LibGuides: E 303: Plan II World Literatures, Pat Garcia: 2. Library Databases & Search Tools

1. Background Information

Find summaries, short articles, and descriptions on scholarly topics from vetted encyclopedias and dictionaries. Think "scholarly Wikipedia" (and unlike Wikipedia, you can cite these in an academic paper).

Gale eBooks
The name says "eBooks," but this is an excellent collection of humanities encyclopedias, dictionaries, handbooks, and other reference volumes.

2. Find Scholarly Criticism (Books & Journal Articles)

Literary criticism is the scholarly evaluation, explanation, and analysis of literature. It can be written at any time, even centuries after the publication of the literature it critiques. Literary criticism is often found in scholarly journals or books. Not sure what we mean by "scholarly"? See some explanation on this page.

MLA International Bibliography
Search for: Scholarly journal articles, books, book chapters, and dissertations. MLA is a top search tool for literary studies and literary criticism. Video tutorial on how to use MLA.

JSTOR
Search for: Scholarly journal articles, books, and book chapters. JSTOR is a key database for humanities research. Note that it is multidisciplinary and may require more exact search terms than MLA.

UT Library Catalog
Search for: The UT Libraries' collections of print books, ebooks, and films. Your search results will pull up books written by your chosen author, as well as books about your author or their work.

3. Find Interviews

For interviews with writers, try these databases with newspapers and magazines.
Hint: Try using the word "interview" as one of your search keywords, along with the author's name. Some these databases have an option in Advanced Search to limit to interviews. If you have questions, ask Gina!

Academic Search Complete
A broad, multidisciplinary database of scholarly journals, newspapers, magazines, and other publications. NOTE: Because this is such a large database, it can be a little tricky to narrow down to interviews. Try using the word "interview" as a keyword, or use the limiters on the left margin to narrow your search results.
New York Times (Historical)
The historical backfile of the New York Times from 1851-2018. NOTE: If you're working with a living author and want interviews after 2018, use the New York Times (Recent), linked below.
New York Times (Recent)
A searchable collection of recent New York Times articles from 2008 up to 3 months ago.
Times Literary Supplement Historical Archive
The historical backfile of The Times of London's Literary Supplement, which includes many book reviews and author interviews. It runs from 1902-2014. NOTE: If you want interviews after 2014, use the Times Literary Supplement link below.
Times Literary Supplement
Current access, from 2010-present, of The Times of London's literary supplement with book reviews, author interviews, and other literary and publishing news from the U.K.
Nexis Uni
A large database of newspapers, including papers from other countries.
NOTE: This database is known for having a tricky search interface. Don't hesitate to ask for help from Gina or the Ask A Librarian service if you run into trouble.
MasterFILE Complete
A very large collection of newspapers, magazines, trade publications, and other periodicals, mostly from the U.S. It's updated daily!

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