This page provides guidance when searching for journal articles and book chapters about literary criticism.
Keywords and search terms will form the backbone of your search process.
Take advantage of the special search options in our literary databases.
Most of our databases will have the full text of many of the articles and some of the chapters. When the full text isn't available, look for the Get-It button to see if we have access to the article or chapter through another database or in print on the shelf. If we don't you may request a copy of the article or chapter from another library through Interlibrary Loan.
Due to the number of articles and chapters published, you can be very specific in your search terms.
Searching only for the author or the title of a work will return an overwhelming list of results.
Use combinations of keywords like the above to create a focused search.
If your search does not return a lot of results, look for synonyms or umbrella terms. For instance:
Maxine Hong Kingston:
We subscribe to many databases for researchers in literature. The databases below are good starting points.
MLA International Bibliography is usually the first stop for literary researchers.
No one database covers every journal, so search in multiple databases.
Publication Dates Covered: 1926 - present Paid for by K-State Libraries
This is the largest and most comprehensive database for literary criticism in all languages. Also covers folklore, linguistics, and film studies. Includes journal and book articles, books, and dissertations. Does not index book reviews in literary journals.
Paid for by K-State Libraries
A full-text collection of journals ranging from history to business to literature to science and mathematics. Coverage begins with the first issue of a title, but the most recent three to five years of each title are usually not available. The full article text is searchable. Images are available for searching as well.
Paid for by K-State Libraries
Provides a combined search for Ethnic NewsWatch and Ethnic NewsWatch History which feature newspapers, magazines, and journals from ethnic and minority presses; GenderWatch which features historical and current perspectives of gender roles; and Alt-PressWatch which showcases some of the nation’s most respected and cited grassroots publications. Searches can be narrowed to peer-reviewed publications.
Paid for by K-State Libraries
Indexes and abstracts of more than 600 journals, 420 of which also include full text articles. CMMC contains a Communication Thesaurus and comprehensive reference browsing as well as over 3,000 author biographies.
Below are two ways to search to increase the relevancy of your search results in MLA: use options on the Advanced Search screen and expand your search terms using the Thesaurus.
Advanced in this case means special search features for literary researchers, not that you have to be a literature expert. Advanced search features include searching by:
Below is a screen shot of the Advanced Search screen, including the search options that appear when you click on the Select a Field option in the search boxes.
The Thesaurus:
Not all keywords will appear in the Thesaurus; not all terms in the Thesaurus will have alternative terms.
Below is a screenshot of the Thesaurus screen that appears for the term African American middle class. Note that the Thesaurus offers two Broader Terms and one Narrower Term: