English 200 Level Courses: Research Project
Choose your novel
Some ideas about how to pick a book
- It sounds obvious , but be sure to choose a title that you are interested in.
- Find one whose style and subject matter sounds good to you.
Make sure this is the book for you
Before you commit, you might like to get an overview of the book, author, or subject matter. Here are a few general reference databases that can help you quickly figure out who, what, where, and when to help you decide if that book is for you:
- Credo Reference This link opens in a new window
Broad subject general reference database searching hundreds of encyclopedias and other reference works. Provides subject/topic maps.
- Ebooks from Gale This link opens in a new window
A broad ranging general reference collection of ebooks. Search thousands of authoritative reference sources across all fields and disciplines.
Find Literary Criticism
Literary Devices have two aspects.
They can be treated as either Literary Elements or Literary Techniques.
- Literary Elements have an inherent existence in literary piece and are extensively employed by writers to develop a literary piece such as plot, setting, narrative structure, characters, mood, theme, moral etc. Writers simply cannot create their desired work without including Literary Elements in a thoroughly professional manner.
- Literary Techniques, on the contrary, are structures usually a word s or phrases in literary texts that writers employ to achieve not merely artistic ends but also readers a greater understanding and appreciation of their literary works. Examples are: metaphor, simile, alliteration, hyperbole, allegory etc. In contrast to Literary Elements, Literary Techniques are not an unavoidable aspect of literary works.
LiteraryDevices Editors. “Metaphor” LiteraryDevices.net. 2013. Web. 4 Nov. 2014.
We have a variety of databases that allow you to search for journal articles and eBooks across many scholarly publications at once.
- Bloom's Literary Reference Online This link opens in a new window
A resource for the study of literature. Edited and curated by Yale University professor Harold Bloom. Includes thousands of critical essays and discussion questions, author biographies, character analyses, full-length poems, and the full text of hundreds of reference books. Also contains full-length videos of classic plays and films, and more.
- Ebook Collection from Salem Press This link opens in a new window
Includes easy-to-understand information about literature, history, science, and health.
- Literature: Gale This link opens in a new window
Offers broad and representative range of authors and their works, including full-text critical and literary analysis for literary studies. Researchers can find up-to-date analysis, biographical information, overviews, full-text literary criticism, and reviews on more than 130,000 writers in all disciplines, from all time periods, and from around the world.
- Ebooks from Infobase This link opens in a new window
This collection features thousands of reference works from imprints such as Facts On File, Ferguson's, and Bloom's on a wide range of subjects areas, from history, science, literature, etc.
- Literary Reference Center This link opens in a new window
Full-text literary database covering all genres and time-frames. It includes thousands of synopses, critical essays, book reviews, literary journals and author biographies, plus full-text classic novels, short stories and poems. Also includes the Masterplots series and "Critical Insights" volumes.