The study of literature may often involve an element of critical evaluation. The resources listed on this guide will help you identify works relevant to the study of literature and literary criticism in a very general sense. For information relevant to the study of specific literary genres, see also the Library Guide to Short Fiction, the Library Guide to Long Fiction (Novels), and the Library Guide to Drama Criticism. For information relevant to the study on non-English or otherwise distinctive literary traditions, see also the Library Guide to Ethnic Literature.
To Find Books
Use the MERLIN Library Catalog and the MOBIUS Union Catalog to find resources relevant to your research. Relevant works can be found using subject headings (Library of Congress) such as:
- Keats, John, 1795-1821
- Kerouac, Jack, 1922-1969 -- Criticism and Interpretation
- Twain, Mark, 1835-1910. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Materials relevant to the study of broader literary themes can be found by using subject headings such as:
- Art and Literature
- Bohemianism in Literature
- Feminism and Literature
- Literature and History
- Literature and Society
- Politics and Literature
- Postmodernism (Literature)
- Religion and Literature
- Romanticism
To find the location of a book in Miller Nichols Library, see the Location Guide.
To Find Articles
Remote (off-campus) access to databases is available only to UMKC students, faculty, and staff. All other users must access online resources within the Libraries. Begin searching by selecting a database. After selection you will be prompted to provide a UMKC Single Sign-On user name and password OR a 9-digit UMKC ID number followed by the letter k (example: 0123456789k) and last name, as needed.
-
Academic Search Premier (EBSCOhost) 1975 - present.
Save to del.icio.us
Selected full text 1975 - present.
This multidisciplinary database indexes and abstracts journals in a broad range of subjects. Full text is available for a large proportion of the titles. A high percentage of titles are peer-reviewed. Dates of coverage vary widely by title. All content of Academic Search Elite is included in this resource. - Essay & General
Literature Index (1900- )
Ref AI3 .E75.
Provides author and subject access to essays and chapters in books, with an emphasis on literature, but with some coverage of the broader humanities and social sciences. - ISI Web of Science
Note: This database is no longer available..
Permits multidisciplinary searching for articles from international academic journals in the sciences, social sciences, and the arts and humanities. This combined database for the Science Citation Index, the Social Sciences Citation Index, and the Arts & Humanities Citation Index offers cited reference searching. Link to ISI Web of Science user's guide. - JSTOR 1838 - present. Save to del.icio.us
Full text. Coverage varies by title.
New Additional journals are now available with the addition of these collections: A&S Complement, A&S V, and Business II.Contains fully searchable scanned articles from selected journals in a broad range of disciplines, including African-American studies, art, ecology, economics, education, history, law, literature, music, general science, sociology, and statistics. (To see a complete list of discipines and journal titles, link to the JSTOR browse list.) Covers the full run of journals from the first issue of volume one; however, the most recent three to five years of journals are not generally available. - MLA International Bibliography (Chadwyck-Healey) 1884 - present. Save to del.icio.usAn index to scholarship in literature, linguistics, film, folklore, and cultural
studies. The print version of this bibliography is available in the Miller Nichols
Library and
covers 1921 - 1999. The location and call number are Reference Index Wall Z7006
.M64. See the MLA
Directory of Periodicals for a list of periodicals indexed.
- OmniFile V Full Text (Wilson) 1982 - present. Save to del.icio.us
Selected full text 1994 - present.Provides indexing, abstracts, and some full-text from five of Wilson's full-text indexes: General Science Full Text, Humanities Full Text, Readers' Guide Full Text, Social Sciences Full Text, and Wilson Business Full Text.Also in print (1974-1997).
Ref Index Wall 2 Z5579 .H8. -
Oxford English Dictionary Second edition, Additions Series, draft material
from the Third edition. Save to del.icio.us
Full text.
The Oxford English Dictionary is the most comprehensive dictionary of the English language, including formal and slang usage. It traces the development of English from approximately 1150 AD up to the present day through sample quotations. The Dictionary is intended to be descriptive, not prescriptive. The print version of the second edition is available in Miller Nichols Library Ready Reference PE1625 .O87 1989. Link to Oxford English DictionaryWebuser's guide.
NOTE: To find the full text of articles or other information that you have identified using the databases and indexes above, visit the Libraries' Website on Resources for Finding Journals and Articles.
University Libraries Photocopying and Printing Services
Reference Sources: Encyclopedias, Handbooks, Dictionaries
Reference sources are useful for locating background information, definitions, general descriptions, and basic facts. Use these books to help you select or focus your research topic.
All call numbers in this guide refer to the UMKC Miller Nichols Library, unless otherwise noted. Titles are linked to the corresponding MERLIN Library Catalog record.
Encyclopedias and Dictionaries
|
Classical
and Medieval Literature Criticism Provides excerpts from criticism of the works of world authors, from classical antiquity through the fourteenth century. |
Ref PN 610 .C53 |
| Contemporary Literary Criticism Provides significant passages from published criticism of works by creative writers. Each volume contains individual essays, reviews, interviews, and feature articles taken from book review periodicals, general magazines, scholarly journals, and books. Each volume includes an index. Cumulative indexes are also available as separate volumes. |
Ready Ref PN 771 .C59 |
| Critical
Survey of Literary Theory Organized alphabetically by author name, this four volume set contains substantial essays on the life, works, and theories of critics ranging from Aristotle to Jacques Derrida. Each essay includes a bibliography, biographical sketch, and an assessment of the theorist's influence on literary trends. Volume four of this survey contains general essays on the history of literary theory, a substantial glossary of terms and concepts, and an index. |
Ref PN 45 .C74 | A
Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Theory A detailed dictionary of more than 2,000 terms from world literature with more than a dozen languages represented. Contemporary theory, critical movements, and the origin and history of literary genres are described in entries ranging in length from a few lines to ten pages. |
Ref PN 41 .C83 | A
Dictionary of Modern Critical Terms Contains essay-length articles on critical terms with emphasis on the history and significance of such terms as well as their relation to modern criticism. |
Ref PN 41 .D4794 |
Literature Criticism from 1400 to 1800 Provides interpretations of the works of great poets, dramatists, novelists, essayists, and philosophers of the fifteenth through eighteenth centuries. Each entry presents a selection of critical response to an author, a literary topic, or to a single important work of literature. |
Ready Ref PN 86 .L53 |
Magill's
Bibliography of Literary Criticism (4 vols.) Indexes articles, book chapters, and monographs for materials on over 600 authors from the ancient Greeks (Aeschylus) to the late twentieth century (Joyce Carol Oates). |
Ready Ref Z 6511 .M25 |
Nineteenth-Century Literature Criticism Provides commentary written about the great authors of the nineteenth century, including poets, novelists, short story writers, playwrights, and philosophers. Sections devoted to literary movements, prominent themes in literature, and significant eras in literary history are also included. Each volume includes an index. |
Ready Ref PN 761 .N5 |
Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism Contains excerpts of the vast amount of critical material written on the poets, novelists, short story writers, playwrights, and philosophers who died between 1900 and 1960. Each entry presents an author's career or an individual work of literature. Sections devoted to literary movements, prominent themes in literature, and significant eras in literary history are also included. Each volume includes an index. |
Ready Ref PN 771 .G27 |
Handbooks
|
Handbook
to Literature A dictionary of places, groups, movements, -isms, critical terms, forms, genres, periods, character types, concepts, and other literary terms associated with English and American literature. Many entries include references for further reading. |
Ready Ref PN 41 .H6 |
Web Resources
- Feminist Literary
Criticism and Theory
(www.cddc.vt.edu/feminism/lit.html) - Finding
Literary Criticism
(www.wcsu.edu/library/finding_lit_crit.html) - A
Glossary of Literary Criticism
(www.sil.org/~radneyr/humanities/litcrit/gloss.htm) - A Lexicon
of Literary Criticism
(condor.depaul.edu/~dsimpson/awtech/lexicon.html) - Internet Public Library - Literary
Criticism
(http://www.ipl.org/div/litcrit/) - Library Spot - Literary
Criticism
(www.libraryspot.com/litcrit.htm)
Use search engines linked on the Internet Search Tools page to identify additional Web resources.
For further assistance, please contact the
Miller Nichols Library Reference Desk at (816) 235-1534.
