Henry Buhl Library: HUMA 202: Civ Lit: Find Literary Criticism

In the Stacks

Critical Series

The Cambridge Companion to... (also available online)
Critical Essays on ...
Modern Critical Interpretations
Twayne's ... (also available online)
Twentieth Century Interpretations

Use the Advanced Search.

Use All of These to search terms together (such as Faust AND Goethe).
Or use Any of These to search two fields simultaneously (see screenshot below).

Use truncation.

Enables you to search for many words at the same time.
Ex: Searching for poe* will find results that include the terms poem, poems, poetry, poet, poema, and poesia.

Screengrab of Henry search demonstrating Advanced Search of Don Juan Tenorio in the Note and Title fields, with the Any of These bullet selected.

Search the Notes field.

Searches the table of contents of anthologies of literature and criticism.

Use Subject Headings.

Searches for works that are about your topic, despite the keywords used.

Search synonyms.

Always search for multiple terms (ex: drama, theater, plays, etc.).

Need a book the library does not own?

You can request the book through Interlibrary Loan. Info and a downloadable form are available here!

To search for books available in other libraries, try using

WorldCat -- Search the holdings of more than 10,000 libraries to locate books and identify citation information.

Library of Congress -- Access to the Library of Congress catalog and other online collections.

NOTE: Users do not need to identify a library that owns the book. Simply provide the appropriate information on the form and library staff will do the rest!

In these eBook Collections

Introductory Criticism

Dictionary of Literary Biography Complete Online (Gale Literature) This link opens in a new window
Signed essays written by scholars provide essential context for understanding the careers and writings of more than 12,000 authors from all time periods and from all parts of the world.
Twayne's Authors Series (Gale Literature) This link opens in a new window
eBook series of 800+ volumes covering the lives, works, and importance of writers from around the world.

Criticism by Author, Work, and/or Topic

Bloom’s Literary Criticism e-Books This link opens in a new window
Provides biography and criticism on hundreds of authors curated by world-renowned literary critic Harold Bloom.
Cambridge Companions to Literature and Classics This link opens in a new window
eBook collection offering thousands of essays on major literary authors, periods, and genres.

Ebsco E-Books
Access to over 200,000 full text eBooks across a variety of subjects.

Salem Literature Online This link opens in a new window
eBook collection supporting literary studies, including the Critical Insights series focused on individual authors, works, and themes.

Journal Article Databases

MLA International Bibliography with Full Text This link opens in a new window
The MLA International Bibliography with Full Text combines the definitive index for the study of language, literature, linguistics, rhetoric and composition, folklore, and film with full text for more than 1,000 journals, including many of the leading publications in these fields.
Literary Reference Source Plus This link opens in a new window
Full-text collection of journals, books, and reference works, as well as study guides and videos to support literary studies.
JSTOR This link opens in a new window
Archival Database of full text scholarly journal articles
Project Muse This link opens in a new window
Large collection of full-text scholarly articles and books supporting research in the humanities and social sciences.
Academic Search Premier This link opens in a new window
Covers a wide range of subject matter in both popular and scholarly periodicals.
Academic Search Complete is a comprehensive scholarly, multi-disciplinary full-text database, with more than 5,500 full-text periodicals, including more than 4,600 peer-reviewed journals. In addition to full text, this database offers indexing and abstracts for more than 9,500 journals and nearly 10,000 publications including monographs, reports, conference proceedings, etc. This scholarly collection offers unmatched full text coverage of information in many areas of academic study including: animal science, anthropology, area studies, astronomy, biology, chemistry, civil engineering, electrical engineering, ethnic & multicultural studies, food science & technology, general science, geography, geology, law, materials science, mathematics, mechanical engineering, music, pharmaceutical sciences, physics, psychology, religion & theology, veterinary science, women's studies, zoology, and many other fields. Academic Search Complete offers critical information from many sources unique to this massive collection. The database features PDF content going back as far as 1887, with the majority of full text titles in native (searchable) PDF format. Searchable cited references are provided for 1,000 journals.

Journal articles are very specific.

Finding articles is easier after you have read up on your topic.

Use more than one article database.

No database searches everything.
For thorough research, use more than one database and try different search terms.

A to Z List of Journals
Always check the A to Z list to see if we have access to the journal title and date of publication you need!

Need an article that isn't full text? Access the request form below.

Document Delivery Forms

Still unsure if a journal is scholarly, try Ulrich's.

Ulrich's Periodicals Directory This link opens in a new window
Database of information on 300,000+ periodicals of all kinds and formats, including their peer-review status.