The purpose of this guide is to familiarize you with sources in the library and on the internet useful for literary and literature research.

	Getting Started
	Books
	Articles
	Searching the Internet
	Citing Your Sources
	Need More?
	Downie's Dictionary (new page)

Getting Started

Think about what you know about the text you are reading and the questions that have arisen while reading. Also think about the author of your work, why did they write this book, what was the society like during the time this was written, what were others writing at the same time and how has time regarded this work? 

Look for terms and personal names in your notes and readings. There is a large body of literature and research to explore, so you need to be able to focus to a particular aspect of the work you are reading and writing about in order to have a focused thesis. It is advisable to do some beginning research on your proposed ideas to be sure appropriate and sufficient resources are available before committing much time or effort on a topic.

Books

Any well researched project uses books to support your thinking and writing. There are two kinds of books you can investigate in the library--reference and circulating. To find them, either do:

• KEYWORD searches using terms from your class readings and notes,
• TITLE searches for specific works by their exact title,
• AUTHOR searches for those who have been identified as authorities on a topic, or
• SUBJECT searches on your author, another person, or topic. (Subject headings can be tricky, so feel free to ask for help.) Some possible subject searches:
  • Melville, Herman ,1819-1891   (Note last name, first name order when searching a person)
  • Poe, Edgar Allan, 1809-1849. Criticism And Interpretation   (analysis of this particular author's body of work)
  • Welty, Eudora, 1909-2001. Golden Apples.     (analysis of a specific work by an author)
  • Oates, Joyce Carol, 1938- --Knowledge--America   (specific analysis of one aspect of an author's work)
  • Short Stories, American--History And Criticism
  • Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal Narratives, American (study of the genre or literature as a group, rather than one specific work.)

Reference Books (in library use)
These are works like encyclopedias, directories, and collections of reviews that do not circulate from the library. They may be quick overviews or in-depth studies and are frequently useful for short facts or overviews, birthdates, statistics and bibliographies of sources. There are a number of useful resources mentioned in Baker and Huling's Research Guide for Undergraduate Students which are held at CSUSM. Some our most useful sources are:

• Literature Criticism From 1400 to 1800* (at REF PN 86 .L56, use the last volume's index to determine where your author is included in the set)
• Nineteenth Century Literature Criticism* (at REF PN 761 .N56, use the last volume's index to determine where your author is included in the set)

• Dictionary of Literary Biography* (this set is broken up in the reference stacks by author type such as 'British Mystery and Thriller Writers Since 1960' or 'Holocaust Novelists'.)

• Contemporary Literary Criticism* (at REF PN 771 .C59, use the last volume's index to determine where your author is included in the set)
• Short Story Criticism* (at REF PN 3373 .S386, use the last volume's index to determine where your author is included in the set)
• American Writers (REF PS 129 .A55) contains entries on a variety of American writers, check the index of the final supplement as there can be entries in several volumes.
• British Writers (REF PR 85 .B688) offers entries on a variety of British writers from a lengthy time period, check the supplements as well as main set.

*Note: Gale, the publisher for these series and others, has placed a free comprehensive index to all their sets on the web. See this page for author, title or custom search. Once you know the series title and volume number, you can check our catalog for the location. Keep in mind, CSUSM does not own all the series indexed, but we do have the major sets.

Circulating Books (check out and take home)
Find books on your topic by using KEYWORD or subject searches. Some books are now available in full text through the catalog. When you see a WWW connection offered, click on that link to read the book online (access is in 2 hour increments.)

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!

Example of Catalog Screen (Note the best books have scholarly publishers and include references used to write the work.)

San Diego Circuit This shows materials you may borrow from other San Diego County universities. Either search from the CSUSM catalog by clicking on OTHER CATALOGS in the beginning search screen, or you can extend your CSUSM catalog search to Circuit by clicking on the CIRCUIT button towards the top of the screen. If you are already looking at a specific item in the catalog, Circuit will only search for that item, so be sure to work from the keyword search results list to get broader results. You may request the item online to be delivered to CSUSM for you.

Melvyl Catalog of holdings for the entire University of California library system.

Journal Articles

Literature journals include some of the latest research in the field and can be very helpful in your project. They 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 peer-reviewed prior to publishing. NOTE: most databases do not cover material published prior to the early 1980's, so you may need to use print resources. Some databases do not offer full text of the articles. Use the button to check our other resources for full text. Interlibrary Loan is available for documents that we don't own.

Most Useful

MLA
(AKA Bibliography of the Modern Language Association.) Includes abstracts of articles from critical literary and language journals. THE source for literature criticism and analysis.

JSTOR
Full-text. 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. This collection offers articles published since the late 1800's.

Project MUSE
Full text. Scholarly article collection supplementing the holdings on many titles in JSTOR by offering more currently published materials.

Twayne's Authors Series
This series provides literary criticism for approximately 600 authors, including critical introductions to the lives and works of writers, the history and influence of literary movements, or the development of literary genres.

Contemporary Authors
Biographies and bibliographies of 90,000 authors in the U.S. and around the world.
 

Also Useful

Oxford English Dictionary
A guide to the meaning, history, and pronunciation of over half a million words, both present and past. It includes etymological analysis, listings of variant spellings, and shows pronunciation using the International Phonetic Alphabet.

Academic Search Premier (via EbscoHost)
Full-text. A multi-disciplinary database offering full text for nearly 1,850 scholarly journals, including more than 1,250 peer-reviewed titles. Use peer-reviewed limiter to focus on more scholarly materials.

WorldCat
The world's most comprehensive bibliography, with 40 million records representing 400 languages. Covers mostly books, showing the libraries that own each individual title.

Check the CSUSM Literature Subject Guide for other suggestions

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 like those in languages you cannot read.

• Limit your searches 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--be aware of alternate spellings used in earlier time periods (this is where the Oxford English Dictionary comes in handy.)
• 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.

Some of the better sources on the internet:

• Cambridge History of English and American Literature (from Bartleby.com--early 20th century edition, more current is available in the CSUSM Reference collection)
• Cogweb: Early Modern Literary Resources (from UCLA, not recently updated, but a helpful list of major writers from is given in chronological order)
• English Short Title Catalog (ESTC) is now included within the HAMNET catalog of Folger Shakespeare Library. While not providing full text, many titles can be requested through Interlibrary Loan.
• Electronic Text Center at the University of Virginia (divisions by time period are useful)
• Literary Index: Internet Resources in Literature
• Internet Sources for English and American Literature from University of Delaware
• Library of Congress Classification Outline (where are your subject areas in the CSUSM library?)

Citing Your Sources

As you write your paper, you'll need to cite passages and ideas from the sources you've found.  In order to cite your resources properly, you need to follow the style guide used by for this class, the MLA Handbook. 

MLA handbook for writers of research papers. 6th ed. New York : Modern Language Association of America, 2003. CSUSM Citation Style Guides Diana Hacker's page on MLA documentation (links for manuscript format, in-text and list of works cited.) Library copies (LB2369 .G53)

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