conducting literary research
DESCRIPTION
Want to know how to conduct literary research? Here's where to start! This show covers databases, fields, and even the supercharged search secrets of truncation, wildcards, and Boolean operators.TRANSCRIPT
How to do Literary Research
What are we looking for?
Criticism What other people think about Beowulf
as a work Possible interpretations of Beowulf The work of scholars and professional
academics Peer-reviewed and researched (just like
yours!)
Author Biography How the author's life affected the book,
if at all Did the author of Beowulf have political
connections?
Whether or not the book affected or influenced other authors
Did Beowulf influence Lord of the Rings?
Book Biography How many times the book has been
translated, and by who Did Beowulf change when it was translated
to English? Whether any of it has been lost,
altered, or censored; and whether that's relevant
Historical context Comments on history
A Tale of Two Cities – commentary about the French Revolution
Context in history Beowulf – set during a certain time (i.e., in
context) how would a real warrior have been expected to
act at that time and in that part of the world?
Databases
Boston Public Library Contemporary Literary Criticism Artemis Literary Sources JSTOR Biography Resource Center
Boxford Library Academic OneFile
Strategies
Fields A “field” is a place to put metadata –
information about the work Author, subject, etc.
Name some fields! Using Fields in Databases
• Contemporary Literary Criticism Artemis Literary Sources JSTOR
AND/OR/NOT
AND searches for two terms in combination with one another
Cats AND Dogs returns only results that include both words
OR searches for both termsCats OR Dogs returns any result that includes either
term
NOT eliminates one term from the searchCats NOT Dogs removes all results that include the
word “Dogs”
AND/OR/NOT in action
AND
ti:Beowulf AND au:Heaney
OR
ti: Beowulf AND (au:Heaney OR au:Bloom)
NOT
ti: Beowulf NOT su:dogs
Special Search Magic Truncation
Find possessive and plural terms Beowul*
Beowulf Beowulf's
Wildcards Track down alternate spellings B*owulf
Beowulf Baowulf
Full-Text Secrets Not everything will be online
Get the citation Inter-Library Loan Field Trips
Salem State Boston Public Library
Getting full-text Follow that record! Download in pdf format, if possible
Read, Read, Read! Working bibliography Take notes as you read Read each source multiple times
Questions!