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Literary Criticism
writing a research paper
writing a research paper
This guide is intended to answer some of the following questions for students writing papers using literary criticism.
- Where do I start?
- Where do I find information about my author?
- Where do I find books and articles and web sites?
- How do I organize my paper?
- What do the terms I'm reading mean?
- How do I do my bibliography?
- Where do I find the actual text of the poem, short story, play, or novel I'm writing about?
DEWEY DECIMAL CLASSIFICATION NUMBERS FOR LITERATURE
800 General Literature
810 American Literature in English
820 English & Anglo-Saxon Literatures
830 Literatures of the Germanic Languages
840 French Literature
850 Italian Literature
860 Spanish & Portuguese Literature
870 Italian & Latin Literature
880 Hellenic Languages Literature
890 Literatures of Other Languages
GENERAL
Web Sites
Internet Public Library Literary Criticism
An extensive collection of online literary criticism from the Internet Public Library, searchable by Title, Author or Literary Period
Bartleby.com
The Harvard Classics Shelf of Fiction (1917), Index to Criticisms and Interpretations of Classic Literature in full text.
English Literature on the Web
A collection of web links to a variety of sites related to literary theory and criticism. Particularly useful for searching by period. This site also contains the Victorian Literary Studies Hyper- Concordance engine, which allows for line by line scanning of major works in Victorian literature.
Gale Literary Index
A master index to every literary series published by Gale (such as Contemporary Literary Criticism, Twentieth Century Literary Criticism, etc.). Search by author, title or nationality.
Novel Guide
Brief plot summaries, character profiles, theme and metaphor analysis, plus author biographies. Searchable by author and title.
SparkNotes
A collection of concise, comprehensive, easy-to-follow study guides. Search by title, author, or keyword.
Voice of the Shuttle Literary Criticism
An extensive collection of web links compiled by the English faculty of UC Santa Barbara. While organized by subject, the contents of the site are keyword searchable.
Wikipedia's Literary Criticism
Browse by topic for country, language, literary period, or enter author or title of work. Some external links.
Print Resources
British writers, edited under the auspices of the British Council, Ian Scott-Kilvert, General Editor. New York : Scribner, c1979-1984. 8 v.
Call No.: R 820.9 BRITISH
Columbia literary history of the United States. Emory Elliott, general editor. New York : Columbia University Press, 1988.
Call No.: R 810.9
Contemporary literary criticism. Detroit : Gale Research Co.
Call No.: R 809 CONTEMPO
Critical survey of long fiction: English language series, edited by Frank N. Magill; Englewood Cliffs, N.J. : Salem Press, c1983. 8 v.
Call No.: R 809.3
Curley, Dorothy Nyren, Modern American literature. Compiled and edited by Dorothy Nyren Curley. 4th enl. ed. New York, F. Ungar Pub. Co. [1969-76] 4 v.
Call No.: R 810.9
Encyclopedia of world literature in the 20th century. Leonard S. Klein, general editor. Rev. ed. New York : Ungar, c1981-c1993. 5 v. in 6.
Call No.: R 803
European writers, William T.H. Jackson, editor. New York : Scribner, [1983-<1985> 7 v.
Call No.: R 809.894 EUROPEAN
Masterplots : 1,801 plot stories and critical evaluations of the world's finest literature, edited by Frank N. Magill, revised edition, Dayton Kohler. Rev. 2nd ed. Pasadena, Calif. : Salem Press, c1996. 12 v.
Call No.: R 809 MAGILL
Masterplots II. American fiction series, edited by Steven G. Kellman. Rev. ed. Pasadena, Calif. : Salem Press, c2000. 6 v.
Call No.: R 809.3 MASTERPL
Moulton, Charles Wells. Moulton's Library of literary criticism of English and American authors through the beginning of the twentieth century. Abridged, rev. New York, F. Ungar Pub. Co. [1966] 4 v.
Call No.: R 820.9
Nineteenth-century literature criticism. Detroit : Gale Research Co., 1981- (Multi-volume set)
Call No.: R 809.034 NINETEEN
Sanders, Andrew. The short Oxford history of English literature. Oxford : Clarendon Press ; New York : Oxford University Press, 1994.
Call No.: R 820 SANDERS
Temple, Ruth Zabriskie. A library of literary criticism : modern British literature, Volume 4, edited by Martin Tucker and Rita Stein. New York : F. Ungar Pub. Co., 1975.
Call No.: R 820.9
Twentieth-century literary criticism. Detroit, Mich., Gale Research Co. (Multi-volume set).
Call No.: R 809 TWENTIET
Woodress, James Leslie. American fiction, 1900-1950 : a guide to information sources. Detroit : Gale Research Co., c1974.
Call No.: R 813
Series Title: Dictionary of literary biography - see catalog for selected volumes
BY NATIONALITY/REGION
Web Sites
Internet Public Library Literary Criticism
Search by nationality the collection of online literary criticism from the Internet Public Library.
Literary Resources on the Web
From Rutgers, a good site for searching by nationality using the Ethnicities & Nationalities category.
Print Resources
Ancient writers : Greece and Rome. James Luce, editor-in-chief. New York : Scribner, c1982. 2 v.
Call No.: R 880.09 ANCIENT
Classical and medieval literary criticism: translations and interpretations. Edited by Alex Preminger, O. B. Hardison, Jr. [and] Kevin Kerrane. New York, F. Ungar Pub. Co. [1974]
Call No.: R 809
European writers, William T.H. Jackson, editor, George Stade, editor in chief. New York : Scribner, [1983-<1985] 7 vols.
Call No.: R 809.894 EUROPEAN
Foster, David William. Modern Latin American literature. New York : Ungar, c1975.
Call No.: R 860.9
Handbook of Latin American literature, compiled by David William Foster. New York : Garland Pub., 1987.
Call No.: R 860.9 HANDBOOK
Literature criticism from 1400 to 1800 : excerpts from criticism of the works of fifteenth, sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth-century novelists, poets, playwrights, philosophers, and other creative writers. Dennis Poupard, editor. Detroit, Mich. : Gale Research Co., c1984-
Call No.: R 809.03 LITERATU
A New history of French literature, edited by Denis Hollier. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1989.
Call No.: R 840.9 NEW
Pacifici, Sergio. A guide to contemporary Italian literature, from futurism to neorealism. Carbondale, Southern Illinois University Press [1972, c1962]
Call No.: R 850.9009 PACIFICI
BY SPECIAL TOPIC
Web Sites
Celebration of Women Writers
Browse for women's literature by name, century, country, and ethnicity.
Children's Literature on the Web
Source of information about children's writers and illustrators.
Criticism on the Web - Shakespeare
Section of "Mr. William Shakespeare and the Internet" dealing with criticism of Shakespeare's works.
English Literature on the Web
Search by time period in this large database.
Literary Resources- Feminism and Women's Literature
Links to sites devoted to women's literature, feminist criticism, and gender studies.
New Georgia Encyclopedia - Georgia Literature
New Georgia Encyclopedia's section on famous Georgian authors, poets, playwrights.
Shakespeare Resource Center
Collected links on the man, the works, the Globe, literary criticism and more.
Print Resources
Black literature criticism : excerpts from criticism of the most significant works of Black authors over the past 200 years. James P. Draper, editor. Detroit : Gale Research, c1992- 3 v.
Call No.: R 809 BLACK
Hart, Bertha Sheppard. Introduction to Georgia writers. Macon, Ga. : The J.W. Burke company, c1929.
Call No.: GR 810.9758 HART
Hoffman, Miriam S. Authors and illustrators of children's books: writings on their lives and works. New York, Bowker, 1972.
Call No.: JR 028.5 HOF
Masterplots II. African American literature series, edited by Frank N. Magill. Pasadena, Calif. Salem Press, c1994. 3 v.
Call No.: R 810 MASTER
A library of literary criticism: modern black writers, edited by Michael Popkin. New York : Ungar, c1978.
Call No.: R 809.889
Modern women writers, compiled and edited by Lillian S. Robinson. New York : Continuum, 1996. 4 v.
Call No.: R 809.8928 MODERN
Shakespearean criticism : excerpts from the criticism of William Shakespeare's plays and poetry, Laurie Lanzen Harris, editor. Detroit, Mich.: Gale Research Co., c1984-
Call No.: R 822.33 SHAKESPE
TYPES OF LITERATURE
Web Sites
Find a Poet
Biographies and links on more than 450 poets, with a growing list.
Prose & Verse Criticism of Poetry
Links to poetry criticism from the University of Toronto.
Wikipedia's Literary Criticism
Browse by type of literature - poetry, drama, essays, as well as country, language, literary period, or enter author or title of work.
Print Sources
Bigsby, C. W. E. A Critical introduction to twentieth-century American drama. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1982-1985.
Call No.: R 812.5
Cline, Gloria Stark. An index to criticisms of British and American poetry. Metuchen, N.J., Scarecrow Press, 1973.
Call No.: R 820.9
Contemporary poets; editor, Thomas Riggs. 6th ed. New York : St. James Press, c1996.
Call No.: R 821.914 CONTEMPO
Critical survey of poetry : English language series, edited by Frank N. Magill. Englewood Cliffs, N.J. : Salem Press, c1982. 8 v.
Call No.: R 809.1
Critical survey of short fiction, edited by Frank N. Magill. Englewood Cliffs, N.J. Salem Press, c1981. 7 v.
Call No.: R 809.31
Critical survey of drama. English language series, edited by Frank N. Magill. Englewood Cliffs, N.J. : Salem Press, c1985. 6 v.
Call No.: R 809.2
Drama criticism: criticism of the most significant and widely studied dramatic works from all the world's literatures, Lawrence J. Trudeau, editor. Detroit : Gale Research Inc., c 1991.
Call No.: R 809.2 DRAMA
Masterplots II. Drama series, edited by Frank N. Magill. Pasadena, Calif. : Salem Press, c1990. 4 v.
Call No.: R 809.204 MASTERPL
Masterplots II : nonfiction series, edited by Frank N. Magill. Englewood Cliffs, N.J. : Salem Press, c1989. v. 4v
Call No.: R 809 MASTERPL
Poetry criticism : excerpts from criticism of the works of the most significant and widely studied poets of world literature. Detroit, MI : Gale Research Inc., c1991- 35 v.
Call No.: R 809.1 POETRY
Short story criticism. Detroit, Mich. : Gale Research Co., c1988- .26v.
Call No.: R 809.31
Vinson, James, Contemporary dramatists. London, St. James Press; New York, St. Martin's Press [1973]
Call No.: R 822.03
FINDING AUTHOR INFORMATION
Web Sites
Classic Literature
About.com's pages on English & American literature compiled by subject specialists, with links to articles & resources, biographies.
Bedford Books
Useful links & biographical information from Bedford/St. Martin Press.
Women writers
Women authors, searchable by name, century, country, and ethnicity.
Internet Public Library
Internet Public Library site, searchable for biographical as well as critical information.
Literary Encyclopedia
With 5500 writers, a work in progress, but many major authors represented.
Modern American Poetry
From the Modern American Poetry site, 161 poet companion sites.
Yahoo's Literary Authors' Listing
Yahoo's large site with biographical information on authors.
Print Sources
Contemporary authors. Detroit, Gale Research Co. [c1967-1979] 44 v.
Call No.: R 920
Cyclopedia of world authors, edited by Frank N. Magill. 3rd rev. ed. Pasadena, Calif. : Salem Press, 1997. 5 v.
Call No.: R 803 MAGILL
Grant, Michael, Greek and Latin authors, 800 B.C.-A.D. 1000. New York : H. W. Wilson Co., 1980.
Call No.: R 880.92 GRANT
Modern Black writers. Supplement, compiled and edited by Steven R. Serafin. New York : Continuum, 1995.
Call No.: R 809.8896 SERAFIN
Modern women writers, compiled and edited by Lillian S. Robinson. New York : Continuum, 1996. 4 v.
Call No.: R 809.8928 MODERN
Rush, Theressa Gunnels, Black American writers past and present : a biographical and bibliographical dictionary. Metuchen, N.J. : Scarecrow Press, 1975. 2 v.
Call No.: R 810.8089 RUSH
Schomburg Center guide to black literature : from the eighteenth century to the present, Roger M. Valade III, editor. Detroit : Gale Research, 1995.
Call No.: R 809.8896 VALADE
Twentieth century authors : a biographical dictionary of modern literature. New York : H.W. Wilson, 1942-1997.
Call No.: R 920.02 KUNITZ
Wakeman, John.World authors, 1950-1970; a companion volume to Twentieth century authors. New York, Wilson, 1975.
Call No.: 920 WAKEMAN
ELECTRONIC TEXT SITES
Web Sites
Alex Catalog of Electronic Texts
Collection of public domain documents from American and English literature.
American Verse Project
Electronic archive of volumes of American poetry prior to 1920, from HTI and the University of Michigan.
Bartleby.com
Texts, plus criticism and interpretation of some of the classics of literature.
Bibliomania Classic Texts
2000 classic texts from Bibliomania.
Electronic Text Center of the University of Virginia
University of Virginia's electronic texts, plus links to other sites with e-texts.
Heath Anthology of American Literature
Works of major American literary figures, from colonial times to 1865 - text, links, biographical information.
Project Gutenberg
More than 10,000 electronic texts collected by Project Gutenberg.
WRITING THE PAPER
Web Sites
A+ Research and Writing Guide
Internet Public Library guide to writing a research paper, from choosing the topic to writing a bibliography.
Writing Center
From the University of Wisconsin, detailed information for students writing papers.
Glossary of Literary Terms
Terms with definitions and useful examples.
Glossary of Literary Terms
From University of North Carolina, a glossary of terms written by students, with useful examples and comparisons.
Guide to Writing a Paper
Guide to using electronic and print resources, choosing a topic, using a thesis, identifying information sources, taking notes, making a draft, writing the paper, and doing a bibliography.
Online! Citation Styles
Learn to cite electronic sources in APA, MLA, Chicago, and CBE styles.
From the Library's home page, students may chose Galileo electronic resources and search the American Humanities Index (EBSCOhost) or Literature Online Reference Edition
EBSCOhost is an index to creative, critical, and scholarly literary journals and magazines.
Literature Online Reference Edition offers criticism and reference works for British and American poetry, drama, and prose.
Print Sources
Chicago manual of style. 15th ed. Chicago : University of Chicago Press, 2003.
Call No.: RREF 808.027 CHICAGO
Concise Oxford dictionary of literary terms, [compiled by] Chris Baldick. Oxford, England : Clarendon Press ; New York : Oxford University Press, 1990.
Call No.: R 803 CONCISE
Cuddon, J. A. (John Anthony), A Dictionary of literary terms. Rev. ed. London : A. Deutsch, 1979.
Call No.: R 803 CUDDON
Deutsch, Babette, Poetry handbook; a dictionary of terms. 4th ed. New York, Funk & Wagnalls [1974]
Call No.: R 808.1
Gibaldi, Joseph, MLA handbook for writers of research papers. 6th ed. New York : Modern Language Association of America, 2003.
Call No.: R 808.027 GIBALDI
Janeczko, Paul B. Writing winning reports and essays. New York : Scholastic Reference, c2003.
Call No.: YA 808.042 JANECZKO
Meriwether, Nell. Successful research papers in 12 easy steps. 2nd ed. Chicago : NTC Pub. Group, c2000.
Call No.: NONFIC 371.3028 MERIWETH
Morner, Kathleen. From absurd to Zeitgeist : the compact guide to literary terms. Lincolnwood, Ill., U.S.A.: NTC Pub. Group, 1997.
Call No.: NONFIC 803 MORNER
Princeton encyclopedia of poetry and poetics, Alex Preminger, editor. Enl. ed. Princeton, N.J. : Princeton University Press, 1974.
Call No.: R 808.1
Publication manual of the American Psychological Association. 5th ed. Washington, DC : American Psychological Association, c2001.
Call No.: R 808.066 PUBLICAT