ENGL 184: Introduction to Literature

Before searching the library databases, spend a few minutes brainstorming keywords and considering synonyms that describe the individual concepts within your topic. Developing a search strategy in this way can improve the effectiveness and efficiency of your search results.

LibSearch provides a single search box that allows users to search for books, audio-visual materials, journal articles, and other resources contained in many of the Library's databases.LibSearch is one of several databases that provide general or subject-specific coverage of an academic discipline or subject area. The screenshot below highlights some of the features of Library Search.

Academic Search Premier (all topics) from EBSCO
Full-text articles in biology, chemistry, education, engineering, humanities, physics, psychology, religion and theology, sociology, etc. Tip: Click the check box to limit to Academic (Peer Reviewed) Journals.

MLA International Bibliography (Languages & Literature)
Comprehensive current index to articles and chapters in scholarly collections for literature, linguistics, and folklore. Covers all the world's languages and literatures, both contemporary and historical.

JSTOR
Provides access to scholarly journals in anthropology, ecology, economics, education, general science, history, literature, mathematics, political science, philosophy, and more. Some journals have "moving wall" access that does not include the most recent 2-5 years.

Project Muse
Full-text access to more than 150 scholarly journals and eBooks in all disciplines published by Johns Hopkins University and several other university presses.

Literature Criticism Online
Provides online full-text scholarly essays and commentary on classic books and authors. Includes Contemporary Literary Criticism, Nineteenth-Century Literature Criticism, Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism, and Shakespearean Criticism.

• Search by concepts, taking out common words like effect, affect, good, bad, etc.
• Using AND focuses or limits your search (you get fewer results). Using OR broadens or expands your search (you get more results).
• Use * to search for different word endings (child* searches child, child's, children, children's but also childbirth) and plurals.
• Use quotation marks around phrases.
• Try the Advanced Search. Change the "field" you are search using the pull down menu (for example, search for keywords only in the "Title" of an article, especially helpful in Project Muse and JSTOR).

View instructions and get help with troubleshooting.

	The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
	The Awakening by Kate Chopin
	The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
	Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
	To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
	A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry
	The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
	Love Medicine by Louise Erdrich

Search for background information on your topic in CREDO Reference

Dictionary of Literary Biography
Print Location: REFERENCE PN451 .D54 and online
Contains in-depth biographical information on writers, poets, and playwrights world-wide. Each entry places the major works in the context of that person's life. Entries include a list of major works of the author, and a list of references.

Continuum Encyclopedia of American Literature
Composed of biographical and critical entries, this encyclopedia is a guide for American literature.

Learn, Evaluate, Cite: Resources from the Library on evaluating and citing information

SCSU's The Write Place writing resources

Citation Styles Old Choose a citation style (APA, MLA, Chicago/Turabian, etc) and follow the guidelines for formatting your paper and references.

MLA Formatting and Style Guide (OWL at Purdue)
MLA (Modern Language Association) style is most commonly used to write papers and cite sources within the liberal arts and humanities, including English. This resource offers examples for the general format of MLA research papers, in-text citations, endnotes/footnotes, and the Works Cited page.

Google Scholar
Searches academic papers and other scholarly literature. Go to Settings and set SCSU as your "Library link" to get full text available through the library.
Some tips for searching Google Scholar:
http://guides.library.illinois.edu/c.php?g=347668&p=3835551

More tips:
http://www.umuc.edu/library/libhow/googlescholar.cfm

Information from Google about Google Scholar:

http://scholar.google.com/intl/en-US/scholar/help.html
 

Information about the "Cited by" function in Google Scholar:
http://academicguides.waldenu.edu/content.php?pid=225643&sid=1870041