1999. 24 vols.
"Portraits of more than 17,400 men and women, from all eras and walks of life, whose lives have shaped the nation." - Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
Biographies of more than 50,000 noteworthy people, no longer living, who inhabited or were connected with the British Isles. Portraits included for more than 10,000 entries. - African American Biographical
Database
Biographies of thousands of African Americans, many not to be found in any other reference source. These biographical sketches have been carefully assembled from biographical dictionaries and other sources.
