Research

Updated MLA electronic sources:

https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/08/

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To access the databases:

Louisiana Library Connection Databases: http://lalibcon.state.lib.la.us/

Enter your library card number or password here: 123456789

In the boxes at the top, choose LITERATURE. You may choose any of the databases that appear. [Most of them just duplicate sources, though some are truly different]. However, start with Academic Search Complete. Put your title/author in quotation marks in the search engine box. Make sure that you have checked FULL TEXT and PEER REVIEWED.

*If your short story is the title story of a collection, be sure to check your sources because they may relate to other stories than just the one you are researching.

Databases to select (on EBSCO): (1) MasterFILE Premier; (2) Academic Search Complete; (3) Biography Collection Complete; (4) ERIC; (5) Funk and Wagnalls; (6) History Reference Center; (7) Humanities International Complete; (8) Literary Reference Center; (9) Primary Search; (10) World History Collection; and/or (11) Book Index with Reviews.

Printing information from the databases: So that I can help you, if I need to, and to save precious time when drafting, make sure that you have the following, either printed or saved to a Word file: (1) source page information; (2) MLA citation information; (3) actual article.

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Using Databases

Databases are not online sources and/or websites. Rather, they are print sources, though electronic.

As you search, look for articles classified as WORK ANALYSIS or LITERARY CRITICISM.

In some cases, you may use BOOK REVIEWS, but stay away from any source that re-tells the plot.

PDF sources are literal copies of the hardcopy. You have the original page number(s) to reference for your citations.

HTML sources are electronic (like a webpage). You must count the paragraphs to reference your citations.

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Using the Internet

In the search engine (Google), type the author and/or title of the book/short story.

If you have problems getting enough sources, try adding the words INTERPRETATION or LITERARY CRITICISM or ANALYSIS to your combination.

Various Examples

“Julia Alvarez” + “Literary Criticism” + “Woman Hollering Creek”

“Julia Alvarez” + Biography

“Julia Alvarez” + “Literary Analysis”

“Julia Alvarez” + “Woman Hollering Creek”

“Julia Alvarez” + Analysis

“Woman Hollering Creek” + Interpretation

"Woman Hollering Creek" + "Work Analysis"

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Website basic MLA formula:

Author. "Article title." Web page. Date of page. Publisher or affiliated organization. Web. Access date (inverted).

If you do not see an author, begin with the article title.

If you do not see a date, write nd. for "no date."

If you do not see a publisher, write np. for "no publisher."

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Other Websites

http://www.online-literature.com/author_index.php

This is the complete list, alphabetized, of authors on this website.

Literary History: Indexing the Internet: http://www.literaryhistory.com/

Easybib.com: http://www.easybib.com/

Google Scholar: http://scholar.google.com/

https://americanliterature.com/twenty-great-american-short-stories