Literary Research FAQ

African American Literary Research FAQ

How do I select an author or a work?
Most of the time your professor will provide you with a list of authors. If he/she doesn't, choose an author whose works you enjoy. If you are still stumped, look through the reference works listed on the next-to-last page of this guide for an author who appeals to you.

My professor asked me to use credible secondary sources. What are they?
In the humanities, which includes literature and African American studies, secondary sources are those written about literary works or about a historical event by others. Secondary sources take the form of book excerpts, entire books, or articles in scholarly journals.

Credible sources are those which you can trust. These include books published by reputable companies, magazines and newspapers with fact checkers and editors, and peer reviewed scholarly journals. The easiest way to find credible sources is to use the library's databases or books found through GIL and to avoid Google and other search engines.

Another African American Author A third African American Author.

If books and articles about my work of literature are secondary sources, what is a primary source, and is there really such a thing?
In the humanities, which includes literature and African American studies, primary sources are either works by your author or actual historical documents. The short story, novel, play, or poem about which you write is is a primary source, and so are letters your author has written and an interview with your author in a newspaper or magazine. Court cases, bills passed by Congress, diaries, personal papers, and song lyrics are all also primary sources.

Where do I find literary criticisms?
The library has a variety of GALILEO databases that have critiques, and there are also books with criticisms in them available through GIL, the library's book catalog. This guide covers research with both GIL and GALILEO.

Where do I find articles on the historical, social, and political background surrounding literary works?
The library has a variety of GALILEO databases that have articles on history and politics. These include both current scholarship, and often articles written at the time of the event. There are also books on African American history and culture available via the library's book catalog, GIL. This guide covers research with both GIL and GALILEO.

Can I use the web pages for this paper?
Many historical documents (primary sources) are government documents are in the public domain, which often means they are available on the web. Full text articles, however, are another story. Because most books and articles are under copyright you can not find them on the open web through search engines like Google.

Google Scholar sometimes leads to JSTOR entries, but more often it returns pages from a publisher's web site that wants to charge you to view articles. Using the library's databases gives you access to copyrighted and credible material for free.

For Students For You

African American Literature

Kristovic, Jelena O. Ed. Black Literature Criticism: Classic and Emerging Authors since 1950. Detroit, MI: Gale Cenage, 2008.
Ref. PS153 .N5 2008
Designed to meet the needs of university students, upper high school students, general readers, and teachers, BLC: Classic and Emerging Authors provides a wealth of information on major black writers of the past 50 years. Featured in this new three-volume set is a braod selection of the best criticism from the last several decades of the twentieth century and the first decade of the twenty-first century.
Source: "Introduction."

Nelson, Emmanuel S. Ed. American Dramatists: An A-Z Guide. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2004.
Ref. Ps338 .N4 .A69 2004
The central purpose of this reference work is to introduce readers to the lives and works of sixty-one representative, African American playwrights of the last 150 years.
Source: "Preface."

Nelson, Emmanuel S. Ed. The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Multiethnic American Literature. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2005.
Ref. PS153 .M56 .G74 2005
This multivolume Encyclopedia is the first reference work that seeks to offer a comprehensive introduction to a spectacularly diverse range of ethnic American writing.
Source: "Preface."

mud cloth decorative Ostrom, Hans and Macey, J David Jr. Eds. The Greenwood Encyclopedia of African American Literature. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2005.
Ref. PS153 .N5 .G73 2005
As a uniquely comprehensive reference tool, the Encyclopedia gathers in one place, information about African American writers, the genres and geographical and cultural enviroments within which they have worked, and the social, political, an aesthetic movements in which they have participated.
Source: "Preface."

Smith, Valerie, Ed. African American Writers. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2000.
Ref. PS153 .N5 .A344 2000
The articles in this work's "purpose is to provide an introduction to the work of African American writers who have made a significant contribution to African American, American, and world letters, culture, and history; to stimulate the reader's enjoyment of the texts produced by these authors; and to give students the means to pursue further study of specific writers or the field in general."
Source: "Introduction."

wax print decorative Witalec, Janet Ed. Harlem Renaissance: A Gale Critical Companion. Detroit, MI: Thomson Gale, 2003.
Ref. PS153 .N5 .H245 2003
This set includes a wealth of information about the Harlem Renaissance from the perspective of those who experienced it.
Source: http://www.amazon.com