Writing 125-13: The Story & the Writer
Once you have an author to research, there are several steps you should take to gather the information you will need for your paper.
Always start by using the Wellesley College Online Catalog. You can get to get to the Catalog via the college's Home Page, scroll down to Computing/Library, then to Library, & Library Catalog. Click on Library Catalog.
Under the Research Resources column, click on Databases A-Z, Research Guides by Subject/by Course. There are two helpful sections under the Tips & Tools subheading on the right side of the page. Both Starting Your Research & Citing Sources will provide invaluable assistance once you have begun work on a major paper. For print version citation information, go to the main desk in the Reference Room. Copies of Chicago Manual of Style (15th ed.), MLA Handbook, (6th ed.), and Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (APA, 5th ed.) are some of the print versions kept there for the convenience of students working on papers in the library who would prefer to use print citation guides.
Other sites of interest would be our new Reference Books Online section, the Interlibrary Loan (ILL) page, and Search the Web. [Just a cautionary note about using the WWW --- Literary comments from articles with no designated author, or an author with no stated credentials, should be suspect. Because it is on the Web does not mean the information is accurate!] Click on the Writing Subject page and look at the mentioned resources, both paper and electronic. These are reliable, scholarly resources that should be helpful as you do research for your chosen topic.
FindIt! @ Wellesley (click on the title for more information) is one of our newest features and helps retrieve more full-text articles than ever before. It will also link the user to NExpress or ILL if our libraries do not have access to the title. NExpress, comprised of a small local consortium of schools, usually provides the fastest service.
To locate books in our collection: Use the Wellesley College Online Catalog. Some searching tips: To find books written by your author, do an author search. For critical evaluations, do a keyword search & enter just the the author's name or the author's name and criticism (e.g. james joyce criticism) Once these titles come up, further book records can be examined by clicking on the subject headings for any of the books listed. A keyword search is a good starting point for any central themes or periods, also. (e.g. medieval authors). Further topics can, again, be examined by looking at the subject line on each individual record.
As you work on your paper and look for resources, you will find there are basically four options available to you ---
Our libraries own a print copy.
Our libraries have the journal title on microfilm.
The article you need is in full text in one of our databases (See the Databases A to Z list).
Our libraries do not have access to the book or journal title. Request via ILL or Nexpress.
Titles for Background Reading:
Britannica Online found in the Reference Books Online section on the library's home page.
Contemporary Authors [New Revison] - Clapp Ref qZ1010 .C592 & Contemporary Authors - Clapp Ref qZ1010 .C6
These two Gale titles will provide biographies, criticism, and bibliographies. A Cumulative Index helps the user locate the author information in these multi-volume sets. I have added the volume numbers for the writers being studied in this course. You should find them to be invaluable print resources. ( James Joyce & Franz Kafka - Vol. 126, Edith Wharton, Vol. 132; New Revision Volumes: Isabel Allende, Vol. CANR 129, Albert Camus, CANR 131, William Faulkner, Vol. CANR 33, Garcia Marquez, Gabriel, Vol. CANR 128, Nikolai Gogol in another title from the Gale Series, Dictionary of Literary Biography, Vol. 198, Ernest Hemingway, Vol. CANR 34, Bharati Mukherjeee, Vol. CANR 45, & Tillie Olsen, Vol. CANR 132).
Other Possibilities:
Bharati Mukherjee: Critical Perspectives - Clapp Lib PR9499.3.M77 Z79 1993
Cambridge Companion to Edith Wharton - Clapp Lib PS3545 .H16 Z636 1995
Camus: Love & Sexuality - Clapp Lib PQ2605.A3734 Z7343 1998
Gabriel Garcia Marquez: A Study of the Short Fiction - Clapp Lib PQ8180..17 .A73 Z6735 1991
Isabel Allende - Clapp Lib PQ8098.1.L54 Z72 2002
James Joyce: Two Decades of Criticism - Clapp Lib PR6019.09 Z7264
Kafka's Selected Stories: New Translations, Backgrounds & Context, Criticism - Clapp Lib PT2621 .A26 A253 2002
New Critical Approaches to the Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway - Clapp Lib PS3515 .E37 Z7466 1990
Nikolai Gogol - Clapp Lib PG3335.Z8 N59 2004
Reader's Guide to William Faulkner: the Short Stories - Clapp Lib PS3511.A86 Z9835 2004
Tillie Olsen: A Study of the Short Fiction - Clapp Lib PS3565 .L82 Z65 1995
Electronic Databases:
To find books not at Wellesley College: Use WorldCat a world-wide catalog to find books, videos, archival material, etc.
Additional Databases to Try:
Academic Search Premier is the world's largest scholarly, multi-disciplinary full text database. Dates of coverage vary by title
AH Search: Arts & Humanities Citation Index has citation information in these disciplines dating from the 1980s.
Infotrac General OneFile provides articles on current events, popular culture, the arts, social science, and sciences.
JSTOR - A collection of humanities, social sciences, & natural science journals from the earliest issues but NOT the latest 5 years. A full-text source.
[Once you decide to print an article, set the preference to PDF Economy for the quickest results. Once the print command has been given, wait for the article to be downloaded. When the JSTOR icon appears on the right side of the page, click on the printer icon directly above the reformatted article].
LexisNexis Academic - This resource provides full-text articles from domestic & international news sources. Most articles date from the 80s to the present.
Literature Online (LION) has literary texts from 1600 to the present plus reference articles and full-text literary criticism articles from 1998 on.
MLA International Bibliography has articles on literature, linguistics, film, and folklore, dating from the 60s.
Periodicals Index Online is an index to articles published in over 4,500 periodicals, in as many as 40 languages, and covering topics in the humanities and social sciences.
Project Muse - Good scholarly articles, but they do not go back more than the most recent 5 years.
If you are still having difficulties once you have begun work on your papers, please contact me and set up an appointment for a one-on-one session.
Jacqueline B. Fitzpatrick
Research & Instruction Specialist
Room 247 - (781)283-3497
jfitzpat@wellesley.edu
Revised: October 11, 2007
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