?what ' s literary Criticism

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WHAT IS LITERARY CRITICISM?
"Literary criticism" is the evaluation, analysis, or interpretation of literary works. It is usually in the form of a critical essay or extended book review (http://www.chabotcollege.edu/Library/handouts/litcrit.html#). Criticism may examine a particular literary work, or may look at an author’s writings as a whole, or may compare and contrast works by time period or with other authors.

WHAT IS AN INDEX?
Indexes allow you to do one search covering hundreds or thousands of articles rather than doing numerous searches through individual books, periodicals, and the Internet. Indexes contain citations to articles. Citations include an article’s title, author, page numbers, publication date, and the name of the periodical in which it was published. Many indexes provide full-text copies of the articles they index.

FINDING AN ARTICLE OR BOOK REVIEW
There are many ways to find critical analyses of a book or author:


Use a SPECIALIZED index. These focus only on author biographies and literary criticism.

Specialized online indexes offered by the library include:
Literature Resource Center (http://proxy1.clpccd.cc.ca.us/login?url=http://infotrac.galegroup.com/itweb/hawy60514?db=LitRC) This literary reference tool offers full text journal articles, critical essays, reviews (http://www.chabotcollege.edu/Library/handouts/litcrit.html#), author biographies and links to Web sites. Under "Author Search," enter your author’s name and click on "Search" Click on "Title" to search by title of a work. When your results appear, make a selection from the folder tabs on top, before looking at your results.
Gale Literary Index (http://www.galenet.com/servlet/LitIndex) includes entries from 87 Gale Reference works, covering living and deceased writers in fiction, general nonfiction, poetry, journalism, drama, motion pictures, television, and other fields.
Note: For OFF-CAMPUS access, come to the reference desk to get usernames and passwords
Two of many other printed indexes available at the Chabot College Library are: Black Literature Criticism, and Poetry Criticism. These are described in listings below.
2. Use a GENERAL PERIODICAL database. Book, movie and other entertainment reviews or critical essays are routinely published in newspapers, popular magazines, or scholarly journals.
Project Muse (http://proxy1.clpccd.cc.ca.us/login?url=http://muse.uq.edu.au/search/search.pl) offers criticisms and reviews from nearly 200 journal titles in humanities and social sciences including literature and criticism, history, the visual and performing arts, cultural studies, education, political science, gender studies and economics
EbscoHost Academic Search Elite (http://proxy1.clpccd.cc.ca.us/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/userlogin.asp?user=glads&password=gowin&ip=no?) provides full-text book, movie, entertainment reviews and criticisms in various magazines and journals. If the review you want is not available online, EbscoHostwill tell you if the library subscribes to the magazine that printed the citation.
Lexis Nexis Academic Universe (http://proxy1.clpccd.cc.ca.us/login?url=http://web.lexis-nexis.com/universe/form/academic/s_guidednews.html?srcsfc=news&srcsf=s_guidednews.html&srccat=ENTERT;REVIEW&srcecat=Arts%20%26%20Sports%20News&pubtitle=&_m=1dd79d9b6b971228a262e89328b26573&wchp=dGLbVzz-zSkVA&_md5=f30034795ae0896586992702adba968e&fss=Y) Lexis-Nexis, by indexing over 200 newspapers, is a good source for reviews going back to 1980. Choose "Guided News Search" tab. At step one, choose "Arts, Sports News" then at step two select "Book, Movie, Music and Play Reviews." Enter your search terms at step three, and then at step four, be sure to select the the pull-down menu to do searches for more than six months back in time. Step five is not necessary unless you want to search a particular publication such as the New York Times.
Alt-PressWatch, Ethnic NewsWatch, GenderWatch (http://proxy1.clpccd.cc.ca.us/login?url=http://proquest.umi.com/login?COPT=U01EPTYmSU5UPTAmVkVSPTImREJTPTM4M0MrMzg zRSszODNE&clientId=49001) If you are having trouble finding book reviews or literary criticisms or want to find more on your less studied author, there are many available in the smaller presses which are found from three databases. Alt-PressWatch (http://proxy1.clpccd.cc.ca.us/login?url=http://proquest.umi.com/login?COPT=U1BMPTEmVFJNPTEmU01EPTYmSU5UPTAmVkVSPTI mREJTPTM4M0M@&clientId=49001) comes from the alternative presses, Ethnic NewsWatch (http://proxy1.clpccd.cc.ca.us/login?url=http://proquest.umi.com/login?COPT=U1BMPTEmVFJNPTEmU01EPTYmSU5UPTAmVkVSPTI mREJTPTM4M0U@&clientId=49001) from the presses written by and for the ethnic, racial, and native presses across the United States, and GenderWatch (http://proxy1.clpccd.cc.ca.us/login?url=http://proquest.umi.com/login?COPT=U1BMPTEmVFJNPTEmU01EPTYmSU5UPTAmTEE9ZW4 mVkVSPTImREJTPTM4M0Q@&clientId=49001) comes from feminist, men's studies, gay/lesbian, and other publications dedicated to gender issues.
3. Find information in books in the Library Catalog (http://chla.sirsi.net/uhtbin/cgisirsi/x/0/0/49). The library may have books about a specific author including biographies and/or criticism of his/her works. General books on an author may discuss that author’s style, characters, or use of certain literary themes. Use the index at the back of each book to find comments about a particular work. Use the online book catalog to find out if entire books on your subject are available. Make sure to enter the author as a subject, last name first.
4. Find information on the Internet (http://www.chabotcollege.edu/Library/handouts/litcrit.html#WWW). Many of the sites on the Web offering movie reviews are listed under "Film Web Sites" below. You can also use a search engine to find reviews. Enclose the title of the movie in quotation marks along with the terms, "movies" and "reviews."

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IMPORTANT RESEARCH NOTE
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1) Because there are so many indexes available, have a librarian direct you to the print or online indexes that will be most useful for your research.
To save time, do NOT go to each of the many important printed literary tools listed below to look up your author or title. Instead, go to the Gale’s Contemporary Authors Cumulative Index. This index is available online. as the "Gale Literary Index at the homepage under "Magazine ,Journal & Newspaper Articles, and More." A printed copy is also available at the Library Reference Desk. If you have an Alameda County Library Card, there is a third option. Go to their online site (http://www.aclibrary.org/) (http://www.aclibrary.org (http://www.aclibrary.org/)) and to the "Literature Resource Center."

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LITERARY BIOGRAPHY, CRITICISM, and REVIEWS:
REFERENCE TOOLS IN PRINT



American Women Writers. (Ref PS 147 A4)This five volume work, which covers contributions to American writing by women from colonial times to the present, is both a critical guide and a book of readable essays.
American Writers: A Collection of Literary Biographies (Ref PS129 A55, 12 volumes)This is an excellent source for information about the lives, careers and works of major American writers. Essays integrate criticism and biographical details. The major weakness of this set is that it includes very few women or Black writers.
Asian American Literature (Ref PS153.A84) This reference tool contains reviews and has criticism of works by Asian American writers.
Biography Index (Ref Z301 B5) Comprehensive guide to American biographical material appearing in selected periodicals and books.
Black Literature Criticism (Ref PS153N5) Presents a broad selection of the best criticism of works by twenty-six major black writers of the past one hundred years.
Book Review Digest (Ref, Z1219 C96) Provides citations and excerpts from reviews in periodicals of current juvenile, adult fiction and nonfiction in the English language from 1905 to the present. Only ten percent of published books are reviewed here.
Book Review Index (Ref Z1035.A1) Provides periodic citations to locate reviews of books, periodicals, books-on-tape, from 1965 to 1998, representing a wide range of popular, academic and professional interests. This is an index only. No full-text.
British Writers (Ref PR85B689) Literary biographies of authors who have made a significant contribution to English literature, from the fourteenth century to now.
Concise Dictionary of British Literary Biography (Ref PR 19 C64, 8 Volumes) This eight-volume work was created with high school and college students in mind. Entries start with important facts about the writer, a chronological listing of works, a biography, critical evaluations of important works, references for further study.
Contemporary Authors (Ref PS128 C6) Biographical and critical essays about recent and current authors worldwide. Also includes bibliographies of further readings about those authors.
Contemporary Black Biography (Ref E185.96 C66, 35 volumes) Contemporary Black Biography contains biographical profiles of the important and influential persons of African heritage who form the international black community who have changed today’s world.
RESEARCH HINT: For more biographical information, be sure to also visit the Chabot College Library Web site. Click on "Online Reference Shelf – Biographical Works." See a librarian for many other print and online biographical reference tools.
Contemporary Literary Criticism (Ref PN 771 C59) Includes authors now living, and those who died after 1960. Includes essays on specific literary works.
Critical Survey of Long Fiction English Language Series (Ref 3451.C67, 8 volumes) This survey examines a broad spectrum of the best examples of fictional narratives. Individual critical assessments of authors whose major work are in the field of novels and novellas.
Critical Survey of Long Fiction Foreign Languages (Ref PN 3451 C75, 5 Volumes) This work is a foreign-language survey of the best examples of fictional narratives. It is a continuation of the Critical Survey English language series.
Dictionary of Literary Biography (Ref PS 129 256 volumes) Similar to Contemporary Authors, but covers both currently and historically influential British and American literary figures. Each volume provides a biographical-bibliographical guide for a particular area of literature such as "American Western Writers," "American Poets," "American Short Story Writers," "American novelists since World War II." Since 1981, DLB yearbooks update published entries and add new features.
European writers (Ref PN501 E9, Volume 5-11) Volumes 5 to 7 cover the Age of Romanticism, from 1790 to 1850. Volumes 8-11 cover the twentieth century.
Hispanic Writers (Ref PQ 7081.3 H58 1991) Covers more than 400 authors who are part of the twentieth century Hispanic literature and culture in the Americas.
Latin American Writers (Ref PQ7081 A1 L37, 3 volumes) Here are 2,500 to ten thousand-word essays Latin American writers in prose and theater since the 1950’s.
Magill’s Literary Annual (Ref, PN44 M33, 45 volumes) Magill’s Literary Annual contains essays and reviews of the 200 outstanding books published each year in the United States. Citations of other critical reviews for each are also listed.
Masterpieces of African-American Literature (Ref PS 153 N5 M264, 3 volumes) Contains 266 essays examining the major writings of the African American tradition, in all genres from poetry to non-fiction, drama to novels.
Masterpieces of American Literature (Ref PS 94 M34) Masterpieces of American Literature surveys the broad range of American achievements in prose and poetry, from Colonial times to the late twentieth century. The 199 articles presented here offer descriptions, analyses, characters, plots, themes, critical evaluations, and significance of major works of fiction, nonfiction, drama, and poetry.
Masterpieces of Latino Literature (Ref PQ 7081 A1 M29, 3 volumes) Highlights the literary achievements of Latino authors and thinkers from the seventeenth century to the present. Descriptions, analyses, characters, plots, themes, and critical evaluations of major works of fiction, nonfiction, drama and poetry are arranged alphabetically, by title for individual works or by genre.
Masterplots (Ref. PN44.J3) 500 plots in story form and essay reviews from the world’s finest literature.
Masterplots II : American Fiction (Ref, PN846.M37) 360 interpretive essays on works of Twentieth Century’s fiction published in the U.S. and Latin America.
Masterplots II African-American Authors (Ref, PS153.N5) contains 266 essays examining the major writings of the African American tradition in all genres from poetry to nonfiction, drama to novels.
Masterplots II American literature (Ref, PN846 M37) includes more than 360 interpretive essays on works of Twentieth century fiction published in the U.S. and in Latin America