Lang&Lit: EH423 -- Alabama Literature: Find Articles

There are a number of electronic resources you can use to research your area. The databases on this page are some of the more useful ones.  You can also search for a specific journal using the search box below. If you cannot find what you need, please contact the Subject Specialist using the contact information under the Home tab of this Guide.

NOTE: Due to license agreements, some journals and/or specific issues may not be available in full-text.

If you are faculty, staff, or currently enrolled in classes at Jacksonville State University, you can access the Library's electronic resources from your home computer.

Access is granted through an authentication application called EZproxy. It is very easy to use, and it allows our users to access our resources from any browser (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, etc.) or service provider (AOL, Mindspring, etc.).

Access is granted through the same credentials you use for MyJSU.  When you select any of our electronic resources, databases or journals, you will be routed to MyJSU.

It is important to note that users will still be verified through the Library's system, so if there is a problem with your record in the Library’s System, you will be prompted to contact us at 256.782.5758 or 1-800-231-5291.

Start with these Databases to Locate Articles

To find articles on a topic, you will need to search in databases that index the articles in various online journals or digitized, electronic versions of books. For information on Alabama authors, you may want to start with the following databases.   For additional databases, redirect to the Supplemental Databases tab of the LibGuide for English Language and Literature: Electronic Databases by Subject.

Alabama Literary Review (ALR) is a state-sponsored literary journal publishing regional and national writers and is generously supported by Troy University and the Troy University Foundation. Published once a year, ALR is offered as a free service to all Alabama libraries as well as to two- and four-year institutions of higher learning in the state of Alabama. ALR is indexed in The American Humanities Index and The Index of American Periodic Verse.

Print:  Per  266.A5A42x

American Literature has been regarded since its inception as the preeminent periodical in its field. Each issue contains articles covering the works of several American authors—from colonial to contemporary—as well as an extensive book review section; a “Brief Mention” section offering citations of new editions and reprints, collections, anthologies, and other professional books; and an “Announcements” section that keeps readers up-to-date on prizes, competitions, conferences, grants, and publishing opportunities.

Print:  Per  PS1.A6

Electronic: 

Black Warrior Review

Established in 1974 by graduate students in the MFA Program in Creative Writing at the University of Alabama, Black Warrior Review publishes poetry, fiction, nonfiction, and art by Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award winners alongside up-and-coming writers. Stories and poems appearing in Black Warrior Review have been reprinted in the Pushcart Prize series, Best American Short Stories, Best American Poetry, New Stories from the South, and other anthologies. Each issue features a chapbook from a nationally known poet.

Print:  Per  PS1.B55

Electronic:

The Southern Literary Journal, a peer-reviewed journal edited by Fred Hobson and Minrose Gwin, publishes scholarly articles on the literature of the American South and reviews of critical works on southern literature and culture.

Print:  Per  PS261.S527

Electronic:

The Southern Review publishes fiction, poetry, critical essays, interviews, book reviews, and excerpts from novels in progress, with emphasis on contemporary literature in the United States and abroad. Poems and fiction are selected with careful attention to craftsmanship and technique and to the seriousness of the subject matter. Although willing to publish experimental writing that appears to have a valid artistic purpose, The Southern Review avoids extremism and sensationalism. Critical essays and book reviews exhibit a thoughtful and sometimes severe awareness of the necessity of literary standards in our time. Art reproductions—color or black and white—of a wide range—paintings, photography, prints, sculpture—are selected on the basis of engaging content and style.

Print:  Per  AP2.S8555

Electronic:

American Literary Scholarship features bibliographic essays arranged by writer and time period, from pre-1800 to the present, and acts as a “systematic evaluative guide to current published studies of American literature” (ALA Booklist). Each volume of American Literary Scholarship covers content from two years previous to the volume.

Print: Ref PS3.A47

Electronic:

Levels of electronic database searching

Electronic databases may be searched on three levels:

• singly (native database)
• in groups, provided they all are products of the same vendor (database cluster)
• Gemfinder Discovery Search, which can simul-search multiple databases across different vendor platforms. 

Advantages of searching a native (single) database

• smaller, more manageable number of search results
• allows for more precise subject focusing, particularly in discipline-specific databases

Disadvantages of searching a native database

• fewer search results and therefore fewer article abstracts and full text
• greater possibility of missing useful articles because they are not published in a journal indexed in the database being searched

Advantages of simul-searching multiple databases by provider

Many authors have journals or newsletters devoted to them, but these publications may not be indexed in a database.  A basic internet search can turn these up.  Many have contents pages, and even selective full text of articles, available online.  The search algorithm is simple.  In the search box of the internet search engine, type the name of the author, within quotation marks, followed by the word "society" (no quotation marks).  For example:

"john cooper powys" society

Whether the author's group calls itself an Association, a Circle, or a Society, within the results list the search brings up should be a link to that group; and connected to that link, access to resources not available through databases.