ENGL 126 Research Writing: Humanities (Potsubay)

This guide is for students in Richard Potsubay's English 126

What is scholarly literary criticism?

For sustained and deeper literary criticism, look for relevant scholarly articles and books in library databases.

  • If we don't carry something, try looking for it in WorldCat and borrowing it through InterLibrary Loan

What is Scholarly Literary Criticism?

LITERARY CRITICISM IS analysis, interpretation and evaluation of authors and their works of literature, which can include novels, short stories, essays, plays and poetry.

  • Literary "criticism" is not necessarily negative; "criticism" means a thoughtful critique of an author's work or an author's style in order to better understand the meaning, symbolism or influences of a particular piece or a body of literature.

  • Literary critical analysis is often written by literary critics and is found in scholarly journals and books. 

  • A scholarly journal may be referred to as a peer-reviewed journal. 

  • Articles are written by scholars in a subject area for an academic or professional audience. Check for author affiliations or credentials in the database record or at the beginning or end of an article.

  • Scholarly literary criticism may be extensively cited, if the author references the work of other thinkers. Scholarly articles in the sciences and social sciences are, as a rule, extensively and thoroughly cited.

  • Scholarly literary criticism engages with a written work in a thoughtful, sustained manner. While literary criticism from a reference book provides you with introductory terminology, context, interpretation and more, scholarly criticism goes deeper.

  • Scholarly literary criticism analyzes and builds on specific passages, characters, themes, language, etc. from a written work.

  • Scholarly literary criticism brings the critic's particular theoretical framework, biases, questions, etc to bear upon the text.

  • There is no one correct scholarly reading of a text. That said, be sure to build your own analysis with examples and support from the written work you're analyzing and the language of the theoretical lens through which you are reading the text. 

Article Databases

Find Scholarly Articles

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

Remember to limit your search to scholarly (peer-reviewed) journal articles.

To find relevant and useful articles, you will need to consider many more. Remember to try different keywords, subject terms, and multiple databases.

See the illustration below:

One Search

Use Holman Library One Search to search across our databases at once. 

Tips: 

  • Enter phrases in quotes. Ex: "leila aboulela"
  • Connect and focus ideas with AND. Ex" "leila aboulela" AND (identity OR place)
  • Search for related ideas with OR. Ex: (identity OR place)

Be sure to search for articles and books about:

  • Your author
  • Your text
  • Other works by your author
  • Works by other authors from the same country
  • Works by other authors who share an experience or identity, such as refugees, immigrants, and more.

Click on Image to Enlarge.

One Search: Leila Aboulela AND (identity OR place)

To find scholarly peer reviewed articles use filters on the left on One Search to select: 

  • peer reviewed journals
  • include results with no online full text to request through interlibrary loan (free service. if we can get it, we will email you a digital copy)
  • this search excludes books of literary criticism, so try a search for books as well

Click on Image to Enlarge.

Aboulela AND (place OR identity) peer reviewed journals not limited to full text

 

Scholarship in Books

Find Scholarly Books

Type in your search terms. 

Limit to books from the menu. You can limit to ebooks as well.

How to Find Relevant Sources

Search Strategies

The databases on this page have scholarly and non-scholarly content in them.

To find scholarly articles:
  • Limit to scholarly/ peer reviewed journals (and assess).
  • Beneath each database link to the left, you'll find a tip on searching that specific database.
To find scholarly books: 
  • Assess each book to determine if it provides scholarly literary criticism. You can use the description of scholarly criticism to help you.
  • Try adding the Subject Term "Criticism and Interpretation" to your search.
Additionally:
  • Use AND to add additional terms and narrow your search. Ex: memory AND place
  • Use OR to search for either/both A or B. This gets you more results and is useful for trying synonymous or alternate terms. Ex: (gender OR women OR femininity)
  • Try adding the keyword "literature" or the subject term: "literary criticism" to a search, to focus your search on literary approaches to these questions.
  • KEY: You can search for information specifically on your text, but you will find many more relevant titles if you search more broadly. Look for analysis of other works by your author or of key concepts or issues the author explores and then synthesize those ideas into your discussion. 
  • Use different keywords and research databases to find different articles and books.
  • Look for relevant subject terms to help you find articles that engage with your analysis. You will see Subject Terms under article titles, under Subjects as a limiter, or you can browse for Subjects in the Thesaurus or Subject Terms.
  • Peruse the works cited page of one relevant scholarly article to find leads to other sources. Track them down.
  • Do not use the first few resources you find. Be persistent and find articles and books that you can engage in your own analysis of the text