Literature Research Guide
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MLA International Bibliography | OED | Academic Search Premier| Summit (Orbis Cascades) Catalog |
Reference Sources: Dictionaries / Literary encyclopedias / Handbooks / Biography / Criticism
Finding poems, plays, short stories, essays and speeches
Finding Books in Online Catalogs
OSU Libraries Online Catalog identifies books, journals, and other materials in the OSU Libraries.
Summit (Orbis Cascades) Catalog is a shared catalog that identifies books held by over 25 academic libraries in Oregon and Washington. Books not at OSU can requested from the catalog and will be sent to Valley Library within 3-4 business days.
WorldCat: The WorldCat database indexes over 30 million records of any type of material cataloged by the Library of Congress and OCLC member libraries. Most useful for known items. Too large for effective subject searching. NOTE: The OSU Libraries do not have all materials indexed in WorldCat.
The Library of Congress Classification System arranges language and literature in the following general call numbers, which locates them on the Fourth Floor:
| PA 1-8595 | Classical languages and literature |
| PL 1-8844 | Languages and literatures of Eastern Asia, Africa, Oceania (Japanese language and literature PL501-889) (Chinese language and literature PL1001-3207) |
| PN 1-6720 | Literary history and collections (General) esp. PN 1600-3300 Drama |
| PN 1600-3300 | Drama |
| PQ 1-9999 | Romance literatures (French literature PQl-3999) (Spanish literature PQ6001-8929) |
| PR 1-9680 | English literature |
| PS 1-3565 | American literature |
| PT 1-9999 | Germanic literature |
Generally, within each of the language and literature class number the arrangement is by century or literary period (Romanticism, etc.), then alphabetically by author within each period. For example, most works by and about William Wordsworth (1770-1890) can be found in the call number range PR 5850 - PR 5895 (English Literature, Romanticism/Nineteenth Century, Wordsworth, William).
Finding Articles in Journals
MLA International Bibliography: The major index in literature and language studies. Citations and some full text for books, journals, anthologies, and more. Online: 1963-present. Print: 1921-1988, Ref Z7006.M64
Arts & Humanities Citation Index: Index to leading arts and humanities journals, including poetry and short fiction in literary periodicals. Search by author, subject, and cited reference.
Academic Search Premier - Citations and some full text to journals in literary studies. Content is not as strong as MLA. Good for book reviews. Includes cited reference searching.
Essay and General Literature
Index: Citations to essays and articles in collections of
essays and other works published in the U.S., Great Britain and Canada.
Subjects covered include: archaeology; art; drama; economics; history;
linguistics; music; poetry; political science; religion; and women's studies.
1983 - Present (Silverplatter) Print 1900-1993, Ref: AI3.E7
Electronic journals
OSU Libraries online journals related to literature. If you're researching a topic, beginning with MLA (see above) or another database is more efficient.
Reference Sources
Dictionaries:
Oxford
English Dictionary (OED) Online: Historical dictionary of
the words that have formed the English vocabulary from the time of earliest
records down to the present day with all the relevant facts concerning
their form, sense-history, pronounciation, and etymology.
Print version: PF 1625 087 1989
Dictionary of Foreign Terms Ref: PE 1670 .M3 1987 Single volume service explaining foreign phrases and words likely to be encountered in American and English literature.
Slang Dictionaries: Ref PE 2846
The Valley Library's reference collection includes many literary encyclopedias and companions, arranged by Library of Congress call numbers. These titles are representative; you'll find more by going to the section with the appropriate call number (see chart above).
The Companion to African Literatures Ref PR 9340 .C65 2000
Encyclopedia of American Literature Ref PS 21 .E53 1999
Encyclopedia of German Literature Ref OT 91 .E53 2000
Oxford Companion to African American Literature Ref PS 153 .N5 O96
Oxford Companion to English Literature Ref PR 19 .D73 1985
Oxford Companion to French Literature Ref PQ 41 .N481 1995
Reference Guide to Russian Literature Ref PG 2940 .R441 1998
Oxford Companion to the Theatre Ref: PN 2035 .091 1983
The New Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics: PN1021 .N39 1993
Handbooks
Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Theor y Ref PN41 .C83 1991
Handbook to Literature Ref PN 41 .H355 2003
John Hopkins Guide to Literary Theory and Criticism Ref PN 81 .J541 1994
The encyclopedias and companions include biographical information. Other good sources:
Contemporary Authors and CA New Revision (Gale): PS 129 .C61 and .C657
To find a specific entry, use cumulative indexes in marked volumes, in CA Cumulative Index Ref PS129 .C611)
Dictionary of American Biography (DAB) : Ref E 176 .D5
Important Americans in all walks of life. Articles are written 10 or more years after the person has died.
Dictionary of National Biography Ref DA 28 .D5. The British version of DAB
Something about the Author Ref PN 452 .S6 Children's authors.
Surveys of criticism
Classical and Medieval Literary Criticism : PN681.5 .C57
Contemporary Literary Criticism : Ref PN 771 .C64 Living writers and writers who died after 1959.
Twentieth Century Literary Criticism : Ref PN771 .T91 Writers who died between 1900 and 1999.
Magills Bibliography of Literary Criticism : Ref PN 523 .M3
Finding Poems, Plays, Short Stories, Essays & Speeches
Subject Research Guide: http://osulibrary.oregonstate.edu/research/srg/poems.html
Book & Film Reviews
Subject Research Guide: http://osulibrary.oregonstate.edu/research/guides/reviews.htm
Subject librarian for literary studies: Loretta Rielly
