Doing Library Research for Literature Essays
How to Search the Stacks for Bibliographies and Primary Sources
Aug 5, 2009
While online resources for literature students have grown in recent years, students writing literature essays will still have to use their school library for much of their research.
If you're one such student, but have no idea how to start, a big university library can be intimidating. Here are some pointers to make the research process more efficient and productive.
Ask a Subject Librarian for Library Information
The first step in conducting research in the library, especially if it's your first time writing a literature essay, is to talk to a librarian. Librarians can help you find your way around the library, tell you how to access catalogs and materials, and answer specific questions. Don't be intimidated or embarrassed to ask even simple questions – you'll save yourself a lot of fruitless wandering.
Many larger libraries have subject librarians, who specialize in specific fields. If your university library has a literature librarian, make an appointment to see him or her. Try to prepare some questions for the literature librarian, based on your research problem. These librarians can easily direct you to recent and relevant resources, including a library's special collections.
Bibliographies and Reference Works for Literature Essays
Of course, libraries have reference sections, with plenty of volumes (usually non-circulating) housing useful general information. For researching literature term paper topics, you may wish to consult a number of reference works specific to the discipline. These include encyclopedias of literary biography, style guides, and dictionaries of literary criticism.
Encyclopedias and dictionaries are usually unsuitable secondary sources in literature essays; however, in addition to providing background information, they will list bibliographic information for books which are excellent secondary sources for your essay.
On that note, always peruse the bibliographies of scholarly works on your subject. They will list the major works which you should be familiar with (start with the most recent books first).
Inter-library Loans to Access Other University Libraries
Unless you are attending a large university and are writing on a well-documented subject, your home university library may not have all the major books on your term paper topic. If that's the case, you may be able to take advantage of inter-library loans.
Find out which libraries have reciprocal lending privileges with yours (you may need a librarian's help with this). Then, search their catalogs to see if some of the books which might help you are available elsewhere.
If you're studying at a large university with one main library and several affiliated libraries, check the affiliated libraries too. They may have duplicates of some important books available, even when the copies at the main library have been checked out.
Be sure to request inter-library loans well in advance. It usually takes between a few days to a few weeks for them to arrive – and you still have to read the books before starting your paper. Also, there will likely be competition for resources, so someone else might beat you to the books you want (this goes for books in your home library too).
Search the Stacks of Your University Library
One research trick is simply to browse the stacks of a university library. Since library call numbers are organized by subject, books that are directly related will be grouped together. Skimming the shelves surrounding the novel you're writing your term paper on is a quick way to identify some of the major works on it, as well as some other books you might not have thought of searching for.
For instance, suppose your literature essay's topic was Pride and Prejudice. If you were to find the novel in the stacks, it would be among all the other novels of Jane Austen, and nearby would be biographies of Jane Austen and other critical works about Jane Austen as well.
Successfully Researching Literature Essays at the Library
With all its ways of getting sources for literature essays, the library should always be the first place students go when starting their research. Approaching subject librarians, finding literary reference works, using inter-library loans, and even random browsing, are all essential techniques in library research.
 |
