Literary Criticism Resources

Literary Criticism is the study, evaluation, or interpretation of literature.  Literary criticism is used for essays, discussions, or in-depth book reviews of authors and their works.  This page will help you discover all of sources for literary criticism that Spokane Public Library has to offer, including circulating books, reference sources, and online subscription databases.

Search the Library Catalog

The library has many books of literary criticism on well-known authors or titles that can be checked out.  The easiest way to find such items is to do a Subject Keyword search with the author's name and the word "criticism".  For example:

Search results will often include Cliffs Notes and Barron's Book Notes, which give plot summaries and some criticism.  Some of these guides may be available in electronic versions; ask at the Reference Desk at any library to find out how to access these sources.

Criticism on William Shakespeare is a special case because this is such a large subject.  Shakespeare criticism is arranged by the name of the play in the call number 822.33.

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Reference Resources

Many authors who do not have separate books of literary criticism on them can be found in the following reference sources:

• Literature Resource Center is an online subscription database with in-depth information on the lives and writings of nearly 100,000 authors.  It has critical reaction to their works from Contemporary Authors, Contemporary Literary Criticism Select, and Dictionary of Literary Biography.  When accessing this from outside the library, this database requires a valid city resident library card
• ProQuest Learning: Literature - provides more than 180,000 full-text works of poetry, prose, and drama from around the world, as well as secondary sources such as author biographies, literary criticisms, essays, reviews, and interviews

The following books and sets can be found in the Reference area of the Downtown Library:

• American Writers: A Collection of Literary Biographies is a series of yearbooks with biographical information and criticism on well-known American authors.  This set is also at the Shadle Library.  There are companion series on British Writers (also at Shadle) and European Writers
• The Masterplots series contains plot summaries and critical evaluations of the world's finest literature.  There are also specialized sets of this series, including Short Stories, American Fiction, British Fiction, and World Fiction.  The main series is also available at the Shadle and South Hill Libraries
• Twentieth Century Literary Criticism and Nineteenth Century Literature Criticism are large sets covering a wide variety of writers and their works.  Because new volumes are added each year, a separate index is provided for titles. Authors may be covered in more than one volume. Ask a librarian if you need help locating something
• Critical Survey of Poetry provides interpretation of individual poems and  biographical information for poets from around the world and from a wide time frame.  The series is arranged by the poet's last name
• Poetry Criticism contains excerpts from criticism of the works of the most significant and widely studied poets of world literature
• Shakespearean Criticism is a multi-volume set that covers all of Shakespeare's plays, his long poems, and most of his sonnets
• Shakespeare for Students is available at most branches and offers essential criticism of the playwright's most commonly studied plays in secondary schools and undergraduate curricula

There are other specialized literary criticism reference sets at the Downtown Library, such as for African American writers or for Science Fiction.  There are also a few sets specifically for writers of children's literature.

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Magazine Articles

Magazines can be a useful source of book reviews and author information, especially for newer authors.  Some in-depth book reviews, such as from the New York Times Book Review, are a good source of literary criticism.  Many book reviews can be found full text in the following magazine databases.  To access these from outside of the library, you will need a city resident library card.

• General OneFile is a general magazine database.  The easiest way to find criticism is to type in the author's name as a Browse Subjects search. Type in the author's name, last name first.  For example, a search for King, Stephen brings up the following results:
   
  Click on the plus sign by the author's name to expand the subdivisions.  Look for the subheading "Criticism and Interpretation".  You can do an Advanced Search to look for a specific title.  Put quotes around an exact phrase.  General OneFile allows you to automatically create an article citation and then save it to a document
• ProQuest is another database that has full text magazine, journal, and newspaper articles.  ProQuest is a good source for information on local authors because the larger Washington state newspapers are available full text.  The New York Times Book Review is also available full text since 1997.  Search by author's name or book title.  Put quotation marks around exact phrases.  For an automatically created bibliography, check the boxes next to the articles you want, and then click on the My Research tab at the top.  From here you can have ProQuest download or email the bibliography to you

For older dates, you will need to look in the following reference sets at the Downtown Library:

• Book Review Digest (1905-2003) and Book Review Index (1965-2001) list book reviews for each year in major magazines.  The Downtown Library will have many of these magazines in paper or microform
• Reader's Guide to Periodical Literature (1900-2005) will also index general magazine articles which the Downtown Library will often have.  Look up the author's last name or, for later years, look in the separate book review section at the end of the volume

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Internet Resources

When searching for literary criticism on the Internet, you need to look for reliable internet sites that will give you authoritative, up-to-date information.  One good source for an overview of literary criticism is the Internet Public Library's Literary Criticism page.  This will link you to their Online Literary Criticism Guide, which lists many trustworthy online sources for literary criticism.

There are also online book review sources.  The New York Times has their book reviews from 1981 onward available online for free, but you will need to sign up for their service. 

For local reviews and authors, try searching The Inlander archives. 

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Citation Resources & Style Guides

There are online sources, as well as books, for formats for bibliography citations.  Seattle Central Community College Library lists several citation formats.  Long Island University Library offers a similar list.  You can also find specialized citation internet sites, such as the one on Citing Government Information Sources from the University of Nevada.

Spokane Public Library has the following citation guides in book format:  MLA Handbook, Turabian's A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (APA), and The Chicago Manual of Style.  

If you need help with how to write a term paper, the following style guides will help:  The Gregg Reference Manual, Strunk and White's Elements of Style, and the Harbrace College Handbook.  There are also books on report writing, thesis writing, and doing research.  Just ask at a Ask a Librarian if you need help finding these.

A good online source for technical writing is Writing Guidelines for Engineering and Science Students from Penn State.

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