The purpose of this guide is to familiarize you with finding at least one scholarly source for your textual analysis for "West of Jesus" by Kotler. Additional help is provided for your next text, "Bless Me Ultima" as well.

	Getting Started
	Books
	Articles
	Searching the Internet
	Citing Your Sources
	Need More?

Getting Started

When you begin your research on the arguments in "West of Jesus" you will discover little scholarly analysis of the text, but there is a great deal of scholarly work on themes in the work, such as hero quest, disease as a life-changing event, etc.  

In order to write a textual analysis of a work, it is helpful to see what other critical commentary has been published on that work. These writings can be found in literary analysis and literature criticism or critiques. The labels may be different, but the intent of the work will be similar--that is to review and discuss the novel you are researching for intent, writing style, symbolism and more. You might be tempted to use book reviews, but avoid these as they are simply summaries of the book (frequently written by the book's publisher or non-scholar) and will not be of use in your research paper.

You need to find one or two scholarly articles to provide support for your argument. That means it is not a popular press or emotion-based piece, for help on what is a scholarly source, click here. Scholarly topics will support scholarly research, so here are some ideas for topics in 'West of Jesus'.

Books

To find books, either do KEYWORD searches using terms from your class readings and notes, TITLE searches for specific works, or SUBJECT searches for your author or the topic you are addressing. Some possible subjects:

• Surfing
• Chronic Diseases -- Psychological Aspects
• Chronic Diseases -- Social Aspects
• Myth In Literature
• Sports -- Social Aspects

Finding Books

	CSUSM Library Catalog Do a KEYWORD search on the topic by typing the word or phrase in the search box. Since keywords can have multiple definitions and therefore, uses, once you locate a useful title, examine the SUBJECTS for precise 'labels' to identify your topic. While looking at each item, note authors who are writing on your topic and the call number for browsing the stacks. Check to see that they have bibliographies (listing of the research sources used) to substantiate the book's claims. A scholarly publisher is helpful also! TIP: When looking for books ABOUT an author, such as analysis or criticism of their works, you will do a SUBJECT search using the lastname, firstname format (e.g., Anaya, Rudolfo). Subject headings may include sub-categories such as the author's chosen genre or treatments such as criticism.
	Example of Catalog Screen
	San Diego Circuit This is a catalog of materials from San Diego County universities including CSUSM. If you need to find more material on a topic or a copy of a CSUSM book that is checked out, search to the Circuit collection by clicking on the CIRCUIT button towards the top of the screen. When you find an item you want, request the item through the "request this item" link and pick it up at CSUSM.

Journal Articles

Journals are a good source for finding very detailed information on your topic. To find articles, you need to start with a research database and preferably one that indexes scholarly sources as they are based on careful research and go through a high-level review prior to publishing.

Use the link to find full text if it is not available in the database you are searching, and if time allows, Interlibrary Loan for documents that we don't own full text.

MLA
Includes abstracts of articles from critical literary and language journals.

JSTOR
Contains complete full-text back files (EXCEPT for the latest five years) of core scholarly journals in such areas as sociology, history, economics, political science, mathematics, African-American studies, Asian studies and others.

Project MUSE
Full text. Scholarly article collection.

PsycINFO
Available via EbscoHost: A comprehensive international database of psychology, covering the academic, research, and practice literature in psychology from over 45 countries in more than 30 languages. [life-changing experience; depression, risk-taking]

Sociological Abstracts
Provides access to the latest international findings in theoretical and applied sociology, social science, and political science. [belief systems; informed recovery; family]

Linguistics and Language Behavior Abstracts (LLBA)
Provides abstracts of articles from about 2,000 journals (published worldwide), coverage of recent books, book review citations and dissertation listings. [belief systems]

Academic Search Premier (EbscoHost)
Full-text. A multi-disciplinary database offering full text for nearly 1,850 scholarly journals, including more than 1,250 peer-reviewed titles. Be careful of the 'peer-reviewed' limiter as not everything returned is a scholarly text.

For "Bless Me Ultima"

Highly recommended are the MLA, JSTOR, Project Muse databases as places to start as well as the library catalog. Other places to look: Contemporary Authors database as well as the Contemporary Literary Criticism set in our reference collection at PN 771 .C59.

Ways to search include looking for criticism of Rudolfo Anaya and his works in general, commentary on Anaya's portrayal of women, and analysis of "Bless Me Ultima".

Searching the Internet

There are ways to search the internet quickly and effectively. Use Advanced or Expert Search whenever possible to focus your results and eliminate sites you can't use (e.g., those in languages you cannot read.) For some help on evaluating websites for scholarly (or at least better-quality) content, click here.

Finding better information on the web

• Limit to high quality domains: .edu (university servers), or .org (museums and associations).
• Use appropriate language to accurately describe your topic.
• Spell names or phrases accurately.
• Look for bibliographies or references to the works used for the site's contents.
• Know your topic!
• Carefully evaluate what you find for bias, conflicting, or incomplete information.