ENGL 249 U.S. Latinx Literature (Moreno)

This guide is for students in Dr. Michael Moreno's U.S. Latinx Literature class.

Scholarly Articles

Find Literary Analysis in Scholarly Journals

Your assignment requires you to find and use scholarly analysis in your interpretation of your literary text.

To find one relevant article, you will need to consider many more.  Remember to limit your search to scholarly (peer-reviewed) journal articles.

Scholarly Books

Find Literary Analysis in Scholarly Books

Books can be scholarly too! How can you tell if a book is scholarly? 
 
A scholarly book will: 
  • Be written by an expert or experts in the field (look for PhD or academic affiliation for author) 

  • Present original analysis or analysis of previous research

  • Use academic language and be on academic subjects

  • Often be printed by a University Press

  • Be written for an academic audience of other literary scholars

  • Include extensive references to other scholarly work

While you can limit a search for articles to scholarly (peer reviewed) journals, you cannot do the same with books. 

You can, however, use the library’s online catalog to look for scholarly books or scholarly introductions to an author's work: 


Search the Library Catalog

To find criticism of authors and their works, try a search using the author's name or work title. 

  • Try adding the word: criticism.
  • Check out these Subject Headings for more books:

Search beyond our collection and borrow articles and books through Interlibrary Loan: 

Scholarly Article Search Strategies

You will find few if any scholarly articles specifically about your plays in Holman Library databases. Try the following strategies to find relevant articles on the themes and ideas you want to explore in your essay.

JSTOR

  • Limit search to “articles” 
  • Use * to truncate words: cuba* finds cuba, cuban, cubans, cubanismo 
  • At Journal Filter - Narrow by Discipline, Limit to: Language and Literature and Latin American Studies

Academic Search Complete

  • Limit search results to Scholarly (Peer-Reviewed) Journals  
  • Use subject headings to limit your searches

Subject terms: ASP

  • Find Subject Terms:

Find Subject Terms

find-subject-terms2

WorldCat (you may borrow articles from other libraries at no cost to you):

  • Limit to Articles at Format

search-worldcat

Purdue e-Pubs:

  • click peer-reviewed only
  • limit search to “all repositories”
  • try a search on your author first – it may or may not yield results
  • try a search on a theme from your author – use ethnic identity words as search words
  • make sure the article you choose is not a book review

e-pubs search

Assignement

Essay requirements

One primary source - either: 

  • Real Women Have Curves by Josephina Lopez

  • "My Ride, My Revolution" from The Republic of East LA by José Rivera

At least one scholarly secondary source: an article or book (chapter or essay is okay) that supports your analysis of some aspect of the literary text.  

Possible Topics (you are not required to select from this list):

  • The role of political justice, fate, or tragedy in the play
  • The desire for recognition and respect
  • Importance of work and success and how it defines characters throughout the play
  • The symbolic role that time plays throughout the narrative
  • How family is defined and reconfigured through the various scenes of the play
  • How traditional constructions of masculinity and femininity inform our understanding of particular characters and their actions
  • Character comparisons or contrasts within the play
  • How the role of place and space functions as a character that reflects and establishes identity
  • How sorrow and suffering are instruments of transcendence in the play
  • The way bodies are articulated and transformed
  • The importance of duty and tradition and what this means for various characters