Resources for
Literary Criticism
Reference Sources
The Reference collection located on the first floor of the IU Kokomo library is the best place to
start looking for criticism of literary works. These sources give large amounts of background
information and usually contain a list of additional places to locate criticism about both authors
and individual works.
Contemporary Authors Ref Z 1224 .C6
Contemporary Literary Criticism (CLC) Ref PN 771 .C59
(use this source for authors who died in 2000 or later, or who are still living)
Critical Survey of Short Fiction Ref PN 3321 .C7 2001
Dictionary of Literary Biography (DLB) Ref PN 451 .D53
Drama Criticism Ref PN 1601 .D59
Drama for Students Ref PN 1601 .D595
Facts on File Companion to the American Short Story Ref PS 374 .S5 F33 2000
Literature Criticism from 1400 to 1800 (LC) Ref PN 86 .L56
Masterplots II: Short Story Series Ref PN 3326 .M27 2004
Nineteenth Century Literature Criticism (NCLC) Ref PN 761 .N5
Novels for Students Ref PN 3385 .N68
Poetry Criticism (PC) Ref PN 1010 .P499
Poetry for Students Ref PN 1101 .P756
Shakespearean Criticism (SC) Ref PR 2965 .S44
Short Stories for Students Ref PN 3373 .S3844
Short Story Criticism (SSC) Ref PN 3373 .S386
Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism (TCLC) Ref PN 771 .G27
(use this source for authors who died between 1900 – 1999)
Twentieth-Century Short Story Explication, 3rd ed. Ref Z 5917 .S5 W33
Twentieth-Century Short Story Explication: New Series Ref Z 5917 .S5 W35
Online Databases for Finding Literary Criticism
The online databases may be found using the Databases A – Z list or some are also found on
the Hot Picks list both of which are linked from the Library’s homepage.
Academic Search Premier – Multi-disciplinary database that indexes and includes full-text to
scholarly publications covering academic areas of study including social sciences, humanities,
education, computer sciences, engineering, language and linguistics, arts & literature, medical
sciences, and ethnic studies.
Annual Bibliography of English Language and Literature – ABELL lists monographs,
periodical articles, critical editions of literary works, book reviews and collections of essays
published anywhere in the world; unpublished doctoral dissertations are covered for the period
1920–1999.
Literary Index – The Literary Index is a master index to the major literature products
published by Thomson Gale. You can use Gale's Literary Index as a starting point to locate
information about authors and titles.
Literature Criticism Online - Online compilation of Thomson Gale Literary Criticism series
including: Contemporary Literary Criticism, Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism, Nineteenth-
Century Literature Criticism, Shakespeare Criticism, Literature Criticism 1400-1800, Classical
and Medieval Literature Criticism, Poetry Criticism, Short Story Criticism, Drama Criticism, and
Children’s Literature Review.
Literature Resource Center – A complete literature reference database. Rich in
biographical, bibliographical, and critical content, it is the premier Internet resource for
information on literary figures from all time periods writing in such genres as fiction, nonfiction,
poetry, drama, history, journalism, and more.
MLA International Bibliography – The MLA International Bibliography is the premier
resource for locating information on topics in literature, language and linguistics, folklore,
literary theory & criticism, dramatic arts, as well as the historical aspects of printing and
publishing.
Project MUSE – Collection of scholarly academic electronic journals which covers the fields
of literature and criticism, history, the visual and performing arts, cultural studies, education,
political science, gender studies, economics, and many others in the humanities and social
sciences.
IUCAT: the Online Catalog of the Indiana University Libraries
Keyword Searching
A Keyword Anywhere search finds important words in an IUCAT record. Your search terms
may be combined with Boolean operators: and, not, or.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Ralph Waldo Emerson and criticism
Ghost Stories and criticism
Count Dracula
Subject Searching
The IU Kokomo Library uses Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH). Using the
Subject search button will search for the exact official Library of Congress Subject Headings
(LCSH). Generally, these are much less user friendly than are keywords.
American Literature—19th Century—History and criticism
Emerson, Ralph Waldo, 1803-1882—Criticism and Interpretation
Horror Tales, American—History and criticism
Poe, Edgar Allan, 1809-1849
Dracula, Count
Additional Resources: Print Indexes and Abstracts
American Literary Scholarship PERIODICALS PS 3 .A47 1963-2001
(also available at ONLINE in Project MUSE 1998-present)
Abstracts of English Studies STACKS PE 25 .A16 1967-1991
Essay and General Literature Index INDEXES AI 3 .E752 1900-
Humanities Index INDEXES Z 1007 .H8 1974-2002
International Index to Periodicals INDEXES AI 3 .R49 1920-1955
International Index INDEXES AI 3 .R49 1955-1965
Social Sciences & Humanities Index INDEXES AI 3 .R49 1965-1974
DATA//Instruction Guides/ W131 & W132//W132/ Literary Criticism glm – 08/07 revised 4/18/2008db