Research Guides: English: A Guide to Research

Rebecca's Recommendations for Getting Started

Cambridge Companions Complete Collection This link opens in a new window
Fulltext of Cambridge Companion books, with extensive, chapter-length essays.
MLA International Bibliography This link opens in a new window
Search MLA to find literary criticism, book reviews, & more.
ProQuest One Literature This link opens in a new window
Literary criticism, authors' biographies, reference resources with citations.
Library Catalog - Advanced This link opens in a new window
A subset of Library Search that finds only materials owned by SMU Libraries, such as books, journals, movies, etc.
WorldCat This link opens in a new window
Find books, journals, and archival collections from libraries around the world. Request items through interlibrary loan. Great for English majors because many records include a book's table of contents.
JSTOR This link opens in a new window
Fulltext of the entire back issues of scholarly journals

Literary Periods
Research by era: Ancient, Medieval, Early Modern, Age of Revolutions, Modern to Contemporary
Literature & Geographical Regions
American, British, Postcolonial, Southern, and Western lit
Literary Genres: Form
Novels, Plays & Drama, Poetry, Short Stories
Literary Genres: Theme
Crime & Mystery Fiction, Folk & Fairy Tales, Gothic & Horror Stories, Graphic Novels, Science Fiction & Fantasy Lit, and Environment & Ecology in Fiction
Literature: Multiculturalism
Literatures of different people: African & African American, Asian American & Pacific Islander, Hispanic & Latin American, Jewish, and Native American
Literature: Diversity
Literatures of various groups: Women & Gender, LBGTQIA+, Disability, & Children
Literature & Creative Writing
Of particular use to those with creative writing specialization
Literature: Graduate & Advanced Studies
Additional resources, including digital humanities info, for advanced researchers, graduate students, & faculty members
Literature: Reference and More
Contains the odd database that may be of use, book reviews, dictionaries, finding biographical info, LC Call #s for literature, and MLA citation style help.

Oxford Bibliographies This link opens in a new window
Suggests the best scholarship across a wide variety of subjects. Includes: American Literature, British and Irish Literature, Medieval Studies, Renaissance and Reformation, and Victorian Literature.
Oxford English Dictionary This link opens in a new window
The best English language dictionary, with historical usage & etymologies.

Literary Research Guide
Call Number: Fondren Library, Centennial Reading Room, Reference, Non-circulating PR83 .H37 2008
Evaluates reference materials in English studies
Johns Hopkins Guide to Literary Theory & Criticism
Fulltext articles on critical and theoretical schools and movements, with historical context.
Routledge Dictionary of Literary Terms
Terms and concepts encountered in 21st century literary studies debates.

Contact:

regraff@smu.edu

Subjects: English, Liberal Studies, Medieval Studies, Philosophy, World Languages & Literatures, Writing & Reasoning

Part 1, Pre-Search (30 minutes)
Finding background information, developing a research question, and brainstorming questions to investigate
Part 2, Search & Research (20 minutes)
Developing a thesis, organizing your thoughts, and searching for pertinent information