ENGL 248 African American Literature

A collection of resources for assignments commonly seen in ENGL 248 at Green River College.

Interlibrary Loans

Can't find the full text of an article?

  1. Note down the author, title of article, name of the magazine, journal or newspaper, and date of publication
     
  2. Make an Interlibrary Loan Request using the link below. Digital articles will be sent directly to you if you provide your email. Print articles are sent to Holman Library. We can arrange to send them to you or you can pick them up from the library.
    • Note: Requesting electronic articles from another library often takes 1-3 business days, or up to a week for physical item requests.
       
  3. Or Ask a Librarian for help by using the chat feature on the "Get Help" tab of this guide!

Find Literary Criticism in Library Databases

Getting an Overview

Use Holman Library OneSearch to get an overview of criticism across library databases. Please note:

  • OneSearch defaults to full-text only
  • Subject Terms provided in individual databases are much more helpful. Start with Academic Search Complete to find Subject Terms.
  • OneSearch does not retrieve everything in Holman Library. For example, it captures about 80% of the articles in Academic Search Complete. 

Search Databases Directly

Use a library database to search for and find scholarly articles.

  • Remember to limit your search to scholarly (peer-reviewed) journal articles to find scholarly criticism. Scholarly criticism is more in-depth, analytical, theoretical, and rigorous. 
  • Your assignment may require you to find and use scholarly articles in your analysis. To find relevant articles, you will need to consider many more.

Search Tips

As shown in the image of the advanced search page in Academic Search, you can best search by entering in multiple relevant keywords to find articles on your topic.

  • Be sure to limit the results of your search if needed, using the menu of filters off to the side. 
    • There it can be very helpful to limit to scholarly sources, as well as limiting to full-text (so you will only see results for what you can immediately download).

(click on image to enlarge)search results screen, highlighting the notes above

An Example of Criticism

Scholarly criticism makes an argument, or claim, about a text - as in the excerpt below: 

(click on image to enlarge)

Clip-Nancy Tuten on Alice Walker story

Source citation: Tuten, Nancy. "Alice Walker's Everyday Use." Explicator, vol. 51, no. 2, 1993. Academic Search Complete. Accessed 14 Oct. 2020.

Comparing source types

Compare Scholarly and Introductory source by reviewing the linked articles below.

Why Use Different Types of Articles?

Different types of articles are useful for different things:

Scholarly or Peer-Reviewed or Academic Journals 

These journal articles are where the academic conversation takes place. They provide in-depth and well-researched analysis, whether a close reading of a text, a cultural analysis, or an extended discussion of thematic issues.

  • To find only scholarly articles, check the box: Scholarly (peer-reviewed) Journals.
Popular Magazines 

These articles are good for summarizing information on a topic for the general public.  They often provide a background, summarize research findings, and provide some analysis of a topic.

  • In Academic Search Complete and ProQuest, you can limit your search to magazines only.
Newspapers

These articles are a good source of facts from a moment in time. You can also find book reviews and some lengthier, more substantial articles on important cultural topics in newspapers like the New York Times, or LA Times.

  • In Academic Search Complete and ProQuest you can limit your search to newspapers only or search for reviews.
  • Note: Holman Library newspapers databases are not historical. ProQuest goes back to 1980.

Featured literary criticism journal