Advanced Workshop for English Graduate Students Friday, November 17,

Advanced Workshop for English Graduate Students Friday, November 17, 2023 Vince Graziano English Librarian [email protected]

Workshop Outline We will cover the following topics today: Background & biographical databases Sofia Discovery Tool for books & articles Databases for literary criticism in journals Primary Sources: archive databases (literary & nonliterary works) Information about journals Spectrum: Concordia research

Learning objectives In this workshop, participants will learn how to: 1. Identify and use various types of databases in the Concordia Library for the study of literatures in English 2. Build and modify search strategies in Sofia & databases 3. Understand the structure of the MLA International Bibliography 4. Apply appropriate techniques to search for primary sources in Sofia & archive databases for literary works and nonliterary works 5. Identify resources at other libraries

Background & biographical databases Dictionary of Literary Biography Provides reliable information on authors from many countries and centuries. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography Provides authoritative biographies of famous people in the UK who have died. Johns Hopkins Guide to Literary Theory and Criticism Includes entries on critics and theorists, critical schools and movements, and the critical and theoretical innovations of specific countries and historical periods. Oxford Reference The Literature section features several Oxford Companions, such as the Oxford Companion to Canadian Literature, as well as the Oxford Encyclopedia of American Literature, the Oxford Encyclopedia of British

Dictionaries & Encyclopedias Authoritative Sources: Dictionaries Oxford English Dictionary (OED) Webster’s Third New International Dictionary of the English Language (Unabridged) Merriam-Webster Dictionary Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary Dictionary of Old English, A to I (DOE) Unfinished Middle English Compendium: Middle English Dictionary (MED): open access Encyclopedias Wiley-Blackwell online encyclopedias: Encyclopedia of English Renaissance Literature Encyclopedia of Romantic Literature Encyclopedia of Victorian Literature Encyclopedia of TwentiethCentury Fiction Encyclopedia of the Novel Encyclopedia of Literary and Cultural Theory

Sofia Discovery Tool for books & articles Strengths Weaknesses Is used in all Quebec University Libraries In the humanities, limiting to peer-reviewed can eliminate too many articles Good starting point for library research Ability to explore collections in Quebec university libraries & libraries worldwide In the humanities, limiting to the English language can eliminate too many articles Subject headings for articles are varied & the source is not specified & subject searching can eliminate too many items

Electronic Journals Collections with substantial humanities content: University presses Project MUSE (Recent issues) JSTOR (Older issues) Oxford Journals Oxford University Press Cambridge University Press University of Chicago Other academic presses Wiley-Blackwell Sage Journals Taylor & Francis (Routledge) Periodicals Archive Online (18022000) Scholarly & popular presses Academic Search Complete (EBSCO) ProQuest Central

Electronic Books Collections of academic & scholarly e-books: Oxford University Press E-books Cambridge University Press E-books Package:1995-2007, & individual book additions Project MUSE e-books (many university presses) Harvard University Press e-books Springer E-book Collection Includes Palgrave Macmillan (2010-) Taylor & Francis (Routledge) ACLS Humanities E-book Canada Commons many restrictions Scholarly, government, & independent publishers

Databases for literary criticism MLA International Bibliography: References to articles in 4,400 journals, as well as books and chapters in books, from 1926 onward ABELL (Annual Bibliography of English Language & Li terature) : British equivalent to the MLA, coverage from 1920 onward Selections or full-text of essays & articles, some contemporaneous with the literary author Gale Literature Criticism: (not updated) Shakespearean Criticism Classical and Medieval Literature Criticism Poetry Criticism Literature Criticism from 1400 to 1800 Drama Criticism Nineteenth Century Literature Criticism Short Story Criticism Twentieth Century Literature Criticism

More article databases Databases related to or including literary studies: Gale Literature Resource Center 260 full-text popular and academic periodicals International Medieval Bibliography (IMB) the Middle East, Covers Medieval Europe, and Africa ITER: Gateway to the Middle Ages & Renaissance Medieval and Renaissance Europe Drama Online (until Dec 31, Access to 6 of2023) 31 collections, with 2,000 full-text plays, some videos, and several e-books World Shakespeare Includes Bibliography performing arts & it’s great for articles about the sonnets L’annee philologique Database for classical studies

Primary Sources: archive databases Literature Online (LION): Contains over 360,000 literary works, pre-1925 English poetry, drama and prose from 600 American poetry, drama and prose from 1607 Canadian poetry from 1610 to the present Poetry is covered until the present More than 900 videos and 15 dictionaries and encyclopedias NO records in Sofia Early English Books Online (EEBO), 1475-1700 More than 130,000 titles, with searchable full text for 60,000 titles, called TCP (Text Creation Partnership) Eighteenth Century Collections Online (ECCO) Canadiana, books, periodicals & government documents until circa 1925 British Periodicals, 1681-1939 American Periodicals, 1741-1940

Primary Sources in Sofia Numerous primary sources in our print, electronic, and microform collection Before there were electronic resources, primary sources were re-printed and packaged as books, or microfilm collections These were facsimiles of primary sources, but so are digitized documents Search for primary sources in Sofia by using the Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) that feature standard subdivisions that identify and retrieve primary sources Advantage is that LCSH terms are portable to other academic library catalogues in Canada & USA Note: these subdivisions are used for the documents themselves or a listing of documents identified in subject

Searching for primary sources in Sofia Search Sofia by topic and add a standard subdivision in subject, e.g., su:sources Types of Primary Sources Letters, diaries, interviews, maps Newspaper & magazine articles Government documents Autobiographies and memoirs Works of art, including drama, poetry, prose, fiction, films, and paintings, sculptures, music, etc. Standard Subdivisions Sources (main subdivision) Diaries Correspondence Interviews Personal narratives Slave narratives Pamphlets Oral history Description and travel Early works to 1800

Boolean operators & search capabilities o Boolean searching is based on an algebraic system of logic created by George Boole, a British 19thc. mathematician & logician o AKA logical operators or search operators or operators o Boolean operators: o AND restricts search Lear o OR expands search o NOT eliminates Shakespeare AND King poems OR poetry literature NOT poetry o Search capabilities: o “” for phrases o * for truncation o () nesting Lear AND women OR gender) “King Lear” feminis* Shakespeare AND King (feminis* OR

Proximity operators o Used to define distance between words, terms, or concepts o Effective strategy when searching the full text of long documents o Check the database help pages for usage and syntax of proximity operators, but some databases do not have this capability o Two proximity operators: o NEAR: o Use NEAR to find terms when order does not matter o Add a numerical value to the operator o Examples with syntax: o life N5 happiness (Gale) o life NEAR/10 happiness (ProQuest, selected databases) o WITH or PRE o Use WITH or PRE to find terms in order, or the first term followed by the second term o Add a numerical value to the operator o Examples with syntax: o Chicken W3 egg (Gale) o Chicken PRE/3 egg (ProQuest, selected databases)

Subject searching Subject searching is more accurate & specific, narrows the search Thesaurus or Index List of terms used in a databases that represent disciplines Subject Headings in Sofia for books Created by the Library of Congress Subjects include: Authors Characters Titles of literary works Topical subject headings

To find or obtain the fulltext 1. Embedded in most databases: Use to access the journal via Sofia Use to go directly to the article PDF 2. Search Sofia Perform a title search for the journal or the article 3. Article/Chapter Scan & Deliver In Sofia, click on the title to see the Access Options Click on the Request Chapter Scan OR Request for Course Reserves button The Library complies with the limits in the Canadian Copyright Act & pays the fees set by the Copibec Agreement 4. Request a loan from any Quebec University Library Click on the Request button in Sofia to Submit a Place Hold Request 5. Request an Interlibrary Loan from Libraries Worldwide Click on the Request via Interlibrary Loan button in Sofia, which auto-

Information about journals MLA Directory of Periodicals Ulrichsweb Provides detailed information on over 6,000 scholarly journals and book series Provides number of articles submitted/accepted per year for most journals Provides basic submission guidelines Predatory journals are not included Bibliographic database providing detailed, comprehensive, and authoritative information for more than 300,000 serials from 80,000 publishers in over 200 countries No submission guidelines Predatory journals are not included

Spectrum Research Repository Electronic deposit of your thesis in Spectrum is required for graduation What is Spectrum? Concordia University's open access research repository Provides access to and preserves research created at Concordia Includes: Theses and dissertations written at Concordia Selected Concordia faculty papers and journal articles Guides: How to Prepare Your Thesis for Deposit in Spectrum

Citation styles MLA Handbook Full-text electronic version of the MLA Handbook Use the appendices: Appendix 1: Abbreviations Appendix 2: Citation Examples is a long list of citations for different publication types Appendix 3: Guide to English Grammar Appendix 4: Sample Papers in MLA Style Chicago Manual of Style Full-text electronic version of the Chicago Manual of Style (CMOS) Browse the Manual by selecting the CMOS Contents (rather than searching) Part One: Publishing Process Part Two: Style and Usage Part Three: Documentation Documentation I: Notes & Bibliography

Help is available Library website: Library.concordia.ca Help & How-To Literatures in English Subject Guide Ask Us: Ask A Librarian Service E-mail form Chat with our staff Ask Us Desks Entrance to Webster Library Consultations with the English Librarian Vince Graziano until November 30, 2023: [email protected] Retirement begins on December 1, 2023 Aeron MacHattie as of December 1, 2023:

Wrap-up Some key points to retain: Different types of databases Biographical databases Dictionaries & encyclopedias Databases for journals Archive databases Directory databases Sofia Discovery Tool Searching for books at Concordia, Quebec universities, and libraries worldwide provides a gateway to a world of publications in literary studies and beyond Searching for articles in the humanities can be problematic Literary criticism databases Three major databases at Concordia Library: MLA, ABELL, Gale Literature Criticism Search strategies