Searching for

Searching for Criticisms and Analysis
at St. John's University (New York)

The NOVEL

The American Novel (Ref. Z 1231.F4G4 2 vols)

This checklist is divided into two sctions: criticism of individual authors and criticism of the American novel as a genre. The first section lists criticism 1) individual novels 2) general studies 3) bibliographies. The second section lists general studies of the American novel, divided into centuries.

American Writers (Ref. PS 129.A55 multi-volumes)

"A collection of literary biographies." This series provides "…an extended, jargon-free essay that would serve the feneral reader and be of use to the specialist."

Black Literature Criticism (Ref. PS 153 N5 B556 3 vols)

"Excerpts from criticism of the most significant works of Black authors over the past 200 years."

Afro-American Writers from the Harlem Renaissance to 1940 (Ref. PS 153.N5A396)

This is one volume from the series Dictionary of Literary Biography

The English Nnovel, 1578-1956; a checklist of twentieth-century criticisms (Ref. Z 2014.F5B44 1974)

A listing of criticisms from periodicals and books.

English Novel Explication: criticisms to 1972. (Ref. Z 2014.F5P26)

A selection from the introduction provides a hint as to the scope of this publication. "This Guide is intended for those who are embarking on a serious study of English Literature." Their first concern is with the obivious questions. Which editions can be recommended, includingthe authoritative texts, and good cheaper ones? What critics should be read. What biographies exist of the major writer, and can any be described as standard?"

Magill's Bibliography of Literary Criticism (Ref. Z 6511.M3 4 vols)

While over 20 years old it is an excellent source of literary criticisms including many on plays and playwrights.

Browsing the shelves in the areas indicated by the above call numbers may find similar books of criticisms and analysis.

Please note that many of the books in Ref. Z 8000 to Ref. Z 8999 may contain references to criticism and analysis and are, in large part, arranged alphabetically by an author's last name.

The following multi-volume sets are excellent sources of criticisms and analysis for a range of literary genre. Each is a multi-volume set and each volume cummulates the contents of the previous volumes and the other volumes which are listed below. Thus, the last volume in each series contains an index of all the volumes printed so far. These volumes contain excerpts (and in some cases the full-text of criticism) from journals and books.

Classical and Medieval Literature Criticism (Ref. PN 86.C53 multi-vols)
Literature Criticism from 1400 to 1800 (Ref. PN 86.L53 multi-vols)
Nineteenth-century Literature Criticism (Ref. PN 761 .N5 multi-vols)
Twentieth-century Literary Criticism. (Ref. PN 771 .T9 multi-vols)

Covers authors who died between 1900 and 1960.
Contemporary Literary Criticism (Ref. PN 771 .C59 multi-vols) Covers authors living from 1960 to the present.

MLA International Bibliography Index.

Computer Database available on the Library's Web Page.

(Note. This index is also available in print in the Reference Room Index Area.)

The database indexes international scholarly materials on modern language, literature, linguistics, and folklore. Covering 1963 to the present, the MLA International Bibliography includes 1.3 million citations from over 3,000 journals and series, monographs, working papers and conference proceedings.

Following are some suggestions for creating your search statement.

Typing	Will retrieve
Hemingway	Documents containing the word hemingway
critic* and moliere and drama*	Documents containing both the words Critic, critics, critical, criticism etc. and moliere and drama. This should find articles criticizing the plays of .
criticism or reviews	Documents containing either the word criticism or the word reviews or both words. The search operator OR broadens the search, retrieving more documents.
stage realism stage realism and (miller or williams)	documents containing the phrase learning disability. documents containing the phrase stage realism and the words miller or williams.
modern near drama	documents with the word modern in the same sentence as the word drama. Either word can appear first.
modern with drama	containing the word modern and the word drama in the same field. Either word can appear first.
Typing		Will retrieve
modern drama in ti		Documents or articles containing the words modern drama in the title of the article or document.
will-george in au		Documents or articles written by George Will. Note the dash between names - it is required.	Exact author names can be found in the INDEX. Use of the Index is highly recommended
privatization in de		Documents containing articles described as being about privatization.
modern- drama in so and realism		Documents containing articles in the magazine modern drama about realism. Note the dash between the words in the title of the magazine - it is required.	Exact journal names can be found in the INDEX. Use of the Index is highly recommended.

TRUNCATION

Truncation and wildcards allow you to retrieve variations of your search term when you construct searches.

Typing	Will retrieve
Cat*	Catatonic, catatonia, category, etc.
Dra???t	draft and draught

UMI Proquest Computer Database available on the Library's Web Page.

This is a general periodical index but may have recent criticisms and evaluations on your authors or short stories.

Typing	Will Find
miller and critic#	Articles on the author Miller with words such as critic, critics, critical, criticism. They may contain criticisms and evaluations of the plays of miller. If you don't find enough information try varying the search.

Searching the Library's Catalog for criticism of the novel

Home page of the Library: http://www.stjohns.edu/library/staugustine/resources.html

To find books in the SJU library containing drama criticisms and evaluations the following searches are suggested. If you don't find what you want after using them please consult with a librarian at the Reference Desk on the first floor of the library. The following examples use the author Poe and the genre short-stories but you may substitute your own author and genre.

Typing	Will Find
Poe critic# novel?	Books on the author Poe with words such as critic, critics, critical, criticism and short-story or short stories. They may contain criticisms of the short-stories of Poe. If you don't find enough try varying the search. Poe critic# Poe short stor#
Poe biograph#	Biographies about Poe.

Substitute the name of your author in the above examples.

# is a truncation symbol. In the example above for critic# - the search is asking to find all words that begin with the letters c r i t i c . This retrieves words such as critics, critical, criticism, criticisms.

? is a truncation symbol standing for one letter (usually used to include the plural form of a word.)