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06516
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Some Reference and Circulating Books
Subscription Databases
Journals and Other Periodicals
Internet Sites
Writing the Paper and Citing Your Research
Marvin K. Peterson Library offers print and online sources for literature and literary criticism. Use the Library's catalog to find all types of materials in the library, and the Journals at the MKP Library link for most online journals. Both are on the Library's home page. If you are searching for articles, use our print indexes and electronic databases -explained more fully in our Finding Articles guide. Library Guides are near the Information Desk and on our home page.
Currently registered students, faculty and staff can access most of our databases from any Internet terminal by using the Proxy Connection link on our home page. Follow the login instructions at the top of the page. You need a UNH ID card, which you get from the Information Technology Department, to use the proxy connection and borrow books.
Come to the Information Desk for assistance with your research or call us at (203) 932-7189 or e-mail us. Books and articles not in our library may be requested via interlibrary loan (ILL). ILL forms are available at the Information Desk or online via the Proxy Connection.
Our library catalog is on our home page. To perform a ‘simple search' on a specific author in subject mode, type in the author's name in the search box (last name first), then move right and click on ‘subject browse.' Finally, click on the search button. For example, if you do a subject search for Fitzgerald, F. Scott, you will find that the Library of Congress has entered him as Fitzgerald, F. Scott (Francis Scott), 1896-1940. Scroll down the list of entries for Fitzgerald to see the various subject subdivisions for him and click on the links that interest you to see which corresponding books are available. For example, this search produces several entries for Fitzgerald, F. Scott (Francis Scott), 1896-1940-Criticism and interpretation. You can also perform an ‘author' search for Fitzgerald to see which of his books the library owns.
Some stories, plays and poems are in anthologies, and so are not listed by title in our catalog. Check an anthology to see if the work you want is included. Try a ‘keyword relevance search' by author/title or just a title, as this will bring up the work if it is contained in an anthology and the catalog record has a contents note. For example, a keyword relevance search for "Jackson Lottery" will bring up 200 Years of Great American Short Stories as the most relevant hit. Shirley Jackson's short story "The Lottery" is located in this anthology. Click on the ‘Table of Contents' tab to verify that this is so. If you have just the title of a story in mind, simply perform a ‘keyword relevance search' for that title ("The Rocking-Horse Winner," for example), and you will bring up three anthologies in which you can find the famous D.H. Lawrence story. Some books and journals in our catalog are available online. Look for the Linked Resources tab. For more detailed information on using the online catalog, please refer to the Using the Online Catalog guide.
Both literature and literary criticism are located in the 'P' section of call numbers according to the following scheme:
P - PA: Greek and Latin literature
PB - PF: Mostly language learning textbooks and theories on languages
PG: Slavic literatures
PJ - PK: Asian and Indo-Iranian literatures
PL - PM: Eastern Asian, African, Oceanic and Indian literatures
PN: General literature (includes books on film, television, theater, actors' biographies, and humor)
PQ: French, Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese literatures
PR: British and Commonwealth literatures (Canadian, Australian, etc.)
PS: American literature
PT: Germanic, Dutch and Scandinavian literatures
When browsing in the call number section for a particular author, his/her own writings come first, and books about the author are shelved after them, with the last line of the call number starting with "Z."
Some Reference and Circulating Books
Reference materials include dictionaries, encyclopedias, handbooks, indexes, abstracts, bibliographies and other works that can be used only in the library. Reference books help you find factual information or read concise articles on specific subjects. This collection is located on the main level of the library.
The following is primarily a selected list of reference books for use in literary criticism. This is not an exhaustive inventory of all such books owned by the Peterson Library; this list serves only as an example of the kinds of materials that may be helpful in your research. Please also remember to consult the collection of circulating books, which are located in the stacks on the main three levels of the library and can be borrowed.
American and English Literature and Culture
Afro-American Writers Before the Harlem Renaissance. Ref. PS153.N5 A393 1986
Afro-American Writers from the Harlem Renaissance to 1940. Ref. PS153.N5 A396 1987
Encyclopedia of Southern Literature. Ref. PS261 .S515 1997
Library of Literary Criticism of English and American Authors 680-1904. Ref. PR83.M73 1959
This work is supplemented by the following series for critical comments and references on authors of the 20th century:
The Critical Temper. Ref. PR83 .C764
Modern American Literature. Ref. PS221 .C8 1969
Modern British Literature. Ref. PR473.T4
The Oxford Companion to English Literature. Ref. PR19 .H3 1946
Reference Guide to American Literature. Ref. PS129 .R44 2000
Reference Guide to English Literature. Ref. PR106 .S7 1991
Biography
Concise Dictionary of British Literary Biography. Ref. PR19 .C64 1991
Contemporary Authors Ref. Z1224 .C5+
Dictionary of Literary Biography (Various call numbers; A Keyword Relevance Search using an author's name and the words 'Dictionary of Literary Biography' often brings up a relevant book in this series; or you may search for the author as a subject).
Book Reviews
Book Review Index 1965-1982. Ref. Z1035.A1 .B6
Book Review Digest 1923-present. Ref. Z1219 .C96
The print volumes for the years 1923 to the present are located near the Information Desk, while those from 1905-1922 are in the reference section.
Index to Book Reviews in the Humanities 1961-1980. Ref. Z1035.A1 .I63
New York Times Book Review Index 1896-1970. Ref. AP2.N659 and the New York Times Index 1863-1989. Ref. AI21.N45
The New York Times is available in the library on microfilm from 1934 to the present and full text in online databases such as ProQuest Newspapers and ProQuest Historical Newspapers 1851-2001 and LexisNexis from the 1980s to the present, while current issues (approximately 2 months) are kept at the circulation desk.
Nineteenth Century Reader's Guide 1890-1899. Ref. AI3 .R396 (on index table on the entry level)
Poole's Index to Periodical Literature 1802-1906. Ref. AI3.P7
Readers' Guide to Periodical Literature 1900- . Ref. AI3.R4 (on index table on the entry level)
Critical Indexes and Compilations
Essay and General Literature Index. Ref. A13 .E755
Gale Literary Criticism Series
This provides journal articles, book reviews, and biographical essays on authors, as well as excerpts from critical essays. The series is organized chronologically and the last series, Contemporary Literary Criticism , includes both living authors as well as those who have died since 1959:
Literature Criticism from 1400 to 1800. Ref. PN86 .L53 1984
Nineteenth-Century Literature Criticism. Ref. PN761 .N5
Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism. Ref. PN771 .T9
Contemporary Literary Criticism. Ref. PN771 .C59
Humanities Index. 1974-present Ref. A13 .H8
Literature Criticism from 1400 to 1800. Ref. PN86 .L53 1984
MLA Bibliography (Modern Language Association) 1921-1993. Ref. Z7006 .M64
Dictionaries and Encyclopedias
Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. Ref. PN43 .B65 1989
Cyclopedia of Literary Characters. Ref. PN44 .M39 1963
Glossary of Literary Terms . Ref. PN1 .A184 1999
Oxford English Dictionary. 2 nd ed. (20 vols.) Ref. PE1625 .O87 1989
Reader's Encyclopedia. Ref. PN41 .B4 1965
Drama
The Cambridge Guide to World Theatre. Ref. PN2035 .C27 1988
Drama Criticism. Ref. Z1231.D7 C6
European Drama Criticism, 1900-1975. Ref. Z5781 .P2 1977
Major Modern Dramatists. Ref. PN1861 .M27 1984
Oxford Companion to the Theatre. Ref. PN2035 .H3 1957
The Reader's Encyclopedia of World Drama. Ref. PN1625 .G3 1969
Poetry
Granger's Index to Poetry. Ref. PN1022 .G7 1986
Index to Criticisms of British and American Poetry. Ref. Z2014.P7 C5
Poetry Explication. Ref. Z2014.P7 K8 1980
World Poets. Ref. PN1021 .W67 2000
Quotes, Handbooks, Proverbs
[Bartlett's] Familiar Quotations. Ref. PN6081 .B27 1992
Magill's Quotations in Context. Ref. PN6081 .M29 1965a
Oxford Dictionary of English Proverbs. Ref. PN6421 .C6 1982
Words on War: Military Quotations from Ancient Times to the Present. Ref. PN6084.W35 S5 1990
World Literature
Companion to African Literatures. Ref. PR9340 .C65 2000
Encyclopedia of World Literature in the 20 th Century. Ref. PN771 .E5 1999
Literature of Developing Nations for Students: Presenting Analysis, Context, and Criticism on Literature of Developing Nations. Ref. PN3326 .L58 2000
Masterplots II Short Story Series. Ref. PN3326 .M27 1986
Masterplots Revised Second Edition. Ref. PN44 .M33 1996
The Masterplots editions provide reference data, plot synopses and critical evaluations of world literature.
Databases are available on computer terminals in the library- look for the icons "Databases-Alphabetical List" or "Databases-Subject List" on the desktops. They are also available away from the library, from any Internet terminal, via the proxy connection on the library's home page. Look for databases by name or by the name of the provider such as ProQuest or iCONN. To use the proxy connection: Click on the 'Proxy Connection' link. To log in, your username is your UNH ID number, which is the 16-digit number at the bottom of your UNH photo ID. Only currently registered students, faculty and staff are eligible to use our subscription databases. Expanded Academic ASAP is an excellent choice for finding literary criticism, providing access to citations and abstracts to 3,200 sources, including 2,000 full text titles in both scholarly and popular periodicals.
The following lists some multidisciplinary databases with information of interest to students of literature.
FirstSearch offers a number of databases in all academic fields, including literary criticism, and provides access to citations and abstracts from English-language and international periodicals and dissertations. Access in library only. Ask at the Information Desk for password, if needed.
LexisNexis Academic Universe is a full text online information service that is valuable for finding book reviews in newspapers, as well as popular and professional journals.
Literature Resource Center from Gale offers access to biographies, bibliographies, and critical writings on all types of authors from all eras. LRC contains information on thousands of writers, with comprehensive coverage of the most famous authors. Access for 1 user at a time. If you can't log in right away, try again later.
ProQuest Newspapers provides citations, abstracts and full text articles from newspapers, which may includes book reviews. Full text coverage of the Christian Science Monitor (1988-), Hartford Courant, (1992-), Los Angeles Times, (1985-), New York Times (1980-), Wall Street Journal (1984-), and Washington Post (1987-).
Journals and Other Periodicals
Scholarly journals, popular magazines, newspapers, and some annual publications like yearbooks are called periodicals. Go to the link Journals at the MKP Library to find periodicals both in the library and available online - you can search by title, title keyword, or browse by subject. Periodicals are shelved by title, ignoring 'the,' 'a', and 'an' at the beginning of the title. Paper journals are on the lower level of the library, the location shown in the Library catalog as ‘Periodical Collection'. Those on microfilm or microfiche are in the microform room on the entry level. Those in Government Documents can be retrieved once you fill in a Docs Request form at the Information Desk. Online Journals are available from links on our Library's home page at any Internet Terminal. Use the Journals at the MKP Library link, and check the ‘Linked Resources' tab in our Library's catalog. You may have to go through the Proxy screen. The Journals at the MKP Library link provides up-to-date information on titles, dates, and formats of journals. The following list is a sample of the journals on Literary Criticism at the Peterson library.
American Literary Realism, 1870-1910
American Literature; a Journal of Literary History, Criticism and Bibliography.
Chaucer Review
College Literature
Contemporary Literature
ELH
English Literature in Transition, 1880-1920
Essays in Criticism
The Explicator
Grand Street
Journal: the Literary Magazine of the Ohio State University
Literary Criticism Register. 1984 to 1991 in paper. Reference Collection. REF PN 81 .L57
Malahat Review
New England Review
New Literary History
Papers on Language & Literature: PLL
Philosophy and Literature
Resources for American Literary Study
Review of English Studies
Southwest Review
Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900
Studies in Short Fiction
Studies in the Novel
Studies in 20th Century Literature
Tennessee Studies in Literature. Circulation Stacks. PS1 .T43
Twentieth Century Literature
Wisconsin Studies in Contemporary Literature
World Literature Today
The Internet provides much valuable information. As with any material you use, evaluate the sources you use. This can be challenging with the Internet, since it is not always readily apparent who is responsible for the information on a particular page found via a Google or Yahoo! search. Look for a home page and 'About us' link. Consider how qualified the organization or person is to provide the information, whether they have an agenda or particular point of view, how up-to-date the information is, and how it affects the point you want to make. The following is a selection of useful web sites.
Academic Library Resource Guides:
The following selected libraries (all at universities with strong literature departments) provide valuable links to literary resources on the web:
Cornell University Libraries
Duke University Libraries, Collections
University of Chicago
University of Pennsylvania
American And English Literature And Culture Web Sites:
LiteraryHistory.com
Critical articles on 19th and 20th century English and American authors.
Literary Resources on the Net
Maintained by Jack Lynch of the Rutgers University English Department, this site focuses on English and American literary resources. An extensive inventory of outstanding sites designed for the academic researcher.
Post-World War II American Literature and Culture Database
An unusual collection of literature and culture sources, with links to libraries, special collections, online resources, and genre studies.
Victorian Women Writers Project
Maintained by Indiana University, this site offers transcriptions of 19th century works.
Yale University Library's Research Guide in English Language & Literature: General Resources
Links to English literary web sites, text archives, and some free journals.
Book Reviews:
Sources for book reviews, mostly popular:
AcqWeb's Directory of Book Reviews on the Web
The Atlantic Monthly
Booklist
Booklist Center
BookPage
BookSpot
BookWire
Electronic Poetry Review
H-Net Reviews in the Humanities and Social Sciences
Jacket's Book Reviews
London Review of Books
The Modern Word
NewPages
New York Review of Books
New York Times
Overbooked
Univ. of Pennsylvania Book Review Sources Research Guide
Yahoo Reviews
Biography:
Author Sheets, Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh
Features helpful bibliographies and guides to critical essays on authors.
General Literature And Humanities:
Bartleby.com
Freely available works of literature, reference and verse, including Bartlett's Familiar Quotations , the King James Bible, The Columbia Encyclopedia , and The Elements of Style .
Contemporary postcolonial & postimperial literature in English, National Univ. of Singapore An exploration of authors and literary history from Africa, Australia and New Zealand, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Ireland.
Humbul Humanities Hub (hosted by the University of Oxford) Browse humanities resources by subject.
iCONN, the Connecticut Digital Library Click on 'Link to Additional Research Resources,' then look under the heading for 'Literature.'
Infomine, Library of the Univ. of California, Riverside
Select 'Social Sciences and Humanities,' then perform your search.
Internet Public Library, Univ. of Michigan School of Information
Click on 'Online Literary Criticism Guide.'
Introduction to Modern Literary Theory
Created and maintained by Kristi Siegel, Associate Professor of English, Mount Mary College, Milwaukee. Concentrates on literary trends, terminologies, and bibliographies.
Literary Periods, Movements, and Topics, King Library, Miami University, Oxford, Ohio
From medieval and Renaissance literature to the works of 20 th century women and Native American authors. Primarily concerned with English and American literary resources, as well as postcolonial literature.
Voice of the Shuttle. Univ. of California, Santa Barbara One of the most comprehensive web resources for the humanities.
Yale Univ. Library, Research Guides by Subject Look for 'Language and Literature' for information on a variety of languages and literatures.
Poetry:
Modern American Poetry
The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign's 'Online journal and multimedia companion to Anthology of Modern American Poetry (Oxford UP 2000).'
Poetry Portal
Poetry and criticism from all nations.
Writing the Paper and Citing Your Research
The Library produces guides to several citation styles, and our general style guide includes links to additional online guides. Guides are available near the Information Desk and online from our web page. The advantage of an online version is that you can link directly to web sites we list. The Center for Learning Resources in Maxcy Hall room 108 also assists students writing papers.
This and other guides are available in print near the Information Desk or online from our home page. Look for the ‘Library Guides' link.
Any Questions? Ask at the Information Desk or call us at (203) 932-7189
or E-mail us.
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