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.
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 American 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, linked at the bottom of this box.
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American Literature
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 that offers 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.
Available electronically and in print: Per PS1.A6
The journal of the Modem Language Association's American Literature Division 1, Early American Literature publishes the finest work of scholars examining American literature from its inception through the early national period, about 1830. Founded in 1965, EAL invites work treating Native American traditional expressions, colonial Ibero-American literature from North America, colonial American Francophone writings, Dutch colonial, and German American colonial literature as well as writings in English from British America and the US.
Available electronically and in print: Per PS501.E2
MFS: Modern Fiction Studies
MFS publishes theoretically engaged and historically informed articles on modernist and contemporary fiction. The journal's substantial book review section keeps readers informed about current scholarship in the field. MFS alternates general issues with special issues focused on individual novelists or topics that challenge and expand the concept of "modern fiction."
Print: PS379.M55
Western American Literature
Published by the Western Literature Association, Western American Literature is the leading journal in western American literary studies. Always iconoclastic, Western American Literature published some of the first essays on now celebrated writers such as D’Arcy McNickle, Wallace Stegner, and Terry Tempest Williams, critical essays by N. Scott Momaday and Rudolfo Anaya, and influential early essays on ecocriticism. The journal now focuses broadly on western culture, each issue including reproductions of western images—paintings, photography, film stills, botanical and survey drawings, maps, murals—to offer a cultural context for the essays. In addition to theoretical pieces based on cultural geography, new western history, and environmental writing, recent issues include essays on traditional western favorites such as Edward Abbey and John Muir, new western figures such as Cormac McCarthy, American Indian writers, and African American writers and filmmakers. A recent issue of WAL also focuses on the Hispanic Literary Recovery Project.
Print: Per PS271.W46
American Literary Scholarship
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.
Available electronically and in print: Ref PS3.A47
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[ALS 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 electronic database searching
Electronic databases may be searched on three levels:
Advantages of searching a native (single) database
Disadvantages of searching a native database
Advantages of simul-searching multiple databases by provider
Disadvantages of simul-searching multiple databases by provider
Advantages of Gemfinder Discovery Search
Disadvantages of Gemfinder Discovery Search
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
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.