English 56:
Four African American Poets
Spring 2003
Library Catalogs | Literary-Critical Sources | General Background | Dictionaries |Citing Sources
Library Catalogs
The most important research tool in the Library is the library
catalog, divided in two parts:
the 4-college catalog for Amherst, Hampshire, Mt. Holyoke and Smith
and the UMass
catalog. You can search in the library catalogs by
AUTHOR, by SUBJECT,
by TITLE,
or by KEYWORD.
Personal names can always be subjects. But -- remember -- in the library
catalog a name is always listed last name first for author and subject
searches: "hayden robert earl" not "robert earl hayden". Any SUBJECT choice
which is not just a personal name requires the official vocabulary chosen
by libraries to define a topic. For example, "american poetry - african
american authors" give you books about black American poetry from
all historical periods, and "african american poets" should
list books more focused on the poets themselves. Official subject terminology
is hard to guess, so it is often better to try a combination of keywords.
Once you have found interesting books, you can click on the subject links
at the bottom of the reference and see waht similar books you find.
Literary-Critical Sources
African American Writers. New York: Scribners, 2001 (Ref PS 153
N5 A344 2001) :
A two-volume set with biographies and critical assessments,
bibliographies of works by authors, and references to further criticism
and interviews. Three of your four poets are here.
Oxford
Reference Online: Literature
For quick reference about some authors, literary terms, book
titles, etc.
Biography
Resource Center
An online resource linking to various biographical compilations,
including Contemporary Authors and Contemporary Black Biography.
Includes some references to book reviews, interviews, and criticism. Especially
good for living poets.
Contemporary
Literary Criticism
Excerpts from essays -- and occasionally complete essays --
from critical studies of modern authors.
Expanded
Academic ASAP:
An index to articles published since 1980 from a wide variety
of academic journals. Covers history, science, Women's Studies, geography,
etc., as well as literature. Reviews included. Often links to complete
articles online.
MLA International Bibliography:
References to scholarly articles about literature, folklore,
linguistics, and more. You can search by an author's name; you can look
up keyword topics. Covers from 1963 on. No book reviews listed!
General Background: Encyclopedia and
Handbooks
Britannica Online
For general information, a good encyclopedia is often best.
Encyclopedia of African-American Culture and History (Ref E 185
E54 1996)
Helpful background information about many aspects of African
American life and history. Some essays have short bibliographies.
The African-American Almanac (Ref E 185.5 N34)
A handbook which briefly surveys many aspects of African American
history and contemporary life. Good for historical chronology, reprints
of some key documents, short biographies, etc. Latest published in 2003.
Literary Terms: a Dictionary (Ref PN 44.5 B334 1989)
Definitions of poetic terms, verse forms, rhetorical terms,
styles, etc.
Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible (Ref BS 440 I63)
A 5-volume dictionary which identifies books, people,
places, etc., in the Bible.
Dictionaries
OED
Online or the 20-volume Oxford English Dictionary (Ref
PE 1625 O87 1989)
Black Talk (Ref PE 33102 N4 S65 2000)
Juba to Jive (Ref PE 3727 N4 M34 1994)
Encarta World English Dictionary (Ref PE 1628 S5824 1999)
Citing Sources
Be sure to credit the sources you use for a project -- whether
printed books and journals or online texts, websites, etc. The Bibliography Styles Handbook: MLA Format from the Writers
Workshop at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign tells you how to
cite all kinds of sources for courses in literature.
Do you have questions about this course and the Library? Contact Margaret Adams Groesbeck (magroesbeck)