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Dr. Reid - ENC1102 - Plant City Campus: Recommended Sources

This online research LibGuide is to assist students in Dr. Carol Reid's ENC1102 classes with their research and literary assignments.

Good Sources to Use

Use of Literary Sources

The following resources listed below are excellent to use for a literary analysis or criticism assignment.  The Find books, articles, videos & more is a live catalog search box that will open the library online catalog with search results after keyword terms are typed in the box and search is selected.  The video tutorial explains how to use the HCC Library's Online Catalog and Literary Databases to search and locate appropriate literary resources for your assignments.  

Find books, articles, videos, & more

Video Tutorial

A short video instruction on best practices for using literature databases, showing you how to search for literary analysis and literary criticisms using the HCC Libraries Online system.

Literary Books in Databases

Literary Criticism Sources

The following book titles are accessed through online library databases.  These excellent sources are great to use for literary criticisms or literary analysis on a specific author, short story, novel, poetry, or play.

Cover Art Contemporary Literary Criticism

The Contemporary Literary Criticism is a series of books that are available through a searchable database called Gale Literature Criticism.  

 

 

 

Cover ArtShort Story Criticism

The Short Story Criticism is a series of books that are available through a searchable database called Gale Literature Criticism.  

 

 

 

Cover ArtBloom's How to Write About...

The series of titles called Bloom's How to Write About... includes many authors studied in English Composition classes.  

 

 

 

 

Cover Art

Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism

The Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism is a series of books that are available through a searchable database called Gale Literature Criticism.  

 

 

 

Screenshot of Critical Insights Flannery O'Connor book coverCritical Insights

There is a series of literature books called Critical Insights that is published by Salem Press and are available in both print and eBook format through the HCC Libraries.  The name of the database for access is called Salem Online or you can search the HCC Libraries Online Catalog for both print and eBook access.

Literary Database Tips

Bloom's Literature

This is a great database to browse.  At the Home Page, under Most Studied Authors, choose the View All option. The authors covered in this database will be shown and listed here in alphabetical order.  Look for your author, such as O'Connor, and choose the author's name.  Open the result Header called Literary Works and look for your story title.

screenshot of the search terms and results for Bloom's Literature database.  Searched for O'Connor, Flannery and chose the criticism section in the results

 

 

Gale eBooks

This database is a collection of eBooks on a variety of topics.  The best way to use this database is to type in your keyword search term(s) and under More Options > to Collection > Literature.  See picture below for a sample:

Screenshot of Advanced Search page with "Hawthorne, Nathaniel" typed in the first search box

Gale Literature Criticism

This literary database is a great tool to find resources on themes, figure of speech and symbolism.  Below is a sample search term entry.

Screenshot of the Advanced Search page with death AND dying AND "Emily Dickinson" as the search terms.

Gale Literature

Ways to use Gale Literature

  1. Use the Works Search option.Screenshot of Gale Literature Database Works Search page
  2. Type the name of your short story, novel or poem.
    1. Results page will show you how many records are available.
      1. Records include:
        1. Biographies
        2. Work Summaries and Overviews
        3. Literary Criticisms
        4. Primary Sources of Works

JSTOR

JSTOR is an article database that is also very good to use for literature research.  Here are two simple tips when JSTOR.

1.  Use the Advanced Search option

Screenshot of JSTOR Advanced Search page

2.  After the results populate, narrow results by using the  Subject filter.  Choose Language and Literature.

Screenshot of Subject filter heading

Screenshot of Language and Literature filter option box checked

Literary Reference Center Plus

When using this database, sometimes searching for the story title as the keyword search term develops the best results.  Remember, DO NOT use reviews as a source for literary criticisms. Use Plot Summaries, Overviews, Literary Criticisms types of sources.  

Screenshot of Source Types option box

 

Literature (Salem Press)

Salem Press is a large book publisher.  Many of these books are in both print and eBook versions.  The Salem Press database provides access to the ebook versions.

Screenshot of Literature Table of Contents in Salem Online database

Use the Search box to locate resources for your author or playwright.  

Very Short Introductions

Published by Oxford University Press, Very Short Introductions introduce students to a topic, concept or in literature, authors and literary themes, genres and styles.  The text is written in short, clear and concise terminology for easy understanding. The online database version also provides greater access.  Titles are available in Print as well.

Fall 2024 Authors, Poets and Playwrights

Recommended Searches and Resources

For recommended resources for the Poetry Comparison Analysis assignment, go to the Fall 2024 Authors Page.