Excellent for students and those with an interest in literature, the Literature Resource Center is a premier eResource for information on literary figures from all time periods writing in such genres as fiction, nonfiction, poetry, drama, history, journalism, and more. It is especially useful for finding references, as it contains many full text journal articles and criticism.
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Key content
Biographical information is available for a huge range of authors, as well as journal articles, critical essays, book reviews, timelines, links to websites, and author portraits. The Literature Resource Center is built on three hallmark databases: Contemporary Authors Online, Contemporary Literary Criticism Select, and Dictionary of Literary Biography Online, and also has access to more than 260 prominent literary journals. Search tipsUse the search box on the main page to search for all biographical and critical information stored on a specific author. Use the links below to search for titles, keywords and author type. Advanced searching
You can search by author, title, keyword, critic or document number, or search for a combination of three. Searches can be limited by: - document type: autobiographical essay, critical essay, interview, website list
- database: including Contemporary literary criticism, Dictionary of literary biography, full text journals, Scribner writers series.
Author type searchThis is a particulary useful function if you can’t remember the name of an author, or you’re simply looking for a certain type of book. Searches can be limited by gender, age, ethnicity, nationality, genre, themes and literary movement. For example, you could search for Victorian period authors writing on the theme of alcoholism, or African-American authors on the theme of adolescence. Literary-historical timelineUse this function to search a range of dates for all important literary events – this includes current movements, publications, births/deaths of authors at the time and important political events. This is very useful for contextualising literature or authors you may be studying. Etceteras
- biographical essays include links at the end to critical essays
- the main page includes a “Spotlight on…” link, with a featured author
- the research guide linked on the main page includes information on how to choose a topic, take efficient notes, identify a variety of information sources and other important information for a student of literature. It also contains definitions of terms and an example of how to create a research paper, using Toni Morrison’s Beloved.
Practice your search skills with our Literature Resource Center quiz.
More information
This database is a Thomson Gale product. For more information check out their database homepage. |