ENGL 220: Introduction to Writing about Literature (all sections)

Before you start your search, it can help to brainstorm keywords for your topic. What will you type in the search bar to find useful sources? If you're having a hard time coming up with keywords, try using important words and phrases from your assignment prompt or from other articles about the text.

Useful keywords can be

• the author's name
• the title of the text
• relevant character or place names
• important phrases or lines from the text
• themes from the text (be sure to include some synonyms and antonyms)
• important words or phrases from your assignment prompt
• words and phrases used in other sources

Once you've identified some keywords, it helps to be prepared with some alternate terms in case the first keywords you've tried don't get the results you want. Try synonyms, antonyms, and related terms.

For example, someone researching gender roles in Shakespeare's Macbeth might try the following keyword combinations in their searches:

• Shakespeare Macbeth gender
• Shakespeare Macbeth power gender
• Shakespeare Macbeth women
• Shakespeare "Lady Macbeth" gender
• Shakespeare Macbeth "gender roles"
• Shakespeare Macbeth masculinity

In a research paper for English 220, you will be asked to engage with the arguments published in peer-reviewed scholarly journal articles, book chapters, and books in the field of English literature. While some of these kinds of publications are available freely to everyone on the Internet, many academic papers can only be accessed through paid subscriptions to databases. You can access many databases through Hunter/CUNY subscriptions by logging in with your Hunter NetID and password.

A list of all databases that can be accessed through Hunter is posted here.

A full list of databases recommended for research in English Language and Literature can be found here.

Note that you can also find scholarly sources using OneSearch. See the "Choosing Peer-Reviewed Sources" tab in this guide for information about how to identify scholarly sources in your OneSearch results.

Below are instructions for how to search 3 databases (Gale Literature, JSTOR, and Project Muse) to find scholarly sources on literature.

Gale Literature is a database devoted entirely to literature, and it includes both literary criticism and reference sources.

To find literary criticism in this database:

• Click on the logo above to open the database in a new tab, or find it in the alphabetical list under the "Databases" tab on the Hunter College Libraries homepage
• Choose the Advanced Search option
• Type the keyword/s you're interested in in the first box ("basic search")
• Type the title of the text you're researching in the second box ("name of work"). Notice that this will autofill for you - take advantage of this feature! The database will find articles tagged as being primarily about the text you choose.
• When you see the search results, check the filter for "Peer-Reviewed Journals"

The search page will look like this:

The results page will look like this:

JSTOR is a database of scholarly journals and ebooks in many fields. It is especially useful for the humanities.

To find literary criticism in JSTOR:

• Click on the logo above to open the database in a new tab, or find it on under the "Databases" tab on the Hunter College Libraries homepage
• Choose the Advanced Search option
• Type the name of the author, the title of the text, and other keywords into the search bars. You can type one word or phrase into each bar, or type then all in one bar separated by "AND."  Add synonyms or alternative terms into the same search bar separated by "OR"
• After you see the search results, you can use the filters on the left side of the screen to filter by publication date and/or field of study (select "Language & Literature" and any other applicable field of study. Talk to your instructor about which fields are acceptable for your assignment)

The search page will look like this:

Be sure to filter to journals and books in the appropriate field/s of study:

Project Muse is an online collection of full text journals and ebooks published by Johns Hopkins University Press and other university presses.

To find literary criticism in Project Muse:

• Click on the logo above to open the database in a new tab, or find it on under the "Databases" tab on the Hunter College Libraries homepage
• Click on the magnifying glass icon in the search bar to pass through to the advanced search page
• Type the name of the author, the title of the text, and other keywords into the search bars
• Under "access," select "only content I have access to"
• After you see the search results, you can use the filters on the left side of the screen to filter by publication date, content type (books or journals) or research area (select "Literature" and other relevant subject areas)

Your search will look something like this:

The filters by research area will look like this: