ALIT 374: Hawthorne and Melville
Research Resources, Milne Library, SUNY College at Oneonta, Spring 2008
 http://www.oneonta.edu/library/courses/spring2008/alit374.asp

Professor Payne

Finding Books |  Using Reference Books | Finding Articles in Journals| Finding a Copy of a Periodical Article | Finding Web Sources

Finding Books

Library Catalog

The online catalog is a database listing many of the materials available in Milne Library. For critical studies of Hawthorne or Melville, enter the author's name or the title of a novel and the word "criticism," or combine the author's name with a broad theme. 
Example:  billy bud and criticism
Example:  nathaniel hawthorne and criticism
Example:  melville and women
Search for materials on the larger social/philosophical/literary/historical issues involved in your topic:
Example:  whaling and 19th century
Example:  women and puritanism
Example:  slavery and writers

Using Reference Books

The Reference Collection is a very good place to conduct literary research. Reference sources can provide background on your area of study, help you focus your topic, and serve as a springboard to other research. Use these books to help  you select and focus your topic before you jump in to the databases and a web search.

Reference books are shelved by Library of Congress call number in the reference stacks on the first floor of the library. They may not be checked out, but photocopiers are available for student use on the first floor.

Literary Terminology

Dictionary of Literary Terms.(Shaw) REF PN 44.5 .S46
Dictionary of Literary Themes and Motifs. 2 volumes. REF PN 43 .D48 1988
Dictionary of World Literary Terms. REF PN 41 .S5 1970

Symbols, Allusions, and Metaphors

Allusions: Cultural, Literary, Biblical, and Historical: A Thematic Dictionary REF PN 43 .A4 1986
Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 15th edition. REF PN 43 .B65 2001
Dictionary of Biblical Allusions in English Literature REF BS 440 .F957
Dictionary of Symbols and Imagery REF BL 600.V74 1976
Symbols, Signs and Their Meanings REF CB 475 .W98 1960

Literary Criticism & Bibliography

Magill's Bibliography of Literary Criticism 3 vols. (alphabetical by author) REF PN 44 .M358
Nineteenth-Century Literary Criticism (NCLC) (alphabetical by author) REF PN 761 .N5
Twentieth Century Short Story Explication 7 vols. (alphabetical by author) REF PN 3310 .W33
World Literature Criticism (alphabetical by author) REF PN 523 .W67

Biographical Sources

American Writers (Hawthorne in volume II, Melville in volume III) (alphabetical by author) REF PS 129.A55
Dictionary of Literary Biography (use index in plastic cover to find vol. & call #) REF PN 3310 .W33

Focusing Your Topic

Typical problems with topics:

 
1. Too broad. Example: Symbolism in Melville's writing. Limit by story or novel, by a character, by a particular type of symbol (color, weather).
2. Too narrow. Example: Hawthorne's use of women's sewing in The Scarlet Letter. Broaden to include women's domestic roles in the novel.

Suggestions: Use BOOKS to start. Lots of the best writing has been published in book form and is simply not available anywhere else.  Browse through books on the author. These are on the 2nd floor under the following call numbers. Find a book or a chapter and go from there. Most of these will include a bibliography - scour these for other books and articles on the topic.

Hawthorne criticism:      PS 1888 - PS 1892
Melville criticism:          PS 2387 - PS 2388

Have patience. This type of research takes time.

There may not be anything written on the exact topic you're investigating. That means YOU get to pull together bits and pieces from other interpreters and combine these with your own thoughtful analysis of the text, and use evidence from the text to support your very own ideas.

 

Finding Articles in Journals Using Subscription Databases

To find appropriate indexes to journal articles, click on Subject List of Databases under Find Articles on the Milne Library web site. Then click on English Language & Literature. The electronic list is in alphabetical order by title of index or resource.

 
MLA International  Bibliography  (under Alphabetical List of Databases on library home page)                               
Indexes scholarly journals, books and dissertations in language and literature studies. Does not include full text of articles. Once you have a citation, follow the directions for "Finding a Copy of a Periodical Article" below.

Academic Search Elite (under Find Articles on library home page)
Provides full text for approximately 1500 peer-reviewed journals and selected magazines across the disciplines.

JSTOR Archive  (under Find Articles on library home page)
Includes full text of journal articles on a range of subjects. Database excludes issues from the last
three to five years.
Gale's Literary Index  
Master index to 40 Gale literary publications including Contemporary Authors, Dictionary of Literary Biography, Literature Resource Center. Updated twice/year.
Literature Resource Center
Provides access to biographies, bibliographies and critical analysis of authors from every age and literary discipline. Includes Scribner, Twayne US, Twayne English, and Twayne World Authors.

Project Muse (under Find Articles on library home page)
Includes full text of journal articles in the humanities and social sciences. Includes link to JSTOR Archive under Advanced Search.

Melville Society Extracts (use Serials Solutions or the journal web site)
Full text of this Melville journal. Not a bad place to start browsing for topic ideas.
 

Finding A Copy of a Periodical Article

As you search periodical databases, you will find links to the full text of many articles. However, when the full text is not in the database, follow these steps, beginning with number one, until you are able to obtain a copy of the article.

Step 1. Find It! Look for the button. This links to a menu that indicates other databases where the full text of the article might be found. Often there is a direct link to the full text of the article. If not, click on the link to the database, then search by the title of the article. If the full text isn’t available, go to step 2.

Step 2. Serials Solutions. Open a new browser window. From the library home page select Serials Solutions under Find Articles. Type in the title of the periodical (NOT the title of the article) you’re looking for. This will bring up a screen listing other databases that index the periodical you want. Once in another database, search by the title of the article. If the database(s) doesn’t have the full text of the article, go to step 3.

Step 3. Library Subscriptions. From the library home page select Find Books. Click on Reserves or Journals in the top bar, then choose Journal Titles in Milne Library, then type in the title of the journal. This will list periodicals the library subscribes to in print. These are kept in the basement, filed alphabetically by title. You can also consult the Milne Library Serials List, a volume that lists all print subscriptions. If the library does not subscribe to the periodical, the article can be requested through Interlibrary Loan.

Finding Web Sources

Search Tips for Web Search Engines
The problem with searching the web for literary research is that many web pages include brief, insubstantial, undocumented, and possibly unreliable information. Consequently a general web search is the least effective way to do literary research. Use these tips to insure your results will be of a bit better quality than the average.

  • Use quotation marks around words that should appear together to insure that the results locate phrases:
    • "scarlet letter" and "biblical allusions"
    • "herman melville" and "color symbolism"
  • Add  site:edu to your search to limit the search to only education web sites:
    • "nathaniel hawthorne" and characters and site:edu
  • Use Google Scholar to limit results to scholarly sources.
  • Use the Advanced Search feature of a search engine and play with the ways you can refine your searches.
  • Use synonyms. Try lots of different words and phrases to describe something:
    • religion or "religious beliefs" or church or "moral behavior"

Some good web sites on Melville and Hawthorne

 

Herman Melville on the Literature Network Biographical information and a search engine to his novels and short stories. Great for searching his writings and pulling quotations to include in your essay.

 

Nathanial Hawthorne on the Literature Network Biographical information and a search engine to his novels and short stories. Great for searching his writings and pulling quotations to include in your essay.

Page last modified: 7/21/2008