In the field of literary studies, there are a variety of strategies for finding relevant sources to inform your essay topics. Consider searching for information on:

• the author under study

• specific works of the author, or broader discussion of their work

• literary themes, techniques or subgenres represented in the text

• identities important to the text (national, political, sexual, gender etc.)

• combinations of the above

Tip: Add the term criticism to your search words to narrow results down to works of literary criticism

Examples:

Text / author specific search journal artticle: Re-writing the Bhabhian "mimic man": Akin, the posthuman other in Octavia Butler's Adulthood Rites

Broadened, genre/theme journal article: Self and Other in SF: Alien Encounters

Background sources, also known as reference works (encyclopedias, handbooks, literary dictionaries, etc.) can be a helpful entry point to a research topic. They can provide biographical information about authors, overviews of key texts, introductions to literary genres, themes and techniques, along with helpful definition. 

TIP: Keep search queries very short when using background sources - usually one or two search words is enough, e.g. Octavia Butler, cyborg, dystopia, etc.
 

Recommended Collections

• Oxford Reference: Literature 

  Large collection of reference works related to literature. 

• CredoReference 

  Large collection of reference works, including many from the field of literary studies. Use the drop-down menu on the results screen to narrow by subject and/or by article length (longer articles are generally more informative).
   

Recommended Titles

• MLA International Bibliography
  • ​Includes journal articles and references to books and book chapters (you will need to look for books/chapters in LibrarySearch)
  • Considered one of the most important tools in literary studies
  • Be sure to try the advanced search and experiment with the drop-down menus there. Use the drop-downs to search for keywords in the ABSTRACT, TITLE, or SUBJECT of results to improve relevance. 
    
     
• Literature Resource Center
  • ​Includes scholarly and non-scholarly content, focus on scholarly content (for example, avoid book reviews)
  • Keep searches simple - start with author name, or title of text
     
• Literature Criticism Online 
  • ​This tool gathers reviews/critical commentary focusing on a specific author or work. Use the drop-down menu to search for author, title of text, or keyword search for thematic terms.
  •  Use the sidebars to narrow results.
  • Look at the word counts provided, to avoid short, non-academic articles.
     
• LibrarySearch - on the MRU Library homepage 
  • Includes journal articles, books and book chapters of literary criticism, as well as book reviews
  • Try adding the term criticism to your search.
  • Try limiting your search by subject using the side panel. From the list, select a tag relevant to your topic, e.g., languages & literature, or science fiction. This pulls only those results that have been "tagged" with the subject term you selected.
  • Sign in when using LibrarySearch; this allows you to "pin" or save items you find.

Look carefully at the works cited lists of relevant sources:

• Journal article: The Analogical Alien: Constructing and Construing Extraterrestrial Invasion in Wells's "The War of the Worlds"  (journal article) 
• Wikipedia article: Cyberpunk 

Track down relevant titles you see listed there, then look for the full-text in multiple places:

• MRU LibrarySearch
• Google Scholar
• Google Books
• Interlibrary loan

Assembling search queries

- Put important phrases inside "quotation marks" e.g., "science fiction"

- Search for all possible endings of a word by placing an asterisk * at the end of a word stem, e.g., psychol*

- Experiment with synonyms or alternate way to express key ideas, e.g., other, otherness, alien 

Use filters to improve results

- Select journal article and scholarly & peer-review to limit to scholarly articles

- Use the subject filter to limit to results tagged with specific words

MLA Citation Resources

• MRU guide to MLA style for academic work (2021-2022)

• MLA style center

Additional Assistance with Citation

• You can make an appointment with Writing and Learning Services to get detailed help with the citations for your assignments.
• You can ask citation related questions via the Library's Chat service.