English 111.02Y-112.02Y: Facts and Fancies, History and Literature

Selected Reference Works

Reference works like encyclopedias, dictionaries, and bibliographies are often useful starting points for research. These sources can give you background information on a topic, author, or time period; help you refine your understanding of existing scholarship in your subject area; or introduce you to a set of terms to use in subsequent keyword searches.

The titles suggested below are shelved in the reference collection on the second floor of the library.

Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism REF PN771 .G27

  • Each author entry in this multi-volume set provides a brief biography and excerpts of critiques of the authors' works, from reviews written close to the time of publication to critical essays, as well as a bibliography for further reading. To determine which volume an author might appear in, check the cumulative index at the back of the most recent volume on the shelf--this will include entries for authors that have appeared in all of the preceding volumes.

Filmography of World History REF PN1995.9 H5 S39 2007

History in the Media: Film and Television REF PN1995.9 H5 N54 2006

Postmodern Fiction: A Bio-Bibliographical Guide REF PN3503 .P594 1986

Finding Books

Use CONSORT, the shared catalog of Kenyon, Denison, Ohio Wesleyan, and Wooster, to find relevant books. If you're having trouble finding an item in the library, check out How to Read a Call Number.

An author search will locate books, poems, plays, etc. by a particular author: morrison, toni

A title search will locate a specific work by an author: book of daniel

Keyword searches:

  • Find works (such as poems, stories, or essays) that appear in collections or anthologies
  • Find literary criticism about a particular work
  • Find criticism related to themes, ideas, and topics in an author's works:
    • "toni morrison" and histor*
      • the asterisk is a truncation symbol: this search will find "history," "historic," "historical," "historicism," etc.

When searching for literary criticism, consider using subject headings for more precise results. If a keyword search leads to a book that seems promising, click on the subject heading links at the bottom of the record to see similar items. You can also select "subject heading" in the "search by" box and try the following:

You can also search the OhioLINK catalog, which contains the holdings of 85 academic and public libraries across Ohio.

Finding Articles

The CONSORT and OhioLINK catalogs do not contain information about individual articles published in journals. However, if you have a citation to a journal article--the author's name, the title of the article, the title of the journal, and the date or volume/issue number--you can search by journal title in CONSORT to determine if the library has the journal in print, electronically, or in microfilm.

To search for articles on your topic, use an index or database. In many cases, you can get the full text of the article by following a link from the database. If you're searching in an index without links to full-text articles, you'll need to search by journal title in CONSORT as described above.

The search process will vary for each resource, but here are a few tips to keep in mind:

 

Come up with good keywords.

Consider synonyms, alternate spellings, and other ways to approach your topic.

 

Look for subject headings.

Most databases will include their own subject headings. When you find a relevant article, click on a subject heading, or refine your search to include both a subject heading and keywords, to find similar articles.

 

Set reasonable limits.

Some databases will let you limit your search--examples of limits include choosing to search just peer-reviewed (scholarly) journals, or just book reviews, or just articles published in English. Sometimes limits are helpful; if you don't want book reviews or articles written in a language you don't read, it doesn't hurt to limit your search accordingly. But be careful not to impose too many limits, especially if you're just beginning your research--extremely narrow searches will rarely lead you to "the perfect article."

 

Use bibliographies.

If you do happen to find the perfect article (or a great essay in a reference work, or a relevant book on your topic), check out the bibliography, and then search for some of these sources.

 

Modern Languages Association Bibliography (MLA)
Recommended starting point. Index of scholarly work in literature, linguistics, and folklore with citations and linked full-text sources. Includes journal and book articles, dissertations, monographs, and series.

JSTOR
Provides access to the full content of a variety of scholarly journals. Coverage generally begins with volume one of a journal, and ends 2-5 years before the current year. Journals may be browsed or searched.

OhioLINK Electronic Journal Center: Arts and Humanities Journals
Includes the full text of approximately 40 arts and humanities journals.

ABELL-- Annual Bibliography of English Language and Literature
ABELL provides citations to monographs, periodical articles, critical editions of literary works, book reviews, collections of essays and doctoral dissertations published anywhere in the world.

Humanities International Complete
A database covering 1700 journals, as well as books and reference sources in the humanities. Provides citation information for articles, essays and reviews, as well as original creative works including poems and fiction.

Academic Search Complete
Contains more than 5,300 full-text periodicals, including 4,400 peer-reviewed journals, in the humanities and social sciences, as well as computer science, engineering, medical sciences, and ethnic studies.

Finding Film Criticism

If your research paper deals with any of the films you've studied in this course, search for books and articles (particularly in the MLA International Bibliography) as outlined above, and check out the Film Resources guide.

Requesting from Other Libraries

If Kenyon doesn't have a copy of the book or article you need, you can request it from another CONSORT library or OhioLINK. You can also use WorldCat to search libraries worldwide and make an Interlibrary Loan (ILL) request.