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ENGL 1B, Fernandez: Literary Criticism in the Library

A guide to course readings and library research for students in Hilda Fernandez' ENGL 1B class.

Foothill College Library

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What Is Literary Research?

Zora Neale Hurston

Research is formalized curiosity. It is poking and prying with a purpose.

-- Zora Neale Hurston

 

When you start work on a research paper, you join a community of scholars. Your job is not simply to report the literary criticism you read, but to evaluate and use it to support your own ideas and opinions. "By using secondary sources you can enrich your analysis, as you place yourself in the midst of the scholarly community ..."*

*Barnet, Sylvan and William E. Cain. A Short Guide to Writing about Literature. New York: Pearson Longman, 2009: 306.

Literature Resource Center: Our Best Database for Literary Criticism

What is it?

This database combines full-text articles from scholarly journals and literary magazines with critical essays, work and topic overviews, full-text works, biographies, and more to provide a wealth of information on authors, their works, and literary movements.

Where do I find it?

On the library home page scroll down to the OneSearch box and click on Find Articles. Notice that when you do that, a link to the A-Z Database List appears below the search box. Click on that link and then select Literature Resource Center from the list.

How do I use it?

Enter an author or literary work in the search box and select the type of content you want, e.g. Literature Criticism. You can print, email, or download documents.

Find Background Information

Off-Campus Access

For off-campus access to the online databases and eBooks, you'll need your student ID. See our Off-Campus Library Services LibGuide for more information.

You can also renew your books online from home.