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Lang&Lit: EH203 & 204 -- Survey of English Literature : Find Articles

This Library Guide directs you to print and electronic information sources for the survey courses in English Literature. The Guide is selective, not comprehensive; the sources listed are representative of their type.

Page Overview

This page provides a list of databases for searching for articles on English Literature in scholarly journals and other periodicals.  A brief description is provided for each database to help researchers choose the most appropriate one for their purpose.  The advantages and disadvantages of different levels of database searching also are discussed,

Electronic Resources

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.

Electronic Databases

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 British/English authors, you may want to start with the following databases.   For additional databases, redirect to the LibGuide for English Language and Literature: Electronic Databases by Subject.

 

 

Important Journals

Nineteenth-Century Literature: 71 (1)
 
Nineteenth Century Literature
 
From Ozymandias to Huckleberry Finn, Nineteenth-Century Literature unites a broad-based group of transatlantic authors and poets, literary characters, and discourses - all discussed with a keen understanding of nineteenth -century literary history and theory.
 

Available electronically and in print: Per PR873.T76

cover8

Studies in Romanticism

Studies in Romanticism was founded in 1961 by David Bonnell Green at a time when it was still possible to wonder whether “romanticism” was a term worth theorizing (as Morse Peckham deliberated in the first essay of the first number). It seemed that it was, and, ever since, SiR (as it is known to abbreviation) has flourished under a fine succession of editors: Edwin Silverman, W. H. Stevenson, Charles Stone III, Michael Cooke, Morton Paley, David Wagenknecht (1978-2010), and Charles Rzepka. Ever since the tradition founded by Morton Paley, the journal has published thematically-controlled “special issues,” as well as miscellanies, and many of these issues have been especially fortunate in including cutting-edge work by young scholars.

Available electronically and in print: Per PN751.S8

 

Victorian Studies Journal

Victorian Studies

One of the first interdisciplinary journals in the humanities, Victorian Studies remains the flagship journal in the field. Publishing essays on topics from literature, social and political history, fine arts, science, philosophy, economics, and law.

Available electronically and in print: PR1.V5

 

The Current Issue

Year's Work in English Studies

Print: Ref PE58.E6

Electronic: <http://ywes.oxfordjournals.org/content/by/year> [YWES actually is a periodical, an annual; but Houston Cole Library treats annuals as books rather than periodicals, so this one is cataloged and shelved as a reference book.]

 

 

Levels of Database Searching

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

  • more journals included in the search
  • larger number of search results
  • more article abstracts
  • more full text

Disadvantages of simul-searching multiple databases by provider

  • larger number of search results to evaluate
  • repetition of records in search results

Advantages of Gemfinder Discovery Search

  • permits simul-searching databases provided by multiple vendors 
  • includes more books in search results than native databases do
  • useful for finding information on very obscure topics
  • useful for finding a native database launch point when the location of needed information is unknown

Disadvantages of Gemfinder Discovery Search

  • not well suited for searching broad, heavily-researched topics (e.g., George Washington) 
  • number of search results harvested can be overwhelming
  • results harvested may have little or no relevance to the search performed
  • to both reduce results and improve relevance, may require more sophisticated search techniques than needed for native databases                                                                                                                

 

 

 

 

 

Database Cross-Searching

To cross-search EBSCOhost, Gale/Cengage, or JSTOR databases:

1)  Go to the library's Electronic Resources page (http://www.jsu.edu/library/resources/index.html)

2)  Scroll down to Frequently Used Resources

3) Select the database vendor you wish to cross-search  

4) Follow instructions provided by the vendor

 

Beyond Databases

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.