EN 332: British Literature II: Literary Criticism

Finding Literary Criticism: Books

Try a Keyword search in the Catalog with the author's name.

Tip: An author search for an author's name will bring up books by the author, not about him or her. Use the author's name and criticism or interpretation to find results. For example: Dickinson, Emily and criticism.

A Subject search can be done with the author's last name, and first name (Plath, Sylvia). Then look for subheadings criticism and interpretation.

You might also check to see if a bibliography has been published on the author you're researching. To search the catalog for these, try the author's name and "bibliography" as a keyword search. Example: plath bibliography

Finding Literary Criticism: Journal Articles

First things first: you're looking for literary criticism within journals, not book reviews. A work of literary criticism differs from a book review in that it is typically a more in-depth critique of a work, and it's most often intended for an academic audience.

To find literary criticism, search keywords like the title of the work, author's name, and themes.

Question: Where Do I Find Journal Articles?!

Answer: Databases! (You will not find journal articles on Google, sad to say...)

Database Basics

1. Search for your author.
2. Search for your author's work of interest.
3. Use the suggested subjects that the database recommends.
4. Choose source type Academic Journal.
5. Search MLA International Bibliography and Humanities International Complete at the same time with CHOOSE DATABASES above the search box on the results page
6. In Literary Reference Center Plus, limit to source type literary criticism.

Searching Tips and Tricks

If you know the journal title:

Use our Journal Finder.

If you can't find PDF Full Text:

Look for the Full Text Finder link.

If the article isn't online:

Request it through Article Request.