Library Guides: English 2100: African American and Caribbean Narratives of Historical Revision and Historical Recovery: Criticism & General Background Information

Background Information

The Gale Virtual Reference Library is a collection of many online reference books.

The Literature Online Reference collection focuses on literature.

Guides to Reseach Methods & Resources

Literature Online Reference
Search a variety of literary reference sources: biographies, bibliographies, specialized encyclopedias, synopses.

Gale Virtual Reference Library
One stop searching in multiple encyclopedias, almanacs and handbooks. Great for multidisciplinary research. It is like searching multiple Wikipedias, but with scholarly content.

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Oxford Reference Online Premium
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The Art of Literary Research by Richard D. Altick; John J. Fenstermaker
Call Number: Reference PR56 .A68 1993
Publication Date: 1992

Outlines the principles underlying the critical examination of evidence and describes in detail the chief branches of literary inquiry. Practical advice on bibliographical procedure and note-taking, and on the writing of scholarly papers; guides the student through the great American and British libraries; and reviews the rewards, obligations, and ethics of the profession.
The Craft of Research by Wayne C. Booth; Gregory G. Colomb; Joseph M. Williams
Call Number: Online
Publication Date: 2008

The Craft of Research explains how to build an argument that motivates readers to accept a claim; how to anticipate the reservations of readers and to respond to them appropriately; and how to create introductions and conclusions that answer that most demanding question: So what?
A Research Guide for Undergraduate Students by Nancy L. Baker; Nancy Huling
Call Number: PR56 .B34 2006
Publication Date: 2006

Shows undergraduates how to use their research time efficiently and how to locate and evaluate material available from electronic databases and the Internet.
Literary Research Guide by James L. Harner
Call Number: Ready Reference PR83 .H34 2008
Publication Date: 2014

This handy work lists the basic reference tools for all sorts of literary research. In the online version you can sign up for a free account and collect the resources that will help you with each research project. We have most, although not all, of the tools listed in the Guide.
Reference Guide for English Studies by Michael Marcuse
Call Number: Reference PR56 .M37 1990
Publication Date: 1990
Guide to Reference Books by Robert Balay (Editor); Vee F. Carrington (Editor); Murray S. Martin (Editor)
Call Number: Ready Reference Z1035.1 .G89 1996
Publication Date: 1996

The 11th edition of the Guide to Reference Books brings together most useful research sources from early printing to contemporary electronic publishing.

Dictionaries of Terminology

The Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms
Call Number: Online
A Dictionary of Literary and Thematic Terms by Edward Quinn
Call Number: Online
Publication Date: 2006
The Routledge Dictionary of Literary Terms by Peter Childs (Editor); Roger Fowler (Editor)
Call Number: Online
Publication Date: 2005
A New Handbook of Literary Terms by David Mikics
Call Number: Online
Publication Date: 2007

Scholarly Sources

Use these resources to find scholarly articles, or sometimes book chapters or conference papers. No one database has it all, so you may want to compare different perspectives by running your search in several databases. Note that recently published books and poetry are not always well covered by the specialized databases. You'll probably have more luck in Discover @ MU or Academic Search Complete.

Click on to locate a copy of the article online, in the library, or through ILL@MU.

Discover@MU
Discover@MU searches a wide selection of databases all at once. It's speedy and easy, but lacks the precision that some of the other databases have. Use the left sidebar to refine your search, including limiting to peer-reviewed sources.

Academic Search Premier
This multi-disciplinary database provides full text for more than 4,600 journals, including full text for nearly 3,900 peer-reviewed titles. PDF backfiles to 1975 or further are available for well over one hundred journals, and searchable cited references are provided for more than 1,000 titles.

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MLA International Bibliography
MLA indexes critical scholarship in the modern languages, literatures, linguistics and folklore.

Date Coverage: 1963-date.

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ABELL + LiON journals
Searches the Annual Bibliography of Englilsh Language and Literatures and the full text of 300+ journals contained in Literature Online. ABELL lists monographs, periodical articles, critical editions of literary works, book reviews, collections of essays and doctorial dissertations dealing with the study of literature and linguistic published anywhere in the world. Coverage is 1920 to date.

America History and Life
America History and Life contains citations and abstracts of books, dissertations, and articles from approximately 2,000 journals published worldwide. Covers all aspects of U.S. and Canadian history, culture, and current affairs from prehistoric times to the present.

Date Coverage: 1964-date

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HAPI - Hispanic American Periodicals Index
HAPI - Hispanic American Periodicals Index indexes articles from over 575 journals on all aspects of life in Central and South America, Mexico, the Caribbean and Hispanics in the United States.

Date Coverage: 1970-date

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Search Guide: http://hapi.ucla.edu/web/free/help.php?token=689e91af8b236d1eeb0357188c7b3e98#1

Index to Black Periodicals
Reference AI3 .I552
Volumes for 2000-2004 are located in Reference, but earlier volumes are on 4E in Ellis Library. This print index, changing title over time, began in 1942, and provides access to articles by and about African Americans when these were not included in "mainstream" indexes.

Subject Librarian

Anne Barker

Email Me

Contact:

164 Ellis Library

(573)882-6324

Subjects:English Language & Literature, Foreign Language & Literature

Library Catalogs

The MERLIN catalog shows materials in the MU Libraries.
The MOBIUS catalog shows materials from Missouri academic libraries.
WorldCat shows materials from many libraries worldwide.
Google Book Search searches the full text of many, many books. It often allows you to preview parts of the books and links to the catalog so you can see if the library has the book.