American Literature

Limiting to English:

Removing results that you will not be able to read from your list can keep the number of results manageable.

Using drop-down options:

• Lots of options are provided but two very helpful ones are:
  • Primary Subject Author (who wrote the book, poem, etc.)
  • Primary Subject Work (the title of the book, poem, etc.
     
• Use these to make sure the criticism is focused on a particular author and/or work, rather than just casual mentions.

Adding other keywords:

Narrow your focus by adding keywords related to the characters, themes, motifs, etc. that you are writing about to your search.

Ex: For an essay focused on symbolism in the Scarlet Letter, symbolism and specific symbols (such as Pearl) make great keywords.

Limiting to peer-reviewed criticism:

For quality criticism, you can limit to Scholarly (Peer Reviewed) Journals.

* Remember, this will remove all book results from your list. You will need to evaluate these yourself for quality.

Limiting to English:

Removing results that you will not be able to read from your list can keep the number of results manageable.