ON-LINE MATERIAL GeoTom, the library's on-line catalog, supplemented by PittCat, the U of Pittsburgh's on-line catalogue (you can place ILL orders for their books [allow at least two weeks] or else drive to Hillman to look at the books). There are also several useful databases available from the on-line catalogue (LION and MLA Bibliography, for example).
Databases (look under "Arts and Humanities")
Literary Sources on the WWW (Prof. Jack Lynch at Rutgers maintains this site). A great place to start your online research. Available at be sure to capitalize that L). From there, you can go to Jack Lynches Literary Resources Page and the Voice of the Shuttle, maintained by Alan Liu (these are the two best).
HARD COPY SOURCES (BOOKS, ETC.) Dictionary of Literary Biography (Ref 809/D564) Two hundred and twenty light-blue volumes arranged by subject. Look in the last volume in the series, find your author in the index at the end, and go to the recommended volume. You will find a biographical and critical essay about the author that includes a reasonably up-to-date and thorough bibliography. An excellent resource! Always start here. MLA International Bibliography (Ref 016.8) One thick volume published a year, the best and most thorough index to scholarly essays in periodicals. The work is arranged by nationality and then by historical period--make sure you know both of these before you start. This is where you will find references to the most recent and most specialized material. Articles can be ordered via ILL if we donut have them in the stacks, on microfilm, or on Infotrac. A solid researcher will go carefully through the past 10 years of MLA when compiling a bibliography of works to consult.
The New Cambridge Bibliography of English Literature, 2d ed., 5 vol. (Ref 016.82/C21); 3rd edition in progress This is up-to-date through about 1969-72, and covers secondary material on a wide variety of subject matter as well as literary authors. Especially useful for minor British writers, who are often left out of other collections, and general historical subjects like "children's literature" or "newspapers." Find your author in the index (vol. 5) and go to the correct volume and column (not page) number. These books can save you lots of slogging through the older volumes of MLA. Once again, order material through ILL if we don't have it. Book Review Digest. (Ref 015/B64) A thorough guide, published annually, to reviews of 20th century books. You may also find some reviews in Infotrac, but searching through this index is the most thorough way to do a reception study. If you need book reviews for works published in the 18th or 19th centuries, get the appropriate volume in the Critical Heritage series through ILL. You might also check the library's reference sheet "How to Locate Critical Book Reviews." Reader's Guide to Periodicals (on the Reference carrels) The "green books," a high-school favorite, published annually, but still the best source when you need "popular culture" material or theater reviews. Indexes popular magazines rather than scholarly journals. Other Sources: The bibliographies in the back of your British Lit and American Lit anthologies have excellent material, too. Feel free to draw on them. They can save you a lot of time. Selective guides to literary criticism (poetry, fiction) can be found in Reference at 016.811 (American) and 016.821 (British). The titles of the books will be self-explanatory. You might also check the library's reference sheets, especially the one entitled "How to Locate Literary Criticism." If you need material from newspapers, use the annual published guides. The New York Times and Wall Street Journal guides are the ones you are most likely to use (Ref 071). A few newspapers have online sites, but they don't go back very far. A FEW GOOD REFERENCE BOOKS Oxford English Dictionary Based on Historical Principles, 2d ed. (Ref 820) Twenty dark-blue volumes. The largest and most significant dictionary of British English words because it gives historical definitions, not only instances of the word as it is used nowadays.
Oxford Companion series. Lots of books on every imaginable subject. Not very deep and thorough, but a very handy way to get names, dates, and plot summaries. You will find these scattered throughout the reference section. These volumes in particular are worth consulting regularly and even owning:
WHAT REFERENCE MATERIAL IS WHERE: A GUIDE TO THE DEWEY DECIMAL SYSTEM In the reference section, you can also find many biographical dictionaries, books of quotations, guides to literary terminology, books about actors and film, encyclopedias of music and art, even compilations of "highlights" from commentary on a text. Browsing in the reference area is the best way to get a sense of the wealth of useful material here. A few quarter-hours spend browsing will pay off handsomely.
LAST WORDS A well researched essay will always use material from both books and scholarly periodicals, and it will also use some critical material written in the past 10 years. Your goal in writing a rearched essay is to engage in a conversation about a text with other critics. How many sources to use? A general rule of thumb is 1 source per page or two of text, so a 10-page research essay should be looking at at least 5 major sources, perhaps a few more. A 5-page researched essay should aim for at least 3 sources (dictionaries, indices, and other finding guides do not count). Strive for balance between books, articles, and on-line sources rather than relying entirely on one type of source (scholarly journal articles tend to get shortchanged most often: a pity, as they often contain the most up-to-date and detailed material). Be very wary of relying mostly on web pages. You cannot always be sure where they came from or who wrote them. |