Simpson Library: Literary Criticism: Internet Sources

Internet Sources

This page lists websites that may be useful for Literary Criticism topics. Some of these websites contain sources you can cite, and some are just starting points (overviews) that give you clues to follow.

To distinguish between sources you can cite and sources that are just starting points, use the CRAAP Test.

Websites

LiteraryHistory.com
Full-text articles on some 250 19th- and 20th-century American and British authors.
Perspectives in American Literature: A Research and Reference Guide
Furnishes literary criticism, biographical material, and extensive primary and secondary bibliographies for hundreds of American authors. Appendices provide information on literary themes, movements, and other topics.
Voices from the Gaps: Women Artists and Writers of Color
Furnishes biographies, criticism, bibliographies, and listings of web resources on the “lives and works of North American women writers of color.”

The CRAAP Test

Use the CRAAP Test to judge whether you should cite a given source:

Currency: How recently was this site updated?
Relevance: Is this relevant to my topic? Is it relevant to my level (college vs. layperson)?
Authority: Does it come from an expert? What credentials does the author have? What do other sites say about this site?
Accuracy: Does it cite its sources? Is it free of obvious errors?
Purpose: Why was this site created? What is the author's bias? Again, what do other sites say about this site?

Google Tricks

Tips and tricks for Google searches

Use quotation marks for exact words or phrases.

For example, “global warming” (to search global warming as a phrase rather than two separate words).

Use OR to search for one word or the other. Google will find pages that match either of the two words.

Example: attorneys OR lawyers

Use site: to search within a site or domain (no space after colon).

Example: “global warming” site:nytimes.com
Example: climatology site:.gov

Use a minus sign (a hyphen) to exclude a word or phrase from a search.

Example: jaguar speed -car;
Example: “global warming” -site:wikipedia.org

Use allintitle: to show results with word(s) in the title (no space after colon).

Example: allintitle:“global warming”
You can also use allinurl to find pages that have your search terms in their URLs.

Use related: to search for sites similar to ones you know (no space after colon).

Example: related:nbc.com

Use link: to find sites linked to a particular web page (no space after colon).

Example: link:freelancestar.com
Example: link:pbs.org

Use filetype: to restrict results to certain file type (no space after colon).

Example: climatology filetype:pdf

Use two periods without spaces to search for a number range, such as dates, prices, and measurements.

Example: “test scores” 2013..2014
Example: microwaves $100..$300

You can also use a Google Advanced Search to construct your search.