Get Started with Introductory Sources from a Literary Criticism Database

Deepen your understanding with criticism written for a student audience or the general public.

Use Gale Literature to find to following:

• Topic & Work Overviews: Look especially for Topic Overviews from the series Poetry/Drama/Short Stories (etc.) for Students. Lengthy articles provide an overview of key themes and stylistic elements, as well as an overview of critical approaches to a text.

• Reviews & News: Avoid reviews that are brief and focus primarily on saying whether a book is good or not. Other reviews may be substantive and discuss ideas in some depth. Note: You will also find reviews in ProQuest, Academic Search Complete, and JSTOR, as well as in multimedia sources.

• Interviews: Hear the author discuss their own work and ideas.

• Author Biographies: Critical biographies do more than state dates. They explain an author's significance and help you draw connections to the historical, political, and cultural contexts in which they wrote.

See the images and text below on how to find topic and work overviews in Gale Literature. 

• Please note that you may need to search by author or title of the collection a short story was originally published in.

Sample Search: This search is for ideas on The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman.

1. First, type in title at Name of Work and search. 

(click on image to enlarge)

2. Second, choose Topic and Work Overviews to get started.

• If you find several, look for one from the "for Students" series and one with many sections.
• The image below indicates the article includes a critical essay. When I open the article, I see it also includes overviews of the story's themes, style, historical context - and more.

(Click on image to enlarge it)

Finding Criticism in Books

Use the Gale Literary Criticism books listed below and Gale Literature Literary Criticism online to get an overview of criticism on a text or author. 

The series features excerpts of key criticism, author interviews, and more. 

• With the red, brown, and purple print reference books:
  • Use the Author Index at the back of each volume to see criticism across volumes and series.
  • Search the Cumulative Title Index (separate, small, slick volume on the shelf) for your short story's title to see all criticism within that particular series.