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FYE 1043: Science, Science Fiction, and Society

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Books in the Main Stacks

Use the catalog to conduct SUBJECT searches for books about specific authors, such as: Wells, H.G.

Or, try one of these searches for general information related to this course:

Science Fiction
(Scroll down for many interesting subdivisions, such as “American History and Criticism” or “Women Authors”.)
Science Fiction—American
Science Fiction—English
Science Fiction—Films
Science in Literature
Science — Forecasting — Popular Works
Literature and Science
Future in Literature
Space Sciences in Star Trek
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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.

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Dictionaries & Encyclopedias

Barron, N. (Ed.). (2004). Anatomy of wonder: A critical guide to science fiction, 5th ed. Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited, 2004.
The bulk of this volume features five essays on the development of science fiction as a genre. Includes other essays on how science fiction is treated in film, television, and radio as well as print media. Appendices feature lists of award-winners and selected web sites.
Ref. Z5917 .S36 A52 2004

Cowart, D., & Wymer, T.L. (Eds.). (1981). Twentieth century American science fiction writers: Volume 8, Parts I and II. Detroit, MI: Gale Research Co.
These volumes in the Dictionary of Literary Biography series provide critical and biographical summaries for authors who wrote between 1900 and 1970. Each entry includes a summary of work, critical issues, and some suggested references. For other authors who published after 1970, see the Literature Resource Center Database.
Ref. PS21 .D5 v. 8, pts. 1 & 2

Geller, E. (Ed.) (2002). McGraw-Hill encyclopedia of science and technology. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Is it science or science fiction? This set, written for the non-specialist, can help you decide. You’ll find thousands of articles on significant scientific concepts, persons, and events. Illustrated and indexed.
Ref. and Brookhaven Ref. Q121 .M3 2002 v. 1–20

Newcomb, H. (Ed.). (2004). Encyclopedia of television, 2nd ed. New York: Fitzroy Dearborn.
This volume includes an entry on science fiction programs as well as individual shows, such as Star Trek. Entries are arranged alphabetically, but the index can be used to locate specific subjects.
Ref. PN1992.18 E53 2004

Shippey, T.A. (Ed.) (1996). Magill’s guide to science fiction and fantasy literature. Pasadena, CA: Salem Press.
This four-volume set features summaries and analyses of major works in science fiction and fantasy. Organized by title of work. A similar version of this book is available online.
Ref. PN3433.8 .M3 1996 v. 1–4

Smith, C.C. (Ed.). (1986). Twentieth century science fiction writers, 2nd ed. Chicago: St. James Press, 1986.
Look up your favorite writer in this alphabetical dictionary, which contains very brief biographical entries and lists of publications (current to1986).
Ref. PS374 .S35 T89 1986

Sterling, C.H. (Ed.) (2004). Encyclopedia of radio. New York: Fitzroy Dearborn.
This volume includes an entry on science fiction programs and some specific broadcasts, such as “War of the Worlds.”
Ref. TK 6544 .M84 2004

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Find Journal Articles and Criticism

It’s a good idea to use several databases to locate articles for your papers, presentations, and projects. Choose from the lists related to:

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Periodicals

Click here for database access to some SciFi periodicals.

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Science Fiction Web Sites

  • SFE: Science Fiction Encyclopedia
    This new version climaxes thirty-five years of work (with breaks) for the senior editors, and is much expanded from previous editions of the Encyclopedia: from the 1979 First Edition, with Peter Nicholls, who had conceived the project in 1975, serving as General Editor; and the 1993 Second Edition, edited by John Clute and Peter Nicholls, which itself took on various forms over the years. Two of its reprintings (in 1995 and augmented in 1999) featured an appendix listing corrections and addenda; and a separate CD-ROM version, which added over 65,000 words to the original text (see Introduction to the CD-ROM Edition), also appeared in 1995. This edition is a work in a progress and has won the 2012 British Science Fiction Association Award for Best Nonfiction, the 2012 European SF Society award as Best Promoter (of the genre) and the 2012 Hugo for Best Related Work.



  • Science Fiction Hub
    From the University of Liverpool, which offers a Masters in Science Fiction studies. This site was built to facilitate research on science fiction utilizing the extensive collection held at the university.



  • Science Fiction Studies
    A journal published by SF-TH Inc. at DePauw University. Search or browse back issues, including some “special topic” editions. You’ll also find author interviews and a chronological bibliography of SF literature.






  • Center for the Study of Science Fiction
    Owned by James Gunn and sponsored by the University of Kansas, this site provides access to many of Gunn’s essays as well as other SF links of interest.


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Search Engines

  • Ms. Freckles
    A great way to discover the different ways you can search Google. It has search boxes to search blogcontent, mathematics, websites as a whole, file type, image, scholar, and more.


  • Dog Pile
    A metasearch engine, your search is put into all the most popular engines and then gives you the best combined results all in one place. Features a “refine your search” search that arranges results that are most relevant to you.


  • Bing
    Microsoft’s newest search engine.



  • Blekko
    This search engine aims to show search results from only useful, trustworthy sites. The founders of this engine are tring to get the spam out of web searches and weed out Web pages created by “content farms.”


  • Quintura
    See and find in this search engine designed as a tag cloud



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Last Modified on October 15, 2012, at 11:30 AM by Laura Pope Robbins

Last updated October 15, 2012, at 11:30 AM by Laura Pope Robbins