Outside sources will consist primarily of book sources and journal articles.
This assignment asks you to look for a secondary source that is critiquing a primary source - the novel or the individual work (in this case play) of the author / playwright you are studying.
The scholarly language of the discipline commonly uses five terms to identify literary criticism: critique, criticism, interpretation, analysis and study.
In your research criticism is likely to be centered around these topics:
Criticism related to a narrative device like symbolism or setting
OR
Critical interpretations exploring a specific theme like gender roles or sexuality
OR
Study on imagery in the play like the locked letter box
OR
Character analysis of a specific figure like Nora.
Literary criticism is NOT a review of the play ("theatre review"), NOT an interview with the author / playwright, NOT a plot summary, and NOT biographical information.
Look up your main concepts in general encyclopedias and subject-specific reference sources. Read articles in these reference materials to set the context for your research. Note important key terms or phrases. Note any relevant items in the bibliographies at the end of these encyclopedia articles. Additional background information may be provided in your lecture notes, textbooks and items on reserve in the library.
Our Credo Reference database has just what you need to get you started.
Search these for: articles and books that will contain analysis or interpretation of key works in literature
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Artemis Literary Sources contains literary criticism in the form of scholarly journal articles from literature journals, books with literary essays, and also reference sources that contain brief analysis. Note: If asked for a single password when signing in off campus, enter in the barcode number on your student ID. Citations: Click on |
| Literary Reference Center |
Literary Reference Center contains literary criticism in the form of scholarly journal articles from literature journals, books with literary essays, and also reference sources that contain brief analysis. Citations: Click on |
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Contains reference books, literary journals and magazines. Use if you want outside critique on a work, a work overview (some summary and analysis), or biographical information on an author. Citations: Click on |
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| JSTOR |
JSTOR contains literary criticism in the form of scholarly articles from literature journals. Citations: Copy and paste the journal article title from JSTOR to the Journal tab in EasyBib and click the "Cite This" button. Choose the JSTOR tab from the results list. Select the appropriate citation and click "Cite This" button. Click "Generate Citation" button at the bottom of the template. |
| Harold Bloom's Ebook Literary Criticism Series |
Bloom's Literary Criticisms contains thousands of critical articles published by noted scholars under the Bloom's Literary Criticism series. Citations: Click "Citation Information" to the right of the article. Click highlight, and then using the right click , you can copy and paste the citation into your choice |
Search this for: book sources that contain literary essays, reference sources that contain brief analysis
TIP: search by title of work or author and add the term criticism / interpretation / analysis / study
* To have a book transferred from one campus library to the other, contact a library staff member for assistance.
If you locate a book outside of the NSCC Libraries that is available to borrow, click on the 
button and follow the online instructions to request the material. Material may take up to a week to arrive.
then export to 