The purpose of this guide is to familiarize you with research sources in the library and on the internet for your class discussions, presentation and essay.

	Getting Started
	Books
	Articles
	Primary Sources
	Searching the Internet
	Citing Your Sources
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	Downie's Dictionary

Getting Started

Think about what you know about Thoreau and other Transcendentalists that interests you and meets the requirements for this assignment. Look for terms and personal names in your notes and readings. You have a specific time period but a large body of literature and research to explore, so you need to be able to focus. It is advisable to do some beginning research on the topic to be sure appropriate and sufficient resources are available before committing much time or effort to a particular aspect of this 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,
• AUTHOR searches for those who have been identified as authorities on the topic, or
• SUBJECT searches on Thoreau or other person or topic. (Subject headings can be tricky, so feel free to ask for help.) Some possible subject searches:
  • Thoreau, Henry David, 1817-1862 (Note last name, first name order when searching a person.)
  • Authors, American -- 19th century -- Diaries
  • Transcendentalism (New England)
  • American literature -- 19th century -- History and criticism

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. Some useful sources are:

• Dictionary of Literary Biography (Reference area, this set is broken up by author type such as 'British Mystery and Thriller Writers Since 1960' or 'Holocaust Novelists' or in the case of a prolific or well-known writer, there may be an entire volume dedicated to them.) The Thoreau volume is at PS3053 .H46 2004.
  FLASH!!! Gale, the publisher for this series as well as Nineteenth Century Literature Criticism and other sets, 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 published, but we do have the major sets.

• The various 'Literary Criticism' series (of special use for this class is Nineteenth Century Literature Criticism... in the Reference area at PN 761 .N56)

• Contemporary Literary Criticism (Reference area at PN 771 .C59) offers entries on Transcendentalism as a place to start your research.

• The Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Reference B41 .E5 1972) examines Thoreau as a philosopher and Transcendentalism as a movement.

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
	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.

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.
 

Also Useful

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.

Accessible Archives
A good source for 19th Century American History; includes newspapers on the Civil War and African Americans. The collection from Godey's Ladys Book offers some mentions of Thoreau.

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

Check the CSUSM Literature Subject Guide for other suggestions

 

Primary Sources
A primary source is a document or artifact that reflects the individual viewpoint of a participant or observer of an actual historical event. They include diaries, letters, manuscripts, books, interviews, and commentary published at the time of the event. Try a search in the library catalog on the terms Thoreau and diaries. This leads you to a set of his journals as he wrote them. Very valuable for informing you on his thoughts without the 'film' of someone else's interpretation.

Primary sources are valuable tools in verifying the validity of information on another site. Many internet sites exist providing access to a mix of primary and secondary sources. The Primary Sources page (part of the CSUSM History Subject Guide page) can help you learn more about primary sources and how to find them.

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.

Finding the better sites

• 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.
• 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.

Following is a list of some of the better sources on the internet:

• PAL: Perspectives in American Literature: Transcendentalism Recommended by Dr. Newman
• American Transcendentalism Web Recommended by Dr. Newman
• Cambridge History of English and American Literature (from Bartleby.com--early 20th century edition, more current is available in Reference collection)
• Literary Index: Internet Resources in Literature
• Voice of the Shuttle (Literature) A massive collection of web sites for literature studies for all kinds of research.
• American Memory at the Library of Congress--a depository of digitized documents, transcribed texts, correspondence, and images. This provides access to some digitized 19th century periodicals (search on Thoreau or Transcendentalism for some examples)

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. Quick Summary (, 175K) Library copies (LB2369 .G53) Diana Hacker's Guide to MLA

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