Reinventing Literary History – The Americas – Library Research Fall 2009

Professor Amanda Springs

•REFERENCE BOOKS:

Encyclopedia of the North American Colonies. 3 vols. E45 .E53 1993
Encyclopedia of American Cultural and Intellectual History. 3 vols. E169.1 E624 2001
Encyclopedia of the United States in the Nineteenth Century. E169.1 E626 2001 & online & online
Reader’s Companion to American History. E174 .R43 1991 & online

Encyclopedia of African American Culture and History. 5 vol. E185 .E54 2006
Encyclopedia of Latin American History and Culture. F1406 .E53 2001
Macmillan Encyclopedia of World Slavery. 2 vols. HT861 .M24 1998
Encyclopedia of Latin American Literature. PQ7081. A1 E56 1997 & online
Latin American Writers. 3 vols + suppl. PQ7081 .A1 E56 1999
Spanish American Women Writers. PQ7081 .S63 1990g
Plays of Shakespeare: a Thematic Guide. PR2987 .C28 2000 & online

Dictionary of Literary Biography. 200 plus vols.  PS129 .D5 & online
Oxford Companion to African American Literature. PS153 .N5 096 1997
Nathaniel Hawthorne Encyclopedia. PS1880 .G3 1991
Companion to Melville Studies. PS2386 .C66 1986
Walt Whitman: an Encyclopedia. PS3230. W35 1998

•CLIO: Columbia University Information Online
  The library catalog for Columbia University, including Barnard College. CLIO can be searched by title,
  author, subject, keyword, and other options

 TITLE SEARCH:

*try:     title:  house of the seven gables

*note: *retrieves all books that begin with the phrase “house of the seven gables”  

             *note: capitalization is not necessary.

             *note: different editions, multiple locations, visuals and sound recordings.

JOURNAL TITLE SEARCH: 

*note:  journals are also listed in CLIO

*try:     journal title: american literature

*note: *locations; both Barnard and Butler own this journal

             *holdings: must click on the record or link to see what the library owns

             *note: full-text electronic journals are also listed in CLIO

AUTHOR SEARCH:

*try:       author: wheatley phillis

*note:    wheatley’s works are listed alphabetically

KEYWORD SEARCH:

*try:       keyword: literature identity argentin?

               keyword:  melville and (race or racial or black)
               keyword: “united states” and transcendentalism                

SUBJECT SEARCH: must use LC (Library of Congress) subject headings

*try:       subject: slavery caribbean   

*try:       subject: women--united states--history

*try:       subject: juana ines de la cruz (note “criticism and interpretation” division)

  •DATABASES AND INDEXES: from the A-Z listing of Databases can be searched from both the Barnard

  and Columbia University libraries’ home pages. The Database list includes library catalogs, reference

  books and more. Databases relevant   for this class project are: MLA Bibliography, Humanities Full Text,

  LION, JSTOR and Project Muse. You may also want to try additional databases such as ProQuest and

  Gender Studies.

•MLA BIBLIOGRAPHY:

  This database is a comprehensive literature and language database and includes folklore. Includes

  citations to journal articles, books, and articles in books. Use keywords. * is the truncation symbol.

 *try: sor juana

 *try: sor juana AND (church or nun*)

 *try: equiano slave narrative* 

•HUMANITIES FULL TEXT:

This database can help locate articles in the humanities including literature, history, art, classics, music, religion and other humanities topics.  Use “and” between keyword terms. * is the truncation symbol.

*try:  “sor juana”

*try:  “sor juana” AND (church or nun*)

*try:   “anne brandstreet” AND puritan*

•LION: Literature Online:  

Primarily criticism on literature in English. Many full-text articles. * is the truncation symbol.

Literatures other than English language are now being included. Includes a library of literary texts online.
*click on: “criticism and reference box”.

*type “song of myself” in “keyword” box and “whitman” in “author/subject” box

•JSTOR: Searchable e-journal collections. Full-text articles; excludes recent years. Includes literature, history, African American Studies, Latin American Studies, sociology and other areas of study.

*use advanced search for more precise searching.  & is the truncation sign.

*choose all journal categories by not selecting any category

*type: "benito cereno” in the “all of the words box” and perform a search

•PROJECT MUSE:
  Searchable collection of journals full text; includes current years only. Multidisciplinary.

  Includes literature journals such as Marvels and Tales, Modern Fiction Studies, as well as the Journal of

  the History of Sexuality and more. *is the truncation symbol.

 *try: brockden brown AND wieland (using all journals)

•PROQUEST DIRECT:

  Multidisciplinary database which includes many full-text articles. Some literature journals are included.

  After doing a search, retrieving results, find scholarly journals by clicking on “scholarly articles” tab.

  *tip: put “and” between search terms or put terms in separate boxes. *is the truncation symbol.

  *try: slave narrative* AND equiano
  *try: william AND apess  

•GENDER STUDIES DATABASE:

   This is a database which can help locate citations to articles in the social sciences including

   anthropology, psychology, politics and sociology. Includes Women’s Studies. Use “and” between

   keyword terms.

   *try:   phillis wheatley AND poetry

   *try:   feminis* AND shakespeare

*note: try various searches and multiple databases                10/15/09 kdd   kdobrusk@barnard.edu