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Learning to Research

Researching a topic and finding resources can be a messy process. In order to make the most of your time and effort, check out these tips to navigating the library and finding a variety of quality resources for your research papers.

  • Have a clear, narrow focus for your topic
  • Pull out several keywords that you can use to search
  • Do background research for general information or previous research done on your topic
  • Browse the library catalog for books on your topic
  • Search the library databases for scholarly articles on your topic
  • Keep track of ALL resources with citations so that you can easily create your references or bibliography section

Search Strategies for Locating Literary Criticism

Search strategies for locating literary criticism (in articles, books, or book chapters):

Focus on the characteristics of the criticism rather than the name of the theory:

  • In the case of Hamlet and feminist criticism, try the following search:
    • Gertrude OR Ophelia OR women OR gender
    • AND "Hamlet"
  • When looking for treatments of race or ethnicity (use * to cut off the root word and retrieve words with all suffixes):
    • rac* OR ethnic* Or Black OR African-American
    • AND "Invisible Man" OR Ellison
  • Criticism in the style of a particular theorist:
    • Lacan*
    • AND "To the Lighthouse"
  • Brainstorm the characteristics of the theory or perspective with which you are working:
    • Ecocriticism: environment, climate, etc.
    • Queer theory: gender, sexuality, LGBT*, etc.
    • Psychoanalysis: Freud, Lacan, etc.

Search Strategies for Latinx and/or Hispanic Literature

Search strategies for locating materials on the peoples, countries, and cultures of  Latin America, Hispanoamerica, Latinx, Spanish speaking countries, etc.:

Hispanic OR Hispanoameric* OR  "Latin American" OR Latinx

Sample search for Latin American literature or culture in OneSearch

Using "Spanish speaking" will retrieve a lot of information on working with Spanish speakers in various industries, like healthcare or education, but it rarely reflects "Spanish speaking countries" in the databases we use for our research. If you are looking specifically at Spanish speaking countries, it is more productive to search for a group of the individual countries:

List of Latin American and Carribean Countries

English Librarian

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Amanda Grombly
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(661) 654-3259