Finding Books and Articles
Core research databases
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MLA International Bibliography(Searches through citations, subject indexing, and some citations)
This is one of the most comprehensive databases for literary studies. One great trick is to put the name of a poem, story, book, or author's name into one search box and then select "Subject Heading (All)" from the drop-down box that normally says "All fields." All the resulting articles will then be about that poem, story, book, or author. -
JSTOR(Searches through citations and the full text)
A digital archive of important scholarly journal literature from many fields. Most journals are included from their first issue until 5 years ago. -
ABELL: Annual Bibliography of English Language and Literature(Searches through citations and subject headings)
A searchable list of monographs, periodical articles, critical editions of literary works, book reviews, and collections of essays about the English language or literature written in English. Covers scholarship published anywhere in the world between 1920 - 2002.
What's the difference between JSTOR and MLA International Bibliography?
Click the picture to see a larger version
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MLA vs JSTOR handoutKey advantages and strategies for the two primary databases for literary articles.
Get Started: Reference Sources
Search through hundreds of subject encyclopedias at once.
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Reference Universe(Searches through citation information)
Searches the indexes of our library's print reference books. When you find an entry you'd like to read, click the "Locate this book" button or put the title of the reference book into Catalyst to find the book's location in the Reference Collection. -
Oxford Reference Online(Searches through citations and the full text)
Search across all of Carleton's online reference sources from Oxford University Press, including dictionaries, encyclopedias, maps, timelines, and quotations.
Finding Dissertations
While not considered formally published, dissertations can provide a lot of really useful information. They are especially useful as pointing tools, since their literature reviews and bibliographies are usually very rich sources of information.
I also list them separately here because the FindIt button doesn't work well to link you to the full text of dissertations, so if you come across one in a research database it's best to bring the citation information directly to one of these specialized collections of dissertations in order to find the full text.
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ProQuest Dissertations and Theses GlobalFind dissertations and some masters theses from universities in 88 countries. Most documents published since 1997 also include the full text. Covers 1861 - current.
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EThOS: online doctoral theses from the British LibraryEThOS is working toward a goal of having records for all doctoral theses from the UK dating back to 1800, and full text for as many of these as can be managed.
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CRL: Center For Research Libraries(Searches through citations and subject indexing)
This collection includes microfilm for foreign newspapers and foreign dissertations. You may borrow microfilm reels and other materials through Interlibrary Loan.
