Getting Started with Gale Literature

Gale Literature is a database where you can find different article types for your literary research. You can find the following document types. 

• Topic & Work Overviews from Gale Literature Database

  • These are written for students and they a great place to find an introduction to:

    • the author and their historical/ biographical context
    • key themes and literary elements (ex. symbols or voice, etc.)
    • an overview of what critics say about that work/author's work
    • three brief pieces of original criticism
  • Look for topic and work overviews from the for Students series, so: Poetry for Students, Drama for Students, etc.

• Author Interviews

  • What does the author say about their own work and the ideas that drive them? Useful and interesting!

• News & Reviews

  • Written for the general public, the best reviews are insightful and accessible, while the most basic just offer a brief thumbs up/ thumbs down to the book.

• Biographies

  • A good biographical essay talks about the author's life, their influences, critical reception, and mor

To search for sources in Gale Literature, type in: 

• a theme or issue at Keyword (and/ or)
• a title at Name of Work
• and/or an author at Work By or About.
  • Tip 1: the database will offer suggestions as you enter your search term. Use them.
  • Tip 2: type author's name: surname (last name), first name. That's for this database only
  • Tip 3: Some of the articles under Literary Criticism are also written for a general audience.

Think critically about what you want to learn 

• You may not find much or anything about your literary text or author. Try: 
  • Different search terms. If "Two Kinds" by Amy Tan only returns a handful of articles, try searching for articles on The Joy Luck Club, the larger work it was published in.
  • A larger theme, such as "Chinese American authors" or "Chinese American" AND immigrants.

Sort your results by info type

• Use the tools built into the database to find background info and criticism written for a general audience.