Tommy Nixon
Humanities Reference Librarian
Davis Library
tommy_nixon@unc.edu
Davis Reference Desk
(919)962-1151
AIM: DavisRefDesk
Introduction to Library Research
How Do I? Cite Sources? Conduct a Literature Review, etc.?

Through the Carolina BLU Delivery Service, you can request to have books and articles available at any of the UNC-CH campus libraries, as well as books and articles requested through interlibrary loan, delivered to the campus library most convenient to you.
This Library of Congress classification system holds true for any library in the world using the LC system. For example, Romance language dictionaries will be classed in the PCs; English language dictionaries will be in the PEs; Romance language literatures will be classed in the PQs, while English literature will be classed in the PRs. European history will be classed in the Ds.
Use this Map to find books in Davis Reference.
Use this Location Guide to find books in Davis.
Literature Online (LION)
A major database of more than 350,000 searchable English language literary texts -- poems, plays, prose fiction, & novels. Search under "Authors" or "Texts" for literary texts.
Electronic Text Collections in Western European Literature
This site provides links to a number of important text sites.
Literary Resources on the Net (Jack Lynch, Rutgers)
In addition to English & American Literarute, see Other National Literatures
Voice of the Shuttle (Alan Liu, UCSB)
A useful site for all areas of the humanities.
ECLAT (The "Essential" Comparative Literature and Theory Site) U.Penn
Provides links to other comp. lit. sites.
Example of an academic journal article (click on the JSTOR icon to view full text)
As with encyclopedic resources, there are indexes for almost any topic that might be supplemental to comparative literature research, and these may be arranged by subject discipline (history, philosophy, music, religion, art, etc), by period, or by region. If you are unsure of an appropriate index to use, try searching E-Research Tools By Subject and first try the "Recommended Databases."
For a much more detailed guide, see Comparative Literature: Selected Resources
MLA International Bibliography
A major index of literary criticism, linguistics, folklore & cultural studies. In addition to indexing several thousand journals, MLA also covers relevant books, book chapters, working papers, proceedings, dissertations, and bibliographies. MLA is a very ambitious index, providing indexing of criticism for all literatures worldwide, except for classical Greek and Latin literature. For literary criticism of classical authors search L'Annee Philologique.
MLA now links to full-text articles in JSTOR and Project Muse, two major full-text journal collections.
Literary Reference Center
Literary Reference Center is a good starting point for author biographies, plot summaries, & selected literary criticism. The indexing of literary criticism is much more limited than in MLA. Use "Advanced Search" for more options.
Literature Resource Center
LRC contains the text of the Dictionary of Literary Biography, as well as selected critical excerpts or full text articles from various Gale criticism sets. It is possbile in LRC to search for authors individually or to perform a "Person Search," limiting by period, movement, nationality, etc. The Dictionary of Literary Biography provides bio-critical articles on literary authors and also on cultural theorists (e.g., Benjamin, Barthes , etc. . The ongoing print version of the DLB (Davis Reference Row 3 PS21 .D5185 1978 - To Date) provides much excellent illustrative material not available in the electronic version.
INDEXES FOR OTHER HUMANITIES DISCIPLINES:
Art Full Text
A core database for art and art historical research. Art Full Text indexes and offers full text for a wide array of journals in the fields of art history, architecture, craft, design, landscape architecture, museology, photography and video, and much more. Scope is international, covering both western and non-western art. Other Art Resources
Film & Television Literature Index
Film and Television Literature Index covers over 300 journal and magazine titles for film and television reviews, scholarly and critical analysis of cinema and television, and articles of popular interest about film and television. About half the journals and magazines are film periodicals and the other half cover film and television with some regularity. Other Film Resources
Music Index
The Music Index: A Subject-Author Guide to Music Periodical Literature indexes more than 725 international periodicals about classical and popular music. A broad range of subjects is covered including: composers and performers, the history of music, forms and types of music, the music industry and music instruments. Other Music Resources.
Philosopher's Index
A major index that provides indexing for philosophy journals, books and essay collections. The Philosopher's Index provides indexing and abstracts from books and journals of philosophy and related fields. It covers the areas of ethics, aesthetics, social philosophy, political philosophy, epistemology, and metaphysic logic as well as material on the philosophy of law, religion, science, history, education, and language. (Source: vendor website.) Other Philosophy Resources.
More Article Databases | How Do I Find Articles? | How Do I Find an Article if it is not Full-Text? | How Do I Distinguish Different Types of Journals?
Subject searching for books in the Library's catalog is often best done by beginning with a Keyword Search . Start with a Keyword Search and identify one or more relevant books. Then look at the Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) given in the Full Records of those titles. You can follow the subject heading links in the catalog to find similar books, or you can use the terms in the subject headings to revise your search strategies.
Keyword Search: Japanese film
Search by LC Subject Heading: Motion pictures--Japan.
POTENTIALLY USEFUL LIBRARY OF CONGRESS SUBJECT HEADINGS
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von, 1749-1832. Werther.
Personification in literature.
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.
Search for books By a literary author as an Author search; search for books About a literary author as a Subject search.
Author: Austen, Jane, 1775-1817.
Subject: Austen, Jane, 1775-1817..
Subject encyclopedias can be very useful for providing an overview and context for a variety of specialized topics. Most essays will also include a bibliography.
Companion to literary myths : heroes and archetypes. Edited by Pierre Brunel ; translated from the French by Wendy Allatson, Judith Hayward, Trista Selous. London ;New York : Routledge, 1992.
Davis Reference PN56.M95 D4813 1992
The Oxford classical dictionary [electronic resource]. Edited by Simon Hornblower and Antony Spawforth. Oxford ;New York : Oxford University Press, 2003.
Davis Reference Desk DE5 .O9 2003
Elsevier's dictionary of symbols and imagery . By Ad de Vries ; revised and updated by Arthur de Vries. Amsterdam ;Boston : Elsevier, 2004.
Davis Reference Desk BL600 .V74 2004
Encyclopedia of Life Writing. 2 vols. Edited by Margaretta Jolly. London : Fitzroy Dearborn, 2001.
Davis Reference PR756.B56 E53 2001
Encyclopedia of Literary Translation into English. 2 vols. Ed. Olive Classe. London ; Chicago : Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, 2000.
Davis Reference PN241 .E53 2000
Encyclopedia of the Essay. Editor, Tracy Chevalier. London ; Chicago : Fitzroy Dearborn, 1997.
Davis Reference PN6141 .E53 1997
Encyclopedia of the Novel. Editor, Paul Schellinger. Chicago : Fitzroy Dearborn, c1998.
Davis Reference PN41 .E53 1998
The New Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics. Alex Preminger and T.V.F. Brogan, co-editors. Princeton, N.J. : Princeton University Press, 1993.
Davis Reference Desk PN1021 .N39 1993
Schirmer Encyclopedia of Film. 4 vols. Barry Keith Grant, editor in chief. Detroit : Schirmer Reference, c2007.
Davis Reference PN1993.45 .S35 2007
The Cambridge history of literary criticism. Edited by George A. Kennedy. Cambridge [England] ;New York : Cambridge University Press, 1989- [ongoing]
v. 1. Classical criticism -- v. 2. The Middle Ages-- v. 3. The Renaissance -- v. 4. The eighteenth century -- v. 5. Romanticism -- v. 6 (not published as of 8/09) -- v. 7. Modernism and the new criticism -- v. 8. From formalism to poststructuralism -- v. 9.
Twentieth-century historical, philosophical and psychological perspectives.
Davis Reference PN86 .C27 1989
Encyclopedia of contemporary literary theory : approaches, scholars, terms. Irena R. Makaryk, general editor and compiler. Toronto : University of Toronto Press, c1993.
Davis Reference PN81 .E43 1993
The Johns Hopkins guide to literary theory & criticism. Edited by Michael Groden, Martin Kreiswirth, and Imre Szeman. 2nd ed. Baltimore, Md. : Johns Hopkins University Press, 2005.
An important guide to theory & theorists .
Davis Reference PN81 .J554 2005
The Oxford dictionary of literary terms [electronic resource]Chris Baldick. 3rd ed. Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2008.
The year's work in critical and cultural theory [electronic resource]. Oxford : Published for the English Association by Blackwell Publishers, c1994-
An annual series of bibliographic essays, covering topics as diverse as deconstruction, modernism & postmodernism, virtual cultures, film theory, and colonial discourse.
Davis Reference PN80 .Y43 v. 1- (1991-) TO DATE Currently received.
Literary Theory
A database of theoretical texts ranging from Aristotle to Sedgwick. The criteria for the inclusion of works in Literary Theory seek to reflect the diverse material and interests encompassed by the history of literary theory and criticism.
In addition to works written in English, the database includes works which were originally written in other languages but which have had a significant bearing on English and American traditions of
theory and criticism, or which have influenced contemporary theoretical debate in the English-speaking world. All works in the database appear in English.