WORLD LITERATURE
RESEARCH & RESOURCES
Megan Lowe, Reference Librarian
Introduction
This presentation will walk you, step-by-step, through
the research process. It will use the following thesis as
its object:
Mental illness in Franz Kafka’s short story
“The Metamorphosis”
Step #1: Making It Work
Okay, so you have a topic – now you have to make it
manageable. Or, as my hero Tim Gunn would say:
“Make it work!” You have to break the topic down
into smaller concepts to make it easier to research.
You wouldn’t eat a pizza whole, would you? No, you
cut it into slices. So: pizza = thesis, slices = keywords.
KEYWORD
THESIS
Making It Work: Keywords
Mental illness in Franz Kafka’s short story “The Metamorphosis”
Mental illness Criticism
Franz Kafka Critique
Short story Critics
“The Metamorphosis” Interpretation
Insanity Analysis
Delusion(s) “Psychological criticism”
“Mentally unsound” Psychology
“Nervous breakdown” Metamorphosis
“Psychotic break” Kafka
Making It Work: Keywords
Keywords can be used in
› The ULM Library Catalog
› The ULM Library Databases
› Even on the Internet!
You combine keywords together using certain words
called operators. They are:
› AND (this is the most common operator)
› OR
› NOT
Making It Work: Keywords
So a keyword search for our topic could look like any of these
search strings:
Kafka AND Metamorphosis AND insanity
“The Metamorphosis” AND “mental illness” AND “short story”
Kafka AND “The Metamorphosis” AND delusion AND
interpretation
Order is not important, but spelling and number are,
so be careful! Also, you MUST use the word AND, not + or &.
Step #2: Resources
This part depends on a variety of things:
› Has your professor set a specific number of resources
to use?
› Has your professor said you can only use certain kinds
of resources?
› What kind of topic do you have? Is it more scientific or
more pop culture?
The answers to these questions will guide you toward
the kinds of resources you need to consult.
Step #2: Resources
There are different kinds of resources:
Books
Individual chapters/essays in books
Articles
Newspaper articles
Magazine articles
Journal articles
Websites and web documents
Resources generally fall into two categories:
Scholarly Popular
Written by experts Written by journalists
Focuses on a particular field, topic, Usually covers broad topics, fields,
or discipline issues, or disciplines
Intended for others in that field or Usually appeals to a wide audience
career Everyday language, slang, even
“Proper” language, technical profanity
vocabulary LOTS of ads
No ads NOT RESEARCH ORIENTED
RESEARCH ORIENTED
Step #3: Finding Resources
This is the part that can really be the most time-consuming.
Everybody thinks research is hard; it really isn’t. It just takes
time.
Make sure you keep a list of keywords – you’ll find as you go
along that some words work better than others. If you keep a
list, you can make a note of what’s working and what’s not.
Get organized. This will help, too.
Step #3: Finding Resources
One step at a time: don’t try to find everything all at
once. Pick one type of resource and pursue it first.
Don’t assume you’ll be able to find everything right away
– sometimes it takes a little digging to find the right
resources. It’s better to have the right resource than the
first item on a results list
Step #3: Finding Resources
And most importantly, remember: if you need help…
…JUST ASK A LIBRARIAN FOR HELP!
That’s what we’re here for – we want to help YOU! All
you have to do is ask.
Finding Resources: Articles
Though books are an excellent source of
information, most literary criticism is found in the
journals – the scholarly periodicals
The Library provides access to several databases
that focus on literary research
We’ll be looking at three different databases:
JSTOR, Literary Reference Center, and Ebscohost
Articles ► Databases
http://www.ulm.edu/library
Databases by Subject
http://www.ulm.edu/library/subject/index.html
Ebscohost contains both multi-disciplinary and
subject-specific resources, as well as both
scholarly and popular resources. It has full-text
availability.
JSTOR is a multi-disciplinary, scholarly, full- databases
Depending on your topic,
text database. for other disciplines – like this Ebsco
database – could be very useful for
your research!
Literature Resource Center includes Biography
Resource Center, Scribner Writers Series, and
Twayne Author Series. It’s full-text and contains both
popular and scholarly resources.
http://www.ulm.edu/library/subject/ENGLISH.html
Databases by Name
JSTOR
• multi-disciplinary, scholarly, full-text database
• accessible from the Library’s homepage
• available off-campus
Databases: JSTOR
But you can also browse by
discipline, too.
keyword searching!
JSTOR – Search Results
All the information you
need for a citation is
right here.
You can access the PDF,
which will allow you to
download it or print it.
Emailing or saving the
citation only emails or
saves the citation, NOT
the whole article.
Look! Your search terms
are highlighted!
Literature Resource Center
• full-text & contains both popular & scholarly resources
• accessible from the Library’s homepage
• available off-campus
Database: Literature Resource Center (LRC)
LRC – Search Results
LRC - Record
You can have the article read to you,
like a book on tape!
Your keywords highlighted!
LRC – Record Options
If an article has PDF available, you can view
scanned versions of the article.
This prepares the article for printing.
You can email the article to yourself – more on
this in a minute.
You can download a digital copy of the article.
You can also download a MP3 of the article
being read.
This will allow you to save a citation of the
article in various styles (including MLA). More on
this in a minute.
This will translate the article into these
available languages.
Ebscohost
• full-text & contains both popular & scholarly resources
• accessible from the Library’s homepage
• available off-campus
• has both multi-disciplinary and subject-specific databases
Database: Ebscohost Family
Once you’ve checked the boxes
for the databases you want to
search, just click “Continue.”
Though this is an English class, your topics might
include other disciplines, like psychology.
Selecting discipline-specific (even if they aren’t
literary) databases can provide you with good
resources, too.
Take the time to read the descriptions. They will
tell you what disciplines and topics the
databases cover.
Ebscohost: For This Search
Academic Search Complete full text
Communication & Mass Media Complete full text
Literary Reference Center full text
MAS Ultra full text
MLA International Bibliography
Psychology & Behavioral Sciences Collection full text
Keyword searching!
These can help you narrow your results, so be sure
to use them! They make life easier!
If an article offers you…
• PDF Full Text
• HTML Full Text
• Both PDF and HTML
Then the article is available in its
entirety – you can look at the
WHOLE ARTICLE right away.
If an article tells you to “Check LinkSource
for full text,” then you are NOT
GUARANTEED full text. You will NOT
NECESSARILY BE ABLE to see the whole
article, unfortunately.
These subject terms can also be used
as keywords, too – don’t hesitate to
add them to your list and use them!
An abstract is a brief summary of an article’s content.
It’s a good way to quickly figure out if an article is
relevant or useful to your research.
You can create an Ebsco account and add
articles to folders.
Self-explanatory
Self-explanatory
Self-explanatory
More on this in a minute
If you use a bibliographic manager, you can
export the article into it.
You can create an Ebsco account and
create notes for articles.
You can bookmark and share this article on
social networking sites.
This will read the article to you.
All you have to do is copy and paste the
citation into your “Works Cited” page!
Databases: Off-Campus Access
CWID
This is your birth month and your
MMYY
birth year. The PIN cannot be
changed.
Please note that the PIN is 4
numbers long, NOT 6. This is
different from other logins on
campus. Make a note!
Databases & Articles
Ebscohost is just one database that we have – we have a
total of 60+ databases
They may all look differently; cover different topics; and
provide various levels of access (some are full text, some
are not) – however, they all pretty much work the same way
If you aren’t sure where to start, ASK A LIBRARIAN FOR
HELP!
Step #4: Putting It All Together
Once you’ve located your resources – whether that
means checking out books or printing articles or saving
them to your jump drive – then comes the easy part:
extracting the information you need
It’s a good idea to bookmark useful pages in books or
highlight awesome quotes in articles – this way you can
more quickly get back to good information
Putting It All Together
In order to quickly get through books:
• Check the Table of Contents – go directly the chapters
that apply to your topic
• Check the Index – sometimes the indexes will list
individual topics and issues, and you can go straight to
the pages that apply to your topic
To get through articles quickly:
• Skim the article first, then go back to the useful sections
and read more closely
• Some databases will highlight your search terms in the
article – pay attention to that!
Putting It All Together
Make sure you use the information you’ve gathered
responsibly and in context
Don’t cram a bunch of quotations into your speech, paper,
or argument – use quotations thoughtfully and for emphasis.
Your professor is not going to give you a better grade
because you’ve jammed 100 quotes in your paper.
Step #5: Presenting the Project
This is the part the librarians can’t help you with,
unfortunately. At this point it’s all you.
But if you want a librarian to proof your paper or
speech ahead of time, all you have to do is ask!
Good luck!
Q & A Time!
ENGL 2004: Resources
Presentation URL
http://www.ulm.edu/~lowe/english2004.ppt
OWL @ Purdue: MLA
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/01/
Contact
• http://www.ulm.edu/~lowe
• lowe@ulm.edu
THANKS FOR YOUR ATTENTION!
If you need help, you can call the Reference Department at
(318) 342-1071;
email us at reference@ulm.edu;
or you can visit us at the Reference Desk on the
first floor of the ULM Library.