LIBRARY INSTRUCTIONAL GUIDE
ENGLISH AND WORLD LITERATURE AND SPEECH
English literature includes literature of the
Finding Books [using
our online book catalog]:
The Library of Congress (LC) Classification System is used by most college and university libraries to classify and arrange books on the shelves. The following letters from the LC System are useful in researching these subjects.
Language & Literature [general] P
Various World Literatures PB - PM
Literature PN
English Literature PR
American Literature PS
Children’s Literature PZ
Go to these sections in Reference or the general stacks to browse these topic areas. For more detailed information, ask the librarian on duty for a handout describing the complete range of the Library of Congress System.
Sample Search Terms [for use in the online book catalog or other
databases]:
literature, French literature, novels, American novels, The sun also rises, Edgar Allen Poe, linguistics, speech, rhetoric, Marxist literary theory, Shakespeare, communications, poetry, Swedish poetry, sonnets, poetics, theater, drama, Sophocles, Restoration comedy, Globe theater, grammar and composition, essays
Suggested Print
Resources [in the Reference Section; all are multivolume sets]:
Oxford
English Dictionary (OED)
Masterplots
Dictionary
of Literary Biography [DLB]
Classical
and Medieval Literature Criticism [CMLC]
Literary
Criticism from 1400 – 1800 [LC]
Nineteenth
Century Literary Criticism [NCLC]
Twentieth
Century Literary Criticism [TCLC]
Contemporary
Literary Criticism [CLC]
Contemporary
Authors [CA]
Poetry
Criticism [PC]
Short
Story Criticism [SSC]
Shakespeare
Criticism [SC]
Poetry
for Students
Novels
for Students
Short
Stories for Students
British
Writers
American
Writers
Use the online book catalog to determine the call numbers for the above items, or ask for help at the Information Desk.
Online Databases:
Online databases yield important information published in the periodical literature, including magazines, professional journals and newspapers. Some of our most authoritative sources for this type of information are:
Gale
[Biography Resource Center, Contemporary Authors, etc., Contemporary Literature
Criticism—Select, Scribner Writers
Series, Twayne Author Series, Literature Resource Center]
EBSCOhost [Academic Search Complete, Academic Search
Premier, Master FILE Premier, History Reference Center, Magill on Literature
Plus, Religion and Philosophy Collection, World History Collection]
Proquest
[Literature Online, MLA Bibliography]
Wilson
Web [Like EBSCO, an excellent general source]
Click on our library home page under “Online Databases” to access these resources. All of them contain full-text capabilities, allowing selected articles to be printed out in their entirety.
Internet Resources
[selected]:
These content-rich websites contain much useful data. However, as with all Net-based resources, students should be discriminating about what they are finding and using. Not all resources on the Internet are equal. These have been found to be reliable.
www.brown.edu/Department/Novel
www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3643
www.enotes.com/short-story
http://shakespeare.palomar.edu/criticism.htm
www.enotes.com/william-shakespeare
debate.uvm.edu/NFL/rostrumliboratory
Citation Style: MLA [Modern Language Association]
Correct citation form is that which is preferred by your teacher. The MLA form indicated here is almost always the appropriate form for English-related subjects. Our web page contains suggestions for MLA style under “Student Resources.” Click there for more information. The most recent edition of the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers is available in the Reference stacks. It is the most authoritative source for all questions about MLA citation form.
Tutorials: [under construction]
For further information, call the general library reference number at
the Main Yeary library at 956-721-5274 or 956-794-4261 at the Zaffirini (South)
library. We are available for assistance during all the hours the library is open.
You may also reach us by email at reference_desk@laredo.edu.