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First Year Seminars: FYS 151-1 Lyric Voice

Finding Literary Criticism

Background Information:

Gale Reference eBooks This link opens in a new window
Provides a database of encyclopedias and reference sources for research. Coverage include the Arts, Business, Education, the Environment, History, Literature, Medicine, Multicultural Studies, Religion, Science and Social Science. 2000 – present.

General Databases:

MUSCAT Plus This link opens in a new window
MUSCAT Plus searches for books, journal articles, media, and more in Musselman Library and beyond.
JSTOR This link opens in a new window
Provides access to content across all disciplines. Search or browse books, journals, images, and primary sources.

Focused Subject Databases:

Literature Criticism Online This link opens in a new window
Provides excerpts from criticism on literature from classical times to 1800. Our subscription includes: Classical and Medieval Literature Criticism, Literature Criticism from 1400 – 1800, Shakespeare Criticism, Nineteenth-Century Literature Criticism, Poetry Criticism, Short Story Criticism, Twentieth-Century Literature Criticism and Contemporary Literature Criticism.
Literature Resource Center This link opens in a new window
Provides access to biographies, bibliographies, and critical analyses on over 130,000 writers in all disciplines, from all time periods and from around the world.
MLA International Bibliography This link opens in a new window
Covers literature, language and linguistics, folklore, film, literary theory and criticism, and dramatic arts, as well as the historical aspects of printing and publishing. Over 6,000 journals and series, plus 1,200 book publishers, are indexed. Articles date from 1926-present.
Annual Bibliography of English Language and Literature (ABELL) via Literature Online This link opens in a new window
Provides citations to content on all aspects of English literature and English language. Over 880,000 records covering monographs, periodical articles, critical editions of literary works, book reviews, and collections of essays published worldwide, from 1920 to the present. Search ABELL in LiON and link to full-text if available.

Evaluate Information Sources

Evaluating Sources

Students should think critically about information sources that you use, particularly if they will be cited in research projects! A few things to consider when evaluating sources…

Who is the author? What do you know about them?
What audience is the information intended for?
Is the information appropriate for the topic that you’re researching?
Is the information up-to-date? (This won’t always matter!)
Are sources cited either in the text or in a bibliography at the end?

Scholarly vs. Popular Sources

For much of the research that you do at Gettysburg College, professors will request that you use scholarly articles (from peer-reviewed journals, rather than popular magazines and websites).

Citations

MLA

MLA Handbook by The Modern Language Association of America
Call Number: LB2369 .M52 2021
ISBN: 9781603293518
Publication Date: 2021
Copies available at the Research Help Desk.

MLA Handbook This link opens in a new window
Provides access to the online MLA Handbook for writers of research papers and anyone citing sources according to the Modern Language Association defined style guide/format. This is the ninth edition, 2021 MLA Handbook.

MLA (Purdue OWL)
The Purdue OWL provides basic examples for most types of sources and formatting guides.

Creating Your Poster

For more information on best practices for making your poster, please visit our guide on Creating a Poster.