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Critical Approaches Research Guides

 

Because Critical Literary theory requires an amalgamation of resources from each of the guides in the English Literature section, we have chosen to specify a guide just for your needs. Here are compiled many of the Reference Collection materials related to literary theory and criticism. Start here, but continue to browse in the same call number areas in the Main Collection Stacks to find books you can check out.

 

Print Resources

  • Encyclopedia of Literary Critics and Criticism. 1999. Reference 801.95 E56e
  • Critical Survey of Literary Theory. 4 volumes. 1987. Reference 801.45 C86M
  • Contemporary Literary Criticism. 1973. Reference 809.04 C76
  • Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism. 1978. Reference 809.04 T91
  • Nineteenth-Century Literary Criticism. 1981. Reference 809.04 N62
  • World Literature Criticism: 1500 to the present: a selection of major authors from Gale's literary criticism series. 1992. Reference 809 W92w
  • Black Literature Criticism: excerpts from criticism of the most significant works of black authors. 1992. Reference 808.8896 B56
  • Hispanic Literature Criticism. 2 volumes. 1994. Reference 860.9868 H67h
  • Literature and Its Times: Profiles of 300 Notable Literary Works and the Historical Events that Influenced Them. 6 volumes. 1997. Reference 809.93358 M913L
  • Critical Survey of Poetry: English language series. 1982. Reference 821.009 C86
  • Critical Survey of Drama. 2003. Reference 822.009 C934c2
  • Beacham's Encyclopedia of Popular Fiction. 16 volumes. 1996. Reference 809.3 B36b
  • Critical Survey of Short Fiction. 7 volumes. 1993. Reference 809.3 C93c
  • Critical Survey of Long Fiction. 8 volumes. 2000. Reference 809.3 C93cL
  • The Feminist Companion to Literature in English: Women writers from the Middle Ages to the present. 1990. Reference 820.9 B57f

 

 

Electronic Resources

Don't forget to use the online Tools available, as well. Here are three of the best databases for researching literary information.

  • MLA International Bibliography 
    Specializing in journal literature from the Modern Language Association, this database provides a plethora of citations and a few articles that will enhance your literature papers. It's good to start here. 
  • Project MUSE 
    A new resource for the Zondervan Library, Project MUSE is very strong in the humanities and carries a wide variety of literary topics. 
  • JSTOR 
    JSTOR is perhaps one of the most critical library resources of our time. It archives issues of journals from the inception of the journals up through the last five years or so. Some journals keep their most recent issues (a few years) out of JSTOR in order to ensure institutions still purchase their print copies. But historically, JSTOR is solid and provides an excellent tool for searching out critical literary content.

 

 



Other Research Tools

  • Credo Reference
    A conglomeration of specialized dictionaries and encyclopedias that allows you to search for definitions and encyclopedia articles, as well as develop ideas for expanding or refining a research strategy.
  • Oxford Reference Premium Online  
    Oxford University Press produces a number of extremely useful reference materials, many of which they have made available here. You can search by keyword, but you can also choose particular subjects and from there, particular books within which to search. This willl provide you with all sorts of background and broad spectrum information on a particular topic.
  • Biography Resource Center  
    Find background information about people, authors, famous personalities, and others. Search by first or last name. 


Citation Help

One of the least favorite aspects of research papers are the citations, documenting the sources where you gleaned your information. To make that a little easier, the Library offers a few resources.

  • The Citation Style Guide is a place where you can find call numbers for print Style Manuals and Handbooks, as well as online help from several different universities around the States. Check it out and see if it helps!
  • RefWorks
    is a Citation Management program. Fully available online, and linked from the Library's home page, it allows you to keep it all ELECTRONIC. Download your citations from the various databases you're using into RefWorks. This program will create the Works Cited page for you with little effort. In a database, look for the option to EXPORT - that is where you'll find this gem of a program.
  • Automatically Generated Citations can be found in our Library Catalog (to the right of the item on the Results page), as well as in most EBSCO databases (like Academic Search Premier, PsycINFO, Communications and Mass Media Complete, etc.). Most databases either provide an instant citation in a couple of different styles, or they allow Exporting to RefWorks (see above). Ask a Librarian for more help in managing your citations and creating your bibliographies and works cited pages faster.
  • WorldCat.org
    "Cite this item" within individual item record lists the citation in APA, MLA, Chicago and more.
  • The Writing Center is also a solid resource. Available in the Library, this is run by the English department. If you'd like face-to-face help individually with citing or any aspect of writing and editing your paper, the Writing Center is the place to go. For more information, see their page on the Portal, or you can contact them at writingctr@taylor.edu.

 

Created by Lana Wilson, Reference Librarian

Last revised October 14, 2009 - 10:17 AM