ENGL 250-002: Intro to Literary Methods (BMC)

Scholarly Authority

A. Author

1. What are the author's credentials--institutional affiliation (where he or she works), educational background, past writings, or experience? Is the book or article written on a topic in the author's area of expertise? 
2. Has your instructor mentioned this author? Have you seen the author's name cited in other sources or bibliographies? Respected authors are cited frequently by other scholars. 
3. Is the author associated with a reputable institution or organization? 

B. Date of Publication

When was the source published? How have the ideas about your topic changed over time?

C. Book Publisher

If the source is published by a university press, it is likely to be scholarly. Although the fact that the publisher is reputable does not necessarily guarantee quality, it does show that the publisher may have high regard for the source being published.

D. Title of Journal

Is this a scholarly or a popular journal? This distinction is important because it indicates different levels of complexity in conveying ideas.  If it is scholarly, is the journal peer-reviewed? 

Adapted from Cornell University's Critically Analyzing Information Sources: Critical Appraisal
and Analysis   http://guides.library.cornell.edu/criticallyanalyzing

• Anzaldúa, Gloria
• Bechdel, Alison
• Behn, Aphra
• Chaucer, Geoffrey
• Chopin, Kate
• Fanon, Frantz
• Larsen, Nella
• Lorde, Audre
• Rich, Adrienne
• Woolf, Virginia

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1. Select one of the authors above, or search for an author of your choice.  

• Connect to the MLA International Bibliography.
• Search for your “author as subject” in MLAIB.  
• Limit to “Peer Reviewed.”
• OMIT Dissertations in the "Source Type." 
• Search, sort by “Oldest first.” 

2. Find an interesting article that has been CITED more than 5 times. What is the title of that article? Can you connect to the full text of this article? If you can connect, look at the references that your author cites.

3. Go back to your MLAIB search, and look at the articles that have CITED this article.  What kind of conversations are taking place? Are there connections between these articles and authors?

4. Learn more about the article's author and journal. ​What are the author's affiliations? Have they written other articles that are indexed in MLAIB on the same topic? Look up the journal in MLAIB's Directory of Periodicals. Where is it published?

5. Paste the title of this article in to Google Scholar. How many times has it been cited there?

6. Find any book in Tripod ABOUT this author or topic. What’s the call number?