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Pat's Research Guide: Literary Reseach

A guide to assist a student in conducting research in the library.

Welcome to Literary Research

Conducting Literary Research can be a frustrating, time consuming process. Hopefully, some of the suggestions you find here will be helpful. Depending on the novel, short story, drama, or poem, library sources can often times be limited. To be thorough in your research you will have to make sure that you exhaust all possible resources that the library has to offer. 

Literary Research Databases

An even easier way to access all of the library's literary criticism resources is to go to the library's list of databases and select "Literary Criticism" in the Show Only Box.

Helpful Hints When It Comes To Searching These Databases

Here are some helpful tips when it comes to searching the databases above:

  • When searching a title try putting the title in quotes
    • Example "Cask of the Amontillado"
  • Try searching under the authors First and Last Name
    • Example Nathaniel Hawthorne
  • If researching a character in literature and that character has a unique name try searching under the name
    • Example Iago

Using JSTOR

  • You may want to use the Journal Filter: Narrow By discipline and/or journal at the bottom of the screen and check the box for Language and Literature.
  • If you find yourself with too much material you may want to limit your search to words in the titles of journal articles. To do this change the box to the right of your search terms from All fields to Item Title.
  • If you find your search results containing unwanted book reviews you may want to limit yourself to Articles and Books under Item Type..

Using Literature Criticism Online

  • I find it easiest to use the Advanced Search option.
  • Check the box labeled "Full Text Documents".
  • The article you have chosen will be highlighted in blue.
  • Use the icons on the top right hand side of the page to Print, Download or use the Citation Tool.

Using Literature Online (Lion)

  • I recommend using the Advanced Search feature.
  • Check the box labeled "Criticism" under Content type.
  • You may also want to check the box labeled Limit To "Peer reviewed". 
  • DO NOT check the box labeled Limit To "Full Text". It will exclude some full text articles.

Search

Subject Guide

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Patrick Wright
Contact:
patrick.wright@bucks.edu

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Search For Books

  • Use the "Library Materials Search" box above to locate books.
  • If searching a short story or poem use the title of the short story or poem. If that does not work try using the authors last name and the word criticism.
  • You are looking for titles with the word criticism or critical insights in them.
  • There is an excellent collection of books called Harold Bloom Editions which might be helpful for literary criticism.