Literature Research Checklist

Use this checklist to ensure that you have thoroughly researched your author. The resources listed can be used to locate works BY an author as well as biographical and critical information ABOUT an author. Both print and electronic resources are included in the checklist. In some cases, the resource will be accessible from a remote computer and may require a password, usually your library card number, to logon. In other cases, the resource will be available only in the LRC.

Books and periodical articles not available either in electronic format or as part of the LRC collection may be obtained through InterLibrary Loan from another library. Books are available free-of-charge; periodical articles up to 25 pages are also available, in most cases, free-of-charge. ILL takes approximately 10 days from the time of your request to receipt of the material. YOU MUST START YOUR RESEARCH EARLY TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THIS SERVICE. Ask a librarian for more information.

For those resources which are available in full-text format, a MLA Documentation of Electronic Resources handout is available.

Primary Sources Biographical Sources
Critical Sources Free Web Sources

P
R
I
M
A
R
Y

S
O
U
R
C
E
S

Books
Short Stories,
Plays & Poetry
  • Short Story Index
    Literature Table
  • Play Index
    Literature Table
  • Granger's Index to Poetry
    Literature Table
  • PZ 1 Section of the Book Collection
Electronic Texts

B
I
O
G
R
A
P
H
I
C
A
L

S
O
U
R
C
E
S

 Reference Books
  • Contemporary Authors
    REF PN 771 .C58
  • Dictionary of Literary Biography
    REF PS 221 .D5
  • Author Pathfinders
Books
Full-Text Databases

C
R
I
T
I
C
A
L

S
O
U
R
C
E
S

Reference Books
  • Contemporary Literary Criticism
    REF PN 771 .C59
  • Twentieth Century Literary Criticism
    REF PN 771 .G27
  • 19th Century Literature Criticism
    REF PN 761 .N5
  • Literature Criticism From 1400 to 1800
    REF PN 86 .L53
  • Classical and Medieval Literature Criticism
    REF PA 3002 .C56
  • Short Story Criticism
    REF PN 3321 .S5
  • Drama Criticism
    REF PN 1625 .D72
  • Poetry Criticism
    REF PN 1010 .P6
  • Many Others
  • Author Pathfinders
Books
Explication Indexes
  • Magill's Bibliography of Literary Criticism
    Literature Table
  • Twentieth Century Short Story Explication
    Literature Table
  • Drama Criticism
    Literature Table
  • Poetry Explication
    Literature Table
Periodical Articles
Full-Text Databases

W
E
B

S
O
U
R
C
E
S

Literary Index This site provides a comprehensive index to the collection of critical reference sources published by Gale.
Literary Resources on the Web This web site by Jack Lynch of Rutger's University provides a collection of links to Internet sites dealing with English and American literature. The sites are arranged by literary time period and genre.
Online Literary Criticism Collection This web site from the Internet Public Library provides access to over 1500 critical and biographical websites. The site can be browsed by author, title or by literary period.
Voice of the Shuttle Web Page for Humanities Research This web site by Alan Liu of the University of California, Santa Barbara provides links to Internet sites in the area of the humanities. Specific areas related to literature include English Language Literature, Other Literature and Literary Theory.
Search Engines and Directories
Search Engine Strategies Chart		 Directories
Search Engines
Meta-Search Engines

Copyright (C) 1996
Valencia Community College
West Campus Learning Resources Center
Revised 14 December 2001
All rights reserved
This handout was prepared by Judi DeLisle