Finding Articles
The databases listed below work differently than Google or other websites you're used to searching. Here are some things to keep in mind as you go about the research process:
- Choose a database(s) thoughtfully - Even the most targeted search terms will not yield relevant results if the database does not contain materials related to your research topic. It is therefore crucial to spend a little time determining which database(s) is right for you.
- Know how the database(s) you've chosen works - Given that every database has its own particular search functionality, a search that may work in one database may not work in another. That makes it worthwhile to do some preliminary exploration of a database's search options.
- Choose your search terms carefully - Develop search terms that address the major aspects of your research project. Especially when you're starting out, you should try out broad terms so that you retrieve as many relevant materials as possible. This goal can also be achieved by coming up with synonyms for your terms. As your project develops, you will want to use terms that are more narrow in order to retrieve materials that speak to your particular scholarly interests
Once you have found a relevant article (s), click the 
button to access the full text. If the library does not own the article you are interested in, you can still access it through an Interlibrary Loan (ILL) request. This request can be made through the "Find it" page or you can go directly to the ILL Request Form.
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MLA International BibliographyProvides citations to journal articles, books, working papers, conference proceedings, bibliographies, and other materials. Areas covered include literature, language, linguistics, film, theatre and folklore. Covers 1926-present.
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JSTORProvides full-text and page images from many of the top journals in most academic disciplines. Coverage is from the inception of the journal through three to five years ago.
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Annual Bibliography of English Language & LiteratureThe Modern Humanities Research Association's (MHRA) Annual Bibliography of English Language and Literature (ABELL) indexes books, pamphlets, dissertations, and articles from 1300 English-language periodicals, arranging listings by period with an author/subject index at the back. Citations to book reviews appear with entries for books, making it easier to check critical opinion when evaluating a book's scholarship.
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Project Muse journalsProvides access to journals published by the Johns Hopkins University Press. Disciplines covered are humanities, social sciences, and mathematics.
Finding Books
All books owned by libraries in the tri-co can be accessed through Tripod.
To find books that are relevant to your research topic, you can begin by developing search terms that speak to your particular interests.
Once you've identified a relevant book, you can find more like it by looking at the "Similar Items" list on the right-hand side of the catalog entry.
You can also find more related books by searching on the subject headings that have been applied to the book you have identified.
Beyond the Tri-College Collections
If you are interested in a book not owned by the Tri-College Libraries, you should first turn to E-ZBorrow, which gives you access to book collections at a number of local colleges and universities. It usually takes about three days for E-Z Borrow books to arrive.
Books not available through E-Z borrow can be obtained through Interlibrary Loan (ILL), and will arrive, once you submit the form, in as little as four to five days.
To get bibliographic information on books not owned by the Tri-College Libraries, you can turn to WorldCat. This is a combined library catalog containing more than 179 million records describing items owned by libraries around the world. Many of these titles are available to you though interlibrary loan.
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WorldCatA catalog of the holdings of books, journals, and other materials held by OCLC (Online Computer Library Center) member libraries. Includes manuscripts, maps, films and sound recordings. Covers works published before 1,000 BC-present.
Literature References Sources
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A Companion to African American Literature
by ISBN: 9781405188623Publication Date: 2010-05-10Through a series of essays that explore the forms, themes, genres, historical contexts, major authors, and latest critical approaches, A Companion to African American Literature presents a comprehensive chronological overview of African American literature from the eighteenth century to the modern day Examines African American literature from its earliest origins, through the rise of antislavery literature in the decades leading into the Civil War, to the modern development of contemporary African American cultural media, literary aesthetics, and political ideologies Addresses the latest critical and scholarly approaches to African American literature Features essays by leading established literary scholars as well as newer voices -
The Cambridge Companion to W. E. B. Du Bois
by ISBN: 9781139001939W. E. B. Du Bois was the pre-eminent African American intellectual of the twentieth century. As a pioneering historian, sociologist and civil rights activist, and as a novelist and autobiographer, he made the problem of race central to an understanding of the United States within both national and transnational contexts; his masterwork The Souls of Black Folk (1903) is today among the most widely read and most often quoted works of American literature. This Companion presents ten specially commissioned essays by an international team of scholars which explore key aspects of Du Bois's work. The book offers students a critical introduction to Du Bois, as well as opening new pathways into the further study of his remarkable career. It will be of interest to all those working in African American studies, American literature, and American studies generally. -
The Cambridge Companion to American Realism and Naturalism From Howells to London
by
This Companion examines a number of issues related to the terms realism and naturalism. The introduction seeks both to discuss the problems in the use of these two terms in relation to late nineteenth-century fiction and to describe the history of previous efforts to make the terms expressive of American writing of this period. The Companion includes ten essays which fall into four categories: essays on the historical context of realism and naturalism by Louis Budd and Richard Lehan; essays on critical approaches to the movements since the early 1970s by Michael Anesko, essays on the efforts to expand the canon of realism and naturalism by Elizabeth Ammons; and a full-scale discussion of ten major texts, from W. D. Howell's The Rise of Silas Lapham to Jack London's The Call of the Wild, by John W. Crowley, Tom Quirk, J. C. Levenson, Blanche Gelfant, Barbara Hochman, and Jacqueline Tavernier-Courbin
