Introduction to Literature

Prof. E. Shannon
Guide for finding sources at the George T. Potter Library
 

March 24, 2008

Susan B. Kurzmann & Madel Tisi

skurzman@ramapo.edu and mtisi@ramapo.edu

 

 I. Library Homepage: http://library.ramapo.edu

  • Provides access to the catalog (OPAC), databases, interlibrary loan forms, etc.

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II. Find Books

  • Catalog: use this to find books, periodical titles (NOT articles ), government documents, reserve items, music,and movies owned by the Library. You may limit a search by language, year(s) of publication, type of material, etc. This may take a few seconds to load.
  • Use the Basic Search to find material using Keywords
      • For example: search for frankenstein or mary shelley to locate a broad range of materials the library has on these keywords
      • Use quotation marks around a multi-word phrase so that the catalog system will treat it as a single word
      • When you find an appropriate title, click on the Subjects, etc. tab located at the top of a catalog record to see which Library of Congress subject headings are discussed in that particular book/DVD/periodical to get to more titles that deal with that subject

    • OR

  • Search the catalog using Subject Browse feature if you know the relevant Library of Congress subject heading, for example:
    • Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft, 1797-1851

      see subdivisions, e.g. --Criticism and interpretation                                

        --Characters--Frankenstein

    • Frankenstein (Fictitious character)--Fiction
    • Monsters--Fiction
    • Gothic revival (Literature)--England

    • Setting (Literature)

    • Film adaptations
    • Science fiction
    • Horror fiction
    • Gothic fiction
     
  • Click on to see scope note and suggestions for further searching in the catalog
  • Click on to see more information about the term you've entered, such as recommended narrower or broader terms

Tips

  1. Start with broad searches. It's much easier to discard too much rather than start with too little.
  2. If you don't know the Subject Heading, use the Subjects, etc. tab located on the top of a catalog record to get to the headings. This will help you focus in on more relevant material.
  3. You can "virtually" browse the shelves by clicking on the call number in a record.

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III. Reference Material

  • The reference stacks are located on the 3rd floor (this is also the library's entrance).
  • Some useful materials for your projects:
    Cambridge Companion to Gothic Fiction Ref PR830.T3 C36 2002
    Dictionary of Literary Biography  
    1. British Fantasy and Science-Fiction Writers
    2. British Romantic Novelists, 1789-1832
    3. British Romantic Prose Writers

     *Essays available online in Literature Resource Center                database        

    Print volumes:

    Ref PR106.D5 v.178

    Ref PR106.D5 v.116

    Ref PR106.D5 v. 110

    Eighteenth-Century Gothic Novel: An Annotated Bibliography of Criticism and Selected Texts Ref Z2014.F5
    The Encyclopedia of Novel into Film Ref PN1997.85.T54 1998
    Gothic Writers: A Critical and Bibliographical Guide Ref PN3435.G68 2002
    Literature and Its Times

    Ref PN50.L574 1997

    Notable British Novelists Ref PR821.N57 2001

*The Modern Critical Interpretations series, edited by Harold Bloom, are useful sources of critical information about many authors and their works. You'll find an essay about Mary Shelley, "Shelley Disfigured," by P. De Man, in Bloom's Deconstruction and Criticism (a circulating book, PN94.D4 1980).

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IV. Journal Finder and Interlibrary LoanI

  • Journal Finder: Lets you know whether or not you have access to the full text of articles in particular periodicals through our library in print, microform, or via a full-text database. This feature also appears in many of our databases.

    For example, enter Studies in English Literature. You'll see the following results:

    In this case, issues from 1999 through the present are in the Open Stacks Periodicals area (2nd floor). You also have online access to articles through several databases: from December, 1961 through October, 2002 via JSTOR, and through either Expanded Academic ASAP or GALE Literature Resource Center from 1993 to the present. Interim coverage, from 1975 through September, 1998, is available  in another database, Academic Search Premier.

 
  • Interlibrary Loan: allows you to borrow a book or article that the George T. Potter library does not own. There's a link from the Journal Finder page.
  • Both of these links can be found under QUICK LINKS on the library's homepage.
 

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V. Find Articles (Databases)

Useful Databases for your projects:

JSTOR

Full-text articles from more than 500 academic journals.

An archival database, with articles from volume 1 issue 1 from any journal that is included

Literature Resource Center

Provides many full-text articles about authors and their works
MLA International Bibliography

Access to more than 1.6 million bibliographic citations from 1963 to the present, with author biographies, critical essays and journal articles in every literary genre. If the full- text of the article is available through JSTOR, you'll see the JSTOR Subscriber Link. When the full-text of the article is not linked to the citation, click on Check availability

This database is included in Literature Resource Center.

See also:
Contemporary Authors

Provides complete biographical and bibliographical information and references on all of the more than 120,000 U.S. and international authors whose entries appear in Contemporary Authors and Contemporary Authors New Revision Series

This database is included in Literature Resource Center.

Academic Search Premier

A multi-disciplinary database containing both full-text articles and citations. You can limit your search to Scholarly (Peer-Reviewed) Journals.

NOTE: When only a citation is included, click on the Check availability link to see if the full text of the article is available in our collection.

Scholarly/Peer Reviewed/Refereed articles have been reviewed by a selected panel of experts in the discipline covered by that journal. Many of the databases allow you to limit your search to these articles.

   

Tips

  1. Switch to the Advanced Search page in a database. This will give you more control over your results.
  2. Use Boolean Operators--AND, OR, NOT and Quotation Marks when running a search.
  3. Always check your Spelling if the database results are zero.
  4. Use the Subject Terms or Thesaurus link, if available, to find the best terms to use in a database.

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VI. Websites

  • Suggested websites:
 
 
 

Tip

When doing Internet searching, use Evaluating Websites to determine if the site is authoritative enough to use in your paper.

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VII. Bibliographies

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  • Need more help? Visit or call the Reference Desk: 201.684.7574

OR

  • Use QandANJ.org, a 24/7 virtual chat with a reference librarian

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