EN 366: Applied Literary Theory
Professor Carol Bays

Library Resource Guide
Instruction provided by SaraJane Tompkins

Library Map

Guide to Library of Congress Call Numbers

Locating Books

 Library Catalog When searching for biographical and critical information in the library catalog, be sure to search from the title/author/subject search screen.  Also, enter the authors last name first (ex. Erdrich, Louise) and select the Library of Congress Subject Heading button before searching.

Oxford Reference Online

This large collection of full-text reference resources covers many subjects. Including: The Oxford Companion to American Literature, and The Oxford Companion to Twentieth-Century Poetry in English

Locating Journal Articles

MLA The premier index to scholarly publications (journals, books, proceedings, etc.), in the fields of literature, language, and linguistics. Use the "Search for Full Text" icon to locate journal articles or search the library catalog to determine if Olson Library owns other materials (books, proceedings, bibliographies, etc.).

General OneFile
Full text database and Index to articles in over 9,000 general and scholarly periodicals. Contains full-text articles from over 5,000 magazine and journal titles as well as newspapers from the Knight-Ridder/Tribune News Services. Indexing begins in 1980 with full text starting in 1983. 

Historical and Cultural Information Sources

JSTOR
Completely full text, this collection of over 200 journals in a variety of fields contains nearly the complete run of a particular journal title, some as far back as 1878. There are 39 journals in history, 16 in literature, and 17 in philosophy.

America : History & Life
Includes citations from journals covering history and culture, area studies, and current affairs of the United States and Canada from prehistory to the present. Also includes book and media reviews. 2,000+ sources. Coverage from 1964 – present; updated monthly.

OCLC WorldCat
A combined catalog of the holdings of over 40,000 libraries which are members of the Online Computer Library Center (OCLC). This includes most of the medium-sized or larger libraries in the United States , plus several large international libraries. Use WorldCat to search for books and other items which are not owned by the Olson Library. However, it does NOT index the contents of periodicals. Sources include books, periodicals, photographs, sound recordings, motion pictures, artworks, historical artifacts, and anything else owned by a member library. Over 47 million catalog records from over 40,000

Literary Criticism Information Sources

Search the Literary Index to determine if your author is listed in these multivolume sets.
Dictionary of Literary Biography (DLB) Ref. Collection: PN 451 .D52
Dictionary of Literary Biography Yearbook (DLBY) Ref. Collection: PN 451 .D526
Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism Ref. Collection: PN 94 G35 Encyclopedia of World Literature in the 20 th Century Ref. Collection: PN774 L443

Borrowing Materials from Other Libraries

Interlibrary Loan allows you to obtain materials not owned by the Olson Library.  Materials such as books and periodical articles, among other sources, can be borrowed from other libraries.  The average time to receive requested materials is 1-2 weeks and you will be notified by email when your items arrive.  Consult the link above to submit a request and for further details.

MLA Style

MLA Style Guide Shows examples of how to cite common sources, including web sites and online articles, according to the most recent edition of the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers. 

Consult the Handbook in the library's reference collection for sources not listed at this site. Reference Collection: LB 2369 .G53.

Need Further Assistance?

Stop by the Reference Desk for further assistance with any of these sources.  You can also contact the Reference Desk through live chat or by phone at 227-2294.