FYE 1031: Hero's Quest in Literature
Books in the Main Stacks
To find general works related to this course, try one of these topic searches (be sure to scroll for useful subdivisions):
Epic literature
Fantasy literature
Greek literature
Heroes
Literature, comparative
Science fiction
Or use the catalog to:
- search by your own KEYWORDs such as “hero and literature.”
- search for information on specific works by using the title or author in a SUBJECT search such as Beowulf
Citing Your Resources
Doing ethical research means citing sources. It is critical to credit writers for their work and their contributions to your research. To not do so is unethical and leads to plagiarism - unintentionally or not. Here are some sources to help you cite properly and to avoid the problem of plagiarism.
- Citation of Sources
This lists citation engines which help you create proper citations as well as providing information on different citation styles. - Tips on avoiding plagiarism
- Turnitin
Turnitin is a service that faculty and students use to detect and avoid plagiarism in their writing. - NoodleBib
NoodleBib is an online resource that will help you format MLA and APA bibliographies, exporting them directly to your word processing program.
Dictionaries & Encyclopedias
Andrews, J.F. (Ed.). (2001). Shakespeare’s world and work. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons. An alphabetical collection of essays that provide overviews of themes, influences, and staging, this volume also includes timelines and illustrations. This is a good place to start getting acquainted with this complex author and his work. Ref. PR2892 .S56 2001 (v. 1 - 3)
Baldick, C. (Ed.). (1990). Concise Oxford dictionary of literary terms. Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press. A concise dictionary is always needed to define terms you may encounter in your study of literature. Ref. PN41 .C67 1990
Barton, J., & Muddiman, J. (Eds.). (2001). Oxford Bible commentary. New York: Oxford University Press. This is a good introduction to the “religious, cultural, and historical significance” of the Bible that includes “verse by verse explanation of every book….” Ref. PS 491.3 .O94 2001
Dobson, M., & Wells, S. (Eds.). (2001). Oxford companion to Shakespeare. New York: Oxford University Press. The editors help you undertand the characters and themes found in Shakespeare’s work. Take a look if you need ideas for a research topic. Ref. PR2892 .O94 2001
Grant, M., & Kitzinger, R. (Eds.). (1988). Civilization of the ancient Mediterranean: Greece and Rome. Rome, NY: Charles Scribner’s Sons. This is a collection of essays on various aspects of Greek and Roman history and society, such as class structure, religion, women, and the arts. Includes “historical summaries” as well. Ref. DE59 .C55 1988 v.1–3
Grendler, P.F. (Ed.). (1999). Encyclopedia of the Renaissance. New York: Scribner’s. This volume includes essays, listed alphabetically, on people, places, and ideas related to the Renaissance. Also includes maps, genealogical tables, and a chronology. Ref. CB361 .E52 1999
Harmon, W., & Holman, H. (Eds.). (2006). Handbook to literature, 10th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall. Use this handbook for locate definitions of important terms and outlines of British and American literary history. Ref. PN41 .H355 2006
Lacy, N.J. (Ed.). (1986). The Arthurian encyclopedia. New York: Garland Publishing. This encyclopedia defines characters and themes, identifies major critics, and includes essays that illustrate how scholarship on this famous tale has changed over time. Ref. DA 152.5 .A7 A78 1986
Lindahl, C., et. al. (Eds.) (2000). An encyclopedia of myths, legends, tales, beliefs, and customs. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO. Here you’ll find ssays on characters and themes in world literature. This can be useful for in-depth definitions and topic overviews. Ref. GR35 .M43 2000 v. 1–2
Linehan, P., & Nelson, J.L. (Eds.). (2001). The Medieval world. New York: Routledge. A collection of essays that provides a glimpse of what life was like in Medieval Europe, this volume is useful for providing a context for a piece of literature. Some illustrations and suggestions for further reading. Ref. CB351 .M43 2001x
Luce, J.T. (Ed.). (1982). Ancient writers: Greece and Rome. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons. Volume One features essays on major writers. Each entry details the writer’s life and works. This is a good source for placing the writer in context and understanding the place of his work in history. Each entry includes a selected bibliography for further reading. Ref. PA3002 .A5 1982 (v. 1 - 2)
Misiroglu, G. (Ed.). (2004). The superhero book. Detroit, MI: Visible Ink. An A-Z compendium, this fun volume describes superheroes’ backgrounds, powers, vulnerabilities, and other characteristics. Ref. P96 .H46587 2004
Oxford essential dictionary of difficult words. (2001) New York: Berkley Books. This is one of the texts required for this course; available for reference in the Library. Ref. PE1680 .O93 2001
Quinn, E. (Ed.). (2006). Dictionary of literary and thematic terms. New York: Checkmark Books. This is another useful source for understanding how literature is studied. Main Stacks PN44.5 .Q56 2006
Find Literature Articles
Databases with Articles contain material published in magazines, journals, and newspapers.
Reference Sources include dictionaries, encyclopedias, directories and more.
= database and full text info.
Journals
American Literature
Journal of Modern Literature
Journal of Narrative Theory
Speculum: A Journal of Medieval Studies
Twentieth Century Literature
To find indexing and full-text information for these titles, check the Journal Locator. You can also use this tool to locate journal articles you may have found referenced in other sources.
Web Sites
- Digitized Children’s Literature
Many children’s classics (from the early 1900′s) in PDF form from the Library of Congress’ children’s literature collection.
- The Online Books Page
Links to over 25,000 full text books and journals available online. Search by author, title or subject. Start here if you want to see if a particular work is available online.
- Electronic Archive of Early American Fiction
Includes the full text of stories from 16 early American authors including Irving, Longfellow and Hawthorne.
- Project Gutenberg
Features the texts of more than 6267 important novels and other works of literature.
- Making of America (University of Michigan)
A joint project between two universities, Making of America provides primary sources (books and periodicals)covering the social history of 19th century America. You’ll find the original pages of Scribner’s Magazine, Scientific American and more.
- Eldritch Press
Collection of works of American, English and world literature. The section on Nathaniel Hawthorne is particularly noteworthy, providing additional information alongside the texts in the form of lists of characters, a glossary and a timeline.
- Gale Literary Index
Use this index to find complete biographies on authors and critical essays on their writings in this master index to 43 literary series published by Gale. It combines and cross references more than 130,000 author names including pseudonyms and variant names.
- Romantic Circles
A Website devoted to the study of Lord Byron, Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, Percy Bysshe Shelley, John Keats, their contemporaries and historical contexts.
- Bartleby.com
A full-text version of selected books of literature, reference and verse.
- The Perseus Digital Library
A digital library of resources for studying the ancient world. Includes ancient texts and translations. From Tufts University.
Evaluate Your Information Instruction Class
Please fill out this form to help us improve our program.
Leave a Comment/Suggestion
Do you have information to add? Then please Edit this page. Otherwise to leave a comment, use the box below.