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. Similarly, most of the time, the works about which you write will be in your reader/textbook. If you need other works, the GIL page of this guide gives instructions for finding both specific novels and shorter works.

My professor asked me to use credible secondary sources. What are they?
In the humanities, which includes language and literature, secondary sources are those written about your works by others. Often students refer to such sources as criticisms or critiques. You can find criticisms as book excerpts, in books, or as articles in scholarly journals or even newspapers such as the New York Times.

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.

     

If books and articles about my story, play, poem, or novel are secondary sources, what is a primary source, and is there really such a thing?
In the humanities, which includes language and literature, primary sources are simply works by your author. Quite simply, the short story, novel, play, or poem about which you write is is a primary source, but so too are letters your author has written and an interview with your author in a newspaper or magazine.

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 literary research with both GIL and GALILEO.

Can I use the web for a literary criticism paper?
Because most of the material you need for your paper is under copyright you can not find it on the open web through search engines like Google. Note: 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

Sometimes you don't understand a literary work even after you read it. Other times, you simply don't know where to begin to write a critique. Thankfully for those times, there are For Students books that have both overviews that help you understand a work and examples or criticism and analysis to help you get started. Generally the most frequently taught and well known works find places in For Students books. If you are working on something very new or reasonably obscure, don't expect to find it. Here are the For Students books available in the Reference area at the Clarkston campus library.

Drama for Students. Detroit, MI: Gale Research, 1988--
Call Number: PN1601 .D595

Epics for Students: Presenting Analysis, Context, and Criticism on Commonly Studied Epics . Detroit, MI: Gale Research, 1997--
Call Nunmber: PN56.E65 E67 1997

Literary Themes for Students: Examining Diverse Literature to Understand and Compare Universal Themes. Detroit, MI: Gale Research, 2006--
Call Number: PN56.R16 L58 2006

Literature of Developing Nations for Students: Presenting Analysis, Context, and Criticism on Literature of Developing Nations. Detroit, MI: Gale Research, 2000--
Call Number: PN3326 .L58 2000

Nonfiction Classics for Students. Detroit, MI: Gale Research, 2001--2003.
Call Number: PN3311 .N63

Novels for Students. Detroit, MI: Gale Research, 1997--
Call Number: PN3365 .N68

Poetry for Students. Detroit, MI: Gale Research, 1997--
Call Number: PN1101 .P756

Shakespeare for Students. Detroit, MI: Gale Research, 1997--
Call Number: PR2987 .S47 1997

Short Stories for Students. Detroit, MI: Gale Research, 1997--
Call Number: PN3373 .S3844

Primary vs. Secondary Sources

Primary Sources

Secondary Sources

Are works written by the author him/herself. They are often the short story, poem, play, or novel, about which you are writing.

Are critiques, summaries, criticisms, and overviews of that work in books, newspapers, popular magazines, and scholarly journals.

Appear in popular magazines and newspapers as interviews with the author.

Appear in magazines and newspapers as book reviews. Appear in scholarly journals as criticisms, critiques, or overviews.

Appear in books as correspondence (letters) or autobiography.

Appear in books as criticisms, critiques, or literary biography.

Ask A Librarian with Meebo

Important URL's

Here are several important URLs to help with your research.

The Main Library Website.

Clarkston Library Handouts Page.

How to Use the Library.

Clarkston Library Tutorials.

Frequently Asked Questions (from Clarkston).

How to Prepare an Annotated Bibliography (from Cornell University -- Olin Library)