Periodical articles in the library’s academic databases
Open the library’s homepage at http://www.nv2.commnet.edu/library/. If off campus, use your MyCommNet page for access.
Under Research Tools, select Electronic Databases
Use Masterfile Premier and MagillOnLiterature to find resources
Create a MyEBSCOhost account to save information (optional but helpful)
Some of the full-text periodical titles you can find in EBSCO’s Masterfile Premier that include literary criticism:
African American Review
Antioch Review
College Literature
Comparative Literature
Early American Literature
Explicator
History Today
Journal of American History
Kenyon Review
Kirkus Reviews
Literary Review
Magill Book Reviews
Nineteenth Century Literature
Novel: A Forum on Fiction
Perspective
Southwest Review
Style
Studies in Short Fiction
Studies in the Literary Imagination
Studies in the Novel
Twentieth Century Literature
World Literature Today
Writer
Writing
Some of the full-text periodical titles you can find in EBSCO’s MagillOnLiterature that include literary criticism:
Cyclopedia of Literary Characters
Cyclopedia of Literary Places
Cyclopedia of World Authors
Magill Book Reviews
Magill’s Choice: American Ethnic Writers; Identities & Issues in Literature
Masterplots, Revised Second Edition
Masterplots II: Juvenile and Young Adult Literature Series
Masterplots II: Short Story Series
Hints & highlights:
If you are on campus you can search Masterfile and Magill simultaneously.
Search for content from a specific periodical title, such as those listed above, by entering the title in the Publication box after you type your search terms in the Find box.
In Magill, do a limiters-only search with publication date and the literary locale to see what other works are located in that setting & time period.
Use a subject heading to search similar works.
Explore EBSCO’s History Reference Center: use the Timeline feature or try with dates as keywords.
Tip: Many older materials (especially from before 1990) may not be available online. Use the printed periodical indexes in Reference Stacks to locate articles from older publications.
Books at NVCC
Short Stories for Students (REF PN 3373 .S3844); Drama for Students (PN 1601 .D595)
Also search our Online Catalog and catalogs of other libraries with author’s name. Use Author search to find books by that author. Use Subject search to find books about that author. For primary documents look for their diaries and letters, or diaries and letters of the time period. Some books about an author contain segments of diaries and letters.
Other Reference books that might be helpful:
Day By Day series (1940’s - 1980’s) (REF D 427 L.4)
Album of American History (REF E 178.5 A48)
Dictionary of American History (REF E 174 .D52)
Encyclopedia of Rural America (REF E 169.12 E5)
Books at other libraries
American History Through Literature 1820-1870 and 1870-1920 Available at SCSU and CCCU libraries and in the Derby Public Library. Use AHTL to look up areas of interest within this time frame, such as historical events, and politics of the time. What were people eating & drinking, what were they wearing? An excellent place to start with this valuable resource is the “thematic outline”.
From the NVCC Library homepage, click Other Library Catalogs to search other libraries one at a time, such as your hometown public library.
From the NVCC Library homepage, click reQuest - CT State Catalog to search all libraries throughout Connecticut. Make use of the free interlibrary loan Request This Item service for delivery of materials.
Academic Web resources
http://web.csustan.edu/english/reuben/pal/TABLE.HTML Perspectives in American Literature (PAL). Paul Reuben teaches English at Cal State. This is his guide, which includes references to helpful sources, & suggested questions to write about.
http://vos.ucsb.edu/ A website for humanities research.
http://lang.nagoya-u.ac.jp/~matsuoka/AmeLit.html A helpful collection of author-based web sites.
http://www.ipl.org/ > Arts & Humanities > Literature
Internet Public Library's literary criticism page. Contains 4548 critical & biographical websites about authors & their works that can be browsed by author, title, nationality, or literary period.
http://www.lib.washington.edu/subject/History/RUSA/
For more information on finding primary documents on the Web.
http://www.law.ou.edu/hist/ Federal historic documents online.
http://www.history.com/ The History Channel site.
The Connecticut Historical Society http://www.chs.org/ & the Connecticut State Library
http://www.cslib.org/, both in Hartford, have many historical resources, especially concerning Connecticut history, and archives of newspapers. To get the most out of the treasures to be found at these worthy state institutions you would certainly benefit from a visit. Use info on the web to call ahead for hours or an appointment if needed.
EJF 04/08
