English 1201: Introduction to the Principles of Literary Analysis
This guide is intended to introduce you to library resources that you'll need to use to find secondary sources for your papers.This guide is comprised of the following sections:
1. Searching for Secondary Sources (books and articles)
What is a secondary source?
Primary and secondary sources can be difficult to define -- how an item is used and treated by a scholar may determine whether it is a primary or secondary source (an early 20th century textbook, for instance).
In literary studies, things are generally straight-forward: the literary work (novel, poem, play) is the primary source; analysis and criticism of that literary work (such as an introductory overview of the works of Shakespeare) are secondary sources.
The secondary sources you are most likely to find and use for your essays will be scholarly books and articles published in scholarly journals. The Library Catalogue will help you find books; to search for articles, you'll need to use a journal index. More on this in the sections below.
For more information about primary and secondary sources, see the Primary and Secondary Resources: A Research Guide.
2. Searching for Books
topUse the Library Catalogue to search for books, e-books, A-V materials (including films on DVD) and government publications.
You can also use the catalogue to search for magazines and journals, but not for the articles within those magazines and journals. So, you could use the catalogue to find out that we have Macleans Magazine, but not to search the contents of the latest issue.
To search for articles, you'll need to use a Journal Index (more on that below).
For more details, see:
We also have a card catalogue : the online library catalogue contains records for alll library materials acquired since 1980 as well as many older works that have been re-catalogued. Please check the card catalogue for works published before 1980 that do not appear in the online catalogue. The card catalogue is now located next to the Reference Desk.
Subject and Keyword Searching:
When searching the library catalogue for books *about* an author and his/her works (secondary sources), you may search by Keyword or by Subject.
What's the difference?
Subject searches use Library of Congress SUBJECT HEADINGS. These are standardized headings assigned to a book after it is published to describe what the book is about. A single book may have just one or, more likely, several different Subject Headings.
You can use Subject Headings in various ways.
- When viewing the catalogue record of a particular book, you can look at the Subject Headings to get a better idea of what the book is about.
- You can click on the Subject Headings to find other books that have the same heading (similar to the way tags are used on sites such as Flickr).
- You can also search using Subject Headings by selecting "Starts With..." from the Library Catalogue's search page and choosing LC Subject from the drop-down menu.
Useful Subject Headings when searching for information about an author and/or his or her works include:
- Name of author (Last name, first name)
- Name of author (Last name, first name). Criticism and interpretation.
- Name of author (Last name, first name). Title of a specific work.
For example:
- Stevenson, Robert Louis, 1850-1894.
- Stevenson, Robert Louis, 1850-1894. Criticism and interpretation.
- Stevenson, Robert Louis, 1850-1894. Strange case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
Note: in some cases (as in the examples above), the author's date of birth (and date of death) is also part of the subject heading. You're not expected to know when an author was born and died -- an author's name is generally sufficient to find relevant results.
Simply follow these steps:
1. Select "Starts with..." on the Library Catalogue Quick Search page.
2. Type an author's last name and first name.
3. Select LC Subject from the drop-down menu.
4. Click Search.The next page should display a list of relevant subject headings which you can then browse by using the Next and Previous links. Numbers in the right-hand column indicate how many titles correspond to each Subject Heading.
KEYWORD searches work very differently. A keyword search allows you to search for a word, words or a phrase anywhere in the library catalogue record (for example, words from the author, title, subject, and publisher fields, etc.).
Unlike subject searches, keyword searches allow you to combine words and phrases using AND, OR, NOT (these are referred to as "boolean operators").
Examples: Any of these three keyword searches would find the title below:
victorian literature AND narrative (all words in title)
women AND narrative AND 19th century (words in title & subject fields)
langland AND gender AND rhetoric (words in author, title and subject fields)
title: Telling tales : gender and narrative form in Victorian literature and culture
author: Langland, Elizabeth
subject headings:
English fiction--19th century--History and criticism.
Sex role in literature.
Women and literature--Great Britain History--19th century.
Working class women in literature.
Narration Rhetoric
Note that a search for "women and victorian and novels" would not find the above titles since the word "novels" does not appear in the record. Most catalogues and databases do not interpret your searches -- they simply retrieve results based on the words you specify.Search Tip:
It's always a good idea when searching for information on a topic to use multiple search strategies and to account for variations in language, terminology, spelling, etc.The following guide offers tips on how to prepare an effective search strategy:
And this guide explains how to use boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT):
3. Searching for Articles
topJournal Indexes or Databases are used to search for articles, reviews, etc., in newspapers, magazines & scholarly journals. Certain indexes and databases also include essays and chapters published in multi-authored works.
The Mt.A Libraries subscribe and have access to several dozen electronic indexes and databases. Many of these are full-text databases that provide electronic access to the full article; others are just indexes that will help you identify articles relevant to your topic. The articles you identify may then be available in print in the library, in digital format in another library database, or by request using the library's interlibrary loan service.
The Library's Journal Indexes and Databases are listed by Title and are also grouped together by Subject.
The indexes and databases most useful for finding articles about a literary work are listed on the Indexes and Databases: English page.
First listed on that page is the MLA (Modern Language Association) International Bibliography (aka: the MLA Database). This is the primary research tool in the field of literature. It's usually the first place to look for articles about a literary work.
Reminder: Not all electronic Journal Indexes provide the full-text of the indexed articles. The MLA Database, for instance, is not a full-text database, but will help you identify and find items available electronically via other, full-text library databases (such as JSTOR, Project Muse) or available in print in the library.
To find out if the library has access to an article, use the Library Catalogue to search for the journal/magazine/newspaper in which the article is published. The Catalogue will direct you to the appropriate full-text database or provide the call number if the journal is available in print in the library.
You can also use Journal Finder to find out if the library has digital access to a particular journal. Access: On-campus | Off-campus
For more details, see: How do I search for articles?
4. Distinguishing Scholarly from Non-scholarly Journals
topMany of the Journal Indexes and Full-text Databases accessible via the Mount Allison Libraries include a variety of publication types, including scholarly peer-reviewed journals, trade journals, popular magazines and newspapers.
Distinguishing these types of publications can be challenging -- especially in a digital environment where many visual cues have been stripped away or are not immediately obvious (the glossy cover, presence of advertising, author credentials...).
The following two guides provide definitions and examples of scholarly and non-scholarly types of publications.
Tip: Note that several library databases allow you to limit your search results to peer-reviewed articles. Doing this allows you to eliminate from your search results articles and other items that are not scholarly publications.
- Distinguishing Scholarly Journals from Other Periodicals
by Michael Engle, Cornell University Libraries
- Scholarly Journal vs. Popular Magazine Articles
U. of Texas at San Antonio Library
5. How to Cite the Materials you Find
The MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers provides the guidelines for the proper formatting of literary research papers.
Brief MLA Citations Guides (covering the basic guidelines only) are available on the Research and Citation Guides page.
Multiple copies of the MLA Handbook are available in the Library's Reference Collection at LB 2369 .G53 2009.
Questions? You may contact a librarian at the Researh Help Desk by phone at 364-2564 or by e-mail at infodesk@mta.ca