Literary+Criticism


 * Your teacher keeps talking about "literary criticism," and you're having a hard time understanding what exactly** **he means and how you're supposed to find it. Find answers below.**

Literary criticism is the analysis or interpretation of literary works. The kind of literary criticism that your teachers are probably looking for will be published in "academic" or "scholarly" journals--in other words, NOT on a random fan website or in //People// magazine. The people who write serious literary criticism are typically college professors who have spent large amounts of time studying an author or a particular work, and they submit their work to academic journals to be published. After these critical essays are published in journals, they are often indexed in databases like Literary Resource Center, or sometimes published in anthologies or collections as a book.
 * What is literary criticism?**

There are two motherloads of literary criticism available to you via the McCulloch Library: databases and the library's amazing print collection of literary criticism. You should also check out the websites below!
 * How can I find literary criticism?**

(Name and password for remote access are on the main library page.)
 * Databases**

Your number one best bet for literary criticism is [|Gale Literature Resource Center]. Make sure you click on the tab called "Literary Criticism, Articles, and Work Overviews."

Once you have mined Gale Literature Resource Center (also known as LRC), you are ready for the big-time: [|JSTOR]. If you know this database by the time you go to college, you are guaranteed to impress the professors. There are so many articles on JSTOR that I suggest you go straight to the "Advanced Search" and try several search terms at once. For example, you could try searching for the author AND the title of a work. Or you could try searching for the author AND an important theme in the works.

If you are researching a poet, you should also try [|Columbia Granger's World of Poetry]. Search for a poet and then click on the tab called "Commentaries" at the top of the search results for in-depth analysis of specific poems.


 * Internet Sources**

[|IPL Literary Criticism Collection] Imagine this: a bunch of librarians have gathered a bunch of links together to help you find literary criticism on your author on this helpful website. Browse by your author's last name.

These series have different kinds of indexes, so make sure you are looking in the right one. Most series have a title index, an author index, a topic index, and a nationality index. Each cumulative index will direct you to the appropriate volume number to look in. Then look in the volume for the entries under the author's last name. Ask the librarians for help!
 * Print Sources**
 * Reference**

REF 809 CON //Contemporary Literary Criticism// Includes authors now living or who died after 1960.

REF 809 TWE //Twentieth Century Literary Criticism// Includes authors who died between 1900 and 1959.

REF 809 NIN //Nineteenth Century Literature Criticism// Includes authors who died between 1800 and 1899.

REF 809 LIT //Literature Criticism from 1400 to 1800// Includes authors who died between 1400 and 1799, excluding Shakespeare.

REF 822.33 SHA //Shakespearean Criticism// Includes criticism from Shakespeare's time up to the present.

Even better than these series (much of which are duplicated in the Literature Resource Center) is the library's circulating collection of books. These are books of literary criticism that you can check out! Click [|here] to search for books on your author.
 * Circulating (Check 'em out!)**