American Authors (Dangel)

Note: Database passwords can be viewed online (authorized users only) or gotten from library staff. All Media Center databases can be used at school or from home.

Biography Resources

• • Literature Resource Center (Gale)

  • Authors and their works, literary movements, genres, criticism, and more.

  • Biography In Context (Gale)

  • Great place to start for author research.

  • Media Center Catalog

  • Real books! Try the biography section as well as the 800s for literature.

  • Robbins Library Catalog

  • More real books! If we don't have it, the Minuteman collection probably does!

Literary Criticism Resources

• • Literature Resource Center (Gale)

  • Authors and their works, literary movements, genres, criticism, and more.

  • Academic OneFile (Gale)

• Your database for peer-reviewed, scholarly articles (great for literary criticism) and other periodical content, including magazines and newspapers (great for published book reviews).

• Boston Public Library Literature Resources (require a BPL eCard number)

  • Novels for Students (requires a BPL eCard number)

  • This collection of reference works on individual novels is so worth the 30 seconds it takes to sign up for a BPL account. You can thank me later. While you're there, check out their other literature resources. There are other great titles in the GVRL collection as well.

  • JSTOR

  • Scholarly journals from JSTOR can be a great source for literary criticism. Note that most journals do not have access for the past three to five years.

  • Media Center Catalog

  • Real books! Try the biography section as well as the 800s for literature.

  • Robbins Library Catalog

  • More real books! If we don't have it, the Minuteman collection probably does!

Primary Sources

Look for diary entries, letters, speeches, lectures, magazine interviews, etc.

• • Literature Resource Center (Gale)

  • Authors and their works, literary movements, genres, criticism, and more.

  • Academic OneFile (Gale)

  • The default search is for academic journal articles, but Academic OneFile also contains newspaper and magazine articles, video, and more (change the filter on the left of the screen). Try searching with your author as the author as well as the subject for more targeted results.

Books!

Search Tips and Strategies

Check your spelling. If you aren't finding anything for your topic, sloppy spelling may be to blame! This happens often with proper names.

Use quotation marks to find complete phrases, especially titles of works of literature. For example, searching for "Of Mice and Men" in quotation marks will retrieve results with that complete title. If you remove the quotation marks, most databases will skip over the minor words "of" and "and" and return articles where the words "mice" and "men" appear anywhere.

Ask for help. Not finding what you need? See Ms. Kitsis, she's here to help!

Choosing Your Next Book

Need help choosing your second novel? Take a look at the literary criticism to try to find one with related themes. Also check out our Books and Authors database for suggestions!

Citation & Note Taking Tools

The school has purchased a paid subscription to EasyBib.com for all students, and we encourage you to use this tool to create and manage your citations, notes, and outline.

Go to EasyBib.com, click Register, and then Sign in Using Your Account with Google. Use your school Spyponders account for a unified password and streamlined communication with your teachers.

Cross section of the New York Public Library. Image via Creative Commons license from Curious Expeditions.