ENGL 301: Critical Methods in the Study of Literature
Professor Christina Walter, Fall 2009
Web page created by Timothy Hackman, UM Libraries
This guide will assist you in locating resources for English 301. E-mail Tim Hackman, the subject area specialist, or call 301-314-8521 for more information.
For a complete list of electronic resources available to University of Maryland faculty, staff, and students, as well as information about the full range of library materials and services, consult Research Port and the UM Libraries' home page.
Contents
Literary Handbooks, Dictionaries and Encyclopedias
Biographies
Book Reviews
Literary Criticism: Books and Journal Articles
Background Research: Primary Documents
Web Sites
Interlibrary Loan
Preparing Your Bibliography
Questions?
Literary Handbooks, Dictionaries and Encyclopedias
Reference sources such as handbooks, dictionaries and encyclopedias are a great way to get started with your research. They provide concise background information on a topic and can help you identify keywords to use as search terms. Often they will also include bibliographies that will lead you to additional sources.
Oxford English Dictionary
Comprehensive dictionary of the English language. Traces the development of English words from approximately 1150 AD up to the present day.
The Johns Hopkins Guide to Literary Theory & Criticism
McKeldin Reference PN81.J55 1994
Dictionary of Concepts in Literary Criticism and
Theory
McKeldin Reference PN41.H36 1992
A Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Theory
McKeldin Reference PN41.C83 1998
Encyclopedia of Contemporary Literary Theory:
Approaches, Scholars, Terms
McKeldin Reference PN81.E43 1993
Encyclopedia of Literary Critics and Criticism
McKeldin Reference PN86.E53 1999 2 volumes
A Glossary of Contemporary Literary Theory, 4th ed.
McKeldin Reference PN44.5.H37 2000
A
Glossary of Rhetorical Terms
A Handbook to Literature, 10th ed.
McKeldin Reference PN41.H355 2006
Books
To locate books by and about an author use the word/s anywhere search option and type in the author's name. This type of search works well for authors for which there is not much material available: EX: euripides.
To locate books by an author use the author beginning with... search option and type in the author's last name, first name: EX: james, henry.
To locate books of criticism on an author use the subject word/s anywhere or the word/s anywhere search option and type in the author's and the word "criticism": EX: henry james criticism.
For information about authors for which there is a large body of critical work, try the subject beginning with search option and type in the author's last name, first name: EX: james, henry. Browse the list of subject headings and select relevant categories. For example:
When using the databases below, be sure to follow the If the database does not have the
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Biographies
LION (Literature Online)
In addition to its collection of full-text drama, fiction and poetry, LION also includes biographies for nearly 2,000 of the most-studied authors.
Literature
Resource Center
Full-text database of author biographies, criticism and reviews of authors' works.
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.
Catalog
Find book-length biographies available in the UM libraries
Use the Subject Word/s search option or the Word/s anywhere search option and type in the author's name and the word "biography": EX: henry james biography.
Book Reviews
Book Review Index
Indexes reviews of books and electronic media appearing in popular and academic periodicals from 1965 to the present.
Annual Bibliography of English Language & Literature
ABELL includes book reviews in addition to literary criticism and other sources. To limit your search to reviews, use the option for "Limit to" and check the box next to "Reviews."
Humanities International Complete
Provides full text of hundreds of journals, books and other published sources from around the world in all aspects of the humanities.
If you are having trouble locating reviews for your work, consult the Book Reviews Guide for more possible sources.
Literary Criticism: Books and Journal Articles
Catalog
Resources available in the University System of Maryland Libraries
James, Henry, 1843-1916 -- Aesthetics
James, Henry, 1843-1916 -- Bibliography
James, Henry, 1843-1916 -- Biography
James, Henry, 1843-1916 -- Characters
James, Henry, 1843-1916 -- Criticism and Interpretation WorldCat
This huge catalog will lead you to resources available in major libraries around the world. Books not owned by UM can be requested via Interlibrary Loan.
link. This will direct you to the available full text, the catalog, or Interlibrary Loan if full text is not available and if the Libraries do not subscribe to the journal or needed volume and issue.
link go to the Journals subset of the Catalog and search for the title of the journal. If you are able to locate an entry for the journal, use the link to determine if an electronic, paper, or microform version of it is available. If the Libraries do not own the journal or the specific volume and issue you need, you can request it through Interlibrary
Loan
MLA International
Bibliography
Information on articles, books, essays, and dissertations on language and literature topics published from 1963 to the present. Note that MLA does not include book reviews.
Annual Bibliography of English Language and Literature (ABELL Plus)
Information about articles, essays, books, dissertations, and book reviews on language and literature topics from 1920 to the present
Literature
Resource Center
Full-text database of author biographies, criticism and reviews of authors' works.
Literary Index
Indexes the Gale Literary Criticism Series. This series contains excerpts of important criticism from hundreds of magazines, scholarly journals, and books. The database will identify the titles, volumes, and page numbers within the series that include entries on your author and/or text. Much of the material in this series can also be found in Literature
Resource Center.
Electronic Journal Collections: JSTOR and Project Muse
are collections of electronic journals, not databases. You can search them for full-text articles on your topic but your results may not represent all (or even the best) of the available scholarship. Search the MLA International Bibliography and ABELL instead, and use the links to connect to the full-text articles wherever they are available.Background Research: Primary Documents
To find primary materials, begin with the guide to Research Using Primary Sources, created by the UM Libraries Special Collections. You can also consult the Web Guide to Primary Sources in Microform Collections or one of the following databases:
19th Century Masterfile
19th Century Masterfile is the largest resource for pre-1925 studies online, with more than 60 indexes to periodicals, books, newspapers, patents and US/UK Government Documents.
American Periodicals Series
Full text images of over 1,100 colonial and early American magazines and periodicals spanning from colonial times to the mid 20th century. Titles range from America's first scientific journal, Medical Repository, to popular magazines like Vanity Fair and Ladies' Home Journal.
Early English Books Online (EEBO)
Database of most imprints (books, pamphlets, and broadsides) published in English anywhere or published in any language in English-speaking countries, appearing from 1473 to 1700. One can search the full ASCII text of *selected* documents and view both the text and the corresponding original page images.
Eighteenth Century Collections Online: History & Geography Subset
One of seven subsets of the Eighteenth Century Collections Online, a digital archive, which when completed will comprise more than 150,000 multi-disciplinary works published in the United Kingdom and the Americas between 1701 and 1800. The History & Geography subset includes a vast amount of primary source materials including biographies, memoirs, genealogical collections, gazetteers, chronologies, military information, maps, church documents and more. The database allows for full-text searching of these publications.
LION (Literature Online)
A full text collection of over 350,000 works of poetry, drama, and prose written in the English language from the 8th century to the present with complementary criticism and reference resources.
Baltimore Sun Historical
Includes complete issues of The Baltimore Sun, cover to cover from 1837 to 1985. Search by keyword, more than 20 article types, date ranges, specific dates, author, and more. View news articles, photos, advertisements, classified ads, obituaries, cartoons, and more for added context.
New York Times Historical
The New York Times Historical (1851-2001) offers full page and article images with searchable full text back to the first issue. The collection includes digital reproductions providing access to every page from every available issue.
Washington Post Historical
The Washington Post (1877-1988) offers full page and article images with searchable full text back to the first issue. The collection includes digital reproductions providing access to every page from every available issue.
Web Sites
Evaluating Web Sites
American Authors on the Web
[http://lang.nagoya-u.ac.jp/~matsuoka/AmeLit.html]
This site links to hundreds of Internet sites on American authors and is arranged chronologically
by author's birth date.
English Literature on the Web
[http://lang.nagoya-u.ac.jp/~matsuoka/EngLit.html]
This site links to hundreds of Internet sites related to English literature and is arranged by literary
time period, from medieval times through the 20th century.
The eserver.org [http://eserver.org/]
This site links to Internet resources in the humanities, including many full text documents, in the following areas: art, architecture, drama, fiction, poetry, cultural theory, feminism, film &
television, gender & sexuality, history, music, and philosophy.
Intute: Arts and Humanities [http://www.intute.ac.uk/artsandhumanities/]
An extensive catalog of online humanities resources for education and research, selected and evaluated by a network of subject specialists.
Literary Resources on the Net
[http://andromeda.rutgers.edu/~jlynch/Lit]
Links to sites dealing with literature. The following areas are covered: classical & biblical, medieval, renaissance, restoration & eighteenth century, romantic, Victorian British, 20th-century British & Irish, American, and other national literatures, theater and drama, and literary theory.
The Voice of the Shuttle
[http://vos.ucsb.edu]
This page links to Web sites in the humanities including American Studies, cultural studies, history, literature, literary theory, linguistics, media studies, and more.
Interlibrary Loan
Material not held in our libraries can be requested through Interlibrary Loan.
Preparing Your Bibliography
Academic Integrity and Plagiarism
Resources for students on academic integrity and plagiarism.
How to Prepare an Annotated Bibliography
Citing Sources Using the MLA Handbook
A Guide for Writing Research papers based on Modern Language Association (MLA) Documentation
Using MLA Style to Cite and Document Sources
MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers.
Location: McKeldin Quick Reference Shelf
Call Number: PN147.G53 2003
Questions and Feedback
If you have any questions about these or other library resources,
contact Patricia Herron or Tim Hackman.
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