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LTWR 600: Research and Critical Methodology (Stoddard Holmes)

The purpose of this guide is to familiarize you with the best resources for researching topics for your thesis project.

 

Getting Started

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, or search for AUTHORS who have been identified as authorities on the topic.

The following encyclopedias can help you identify a topic for your research. They provide an overview of various issues and authors, and often include useful bibliographies.

  • 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 various 'Literary Criticism' series* (CLC, TCLC, Nineteenth Century Literary Criticism...)
  • Literary Research Guide by Harner (REF PR83 .H34 2002)
  • The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Multiethnic American Literature (REF PS153.M56 G74 2005)

Note: Starred items are from the Gale Publishing Group which provides an online index to all Gale-published sets. You can search by author or title of work and the results will provide all series titles with volume and page numbers where you will find the your subject.

Tools for graduate writers

  • Academic Writing for Graduate Students: Essential Tasks and Skills REF  PE1408 .S7836 2004 
  • Writing for Scholarly Publication by Anne Sigismund Huff (book available through Circuit)
  • MLA Style Manual and Guide to Scholarly Publishing REF and Book Stacks PN147 .G444 1998 

 

Books

To search for books, you need to use a library catalog. Depending on how much time you have, you have a couple of catalog options: either in the CSUSM Library or to be retrieved from one of our Circuit partners (1-3 days turnaround) or order through Interlibrary Loan.

Books at Cal State San Marcos

Library Catalog
Search our local collection of about 250,000 books.

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!

Other Options

Circuit (1-3 day delivery)
Search the collections of other San Diego area libraries -- about 3,000,000 books. Find and request books directly online; pick them up at our Library in 1-3 days.

WorldCat (5-10 day delivery)
Search the collections of libraries world-wide -- about 52,000,000 books. Find a book in this database, and fill-out an Interlibrary Loan delivery request. The book will be delivered to the Library Check Out Desk for pickup.

 

Journal Articles

Literature journals include some of the latest research in the field and can be very helpful in your project.  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 Check SFX for Availability button to check our other resources for full text. Interlibrary Loan is available for documents that we don't own (see above for how to submit a request).

Most Useful

Project Muse
Full-text coverage for hundreds of scholarly journals in the humanities, social sciences, and mathematics

JSTOR
Contains (EXCEPT for the latest five years) core scholarly journals in sociology, history, economics, political science, mathematics, African-American & Asian studies, literature, humanities, music, and biological, health & general sciences.

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

Also Useful

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

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.

Johns Hopkins Guide to Literary Theory & Criticism
Informative introduction to major people and ideas in the world of literary theory and criticism.

Chicano Database
Abstracts for books, journal articles and other material about Mexican-Americans.

HAPI: Hispanic American Periodicals Index
Indexes journals from 1970 on providing information about Central and South America, Mexico, the Caribbean and Hispanics in the United States.

 

Online Resources

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.

Partial list of literature sources on the internet:

Tools for the graduate student writer:

 

Style Guides

Sites with examples of in-text citations and works cited pages.

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 Quick Summary of Bibliography pdf
In-text citing and works cites examples.

Citing in Your Paper pdf
Examples of including the citation pointers in your text.

It is highly recommended that you have your own copy of the MLA Handbook, as the library's copies are often checked out.

Book Cover MLA handbook for writers of research papers. 6th ed. New York : Modern Language Association of America, 2003.