http://www.lib.unc.edu/coursepages/engl/F11_engl129_002.html
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Tommy Nixon
Subject Librarian for Classics, Dramatic Art, & English/Comparative Literature
Davis Library
tommy_nixon@unc.edu
Davis Reference Desk
(919)962-1151
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Introduction to Library Research
Citing 
How Do I?...
How Do I? Cite Sources? Conduct a Literature Review, etc.?
Writing Center Help
Carolina BLU Campus Delivery Service 
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.
L.C. Call Nos.
This Library of Congress classification system holds true for any library in the world using the LC system. For example, English language dictionaries will be classed in the PEs; American literature will be classed in the PSs; and American & Latin American history will be classed in the Es & Fs.
Map of Davis Reference
Use this Map to find books in Davis Reference.
Call No. Locations in Davis
Use this Location Guide to find books in Davis.
Finding Scholarly Articles & Books on Historical Topics 
Example of an academic journal article (click on the PDF icon to view full text)
As with encyclopedic resources, there are indexes for almost any topic that might be supplemental to historical research, and these may be arranged by subject discipline, by period, by region, by gender or ethnicity. If you are unsure of an appropriate index to use, try searching E-Research Tools By Subject and first try the "Recommended Databases."
History Search: America, History & Life/Historical Abstracts
An index of historical articles and books for history of the world, ca. 1450 to the present.
Ethnic NewsWatch
Ethnic NewsWatch is a full-text collection of newspapers, magazines and journals of the ethnic, minority and native press.
GenderWatch
A full-text collection of international journals, magazines, newsletters, regional publications, special reports and conference proceedings devoted to women's and gender issues.
Dissertations & Theses
Indexes US dissertations from 1861 to as recent as last semester with full text available from 1997 on.
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?
Finding Primary Sources: Newspapers & Magazine Articles
To find contemporary articles on a historical event, first determine the date of the event, & then try the resources available for that time period. If the sources below do not work, try the News sources listed. See also Finding Primary Source Documents.
America's Newspapers
Provides full text of over 800 newspapers. Good for current topics and the recent past.
Academic Search Premier
Covers popular and scholarly journal articles with many full-text articles from about 1980 to the present. Also good for book reviews.
ProQuest Historical Newspapers
Search eleven historic newspapers together: Atlanta Constitution (1868 to 1945) Baltimore Afro-American (1893-1986) Baltimore Sun (1837-1885) Chicago Defender (1910-1975)/ Daily Defender (1956-1975) Chicago Tribune (1849 - 1986) Los Angeles Times (1881 - 1986) New York Amsterdam News (1922-1993) New York Times (1851 to 2 or 3 years ago) Pittsburgh Courier (1911-2002) Washington Post (1877 to 1993) Wall Street Journal (1889 - 1991).
Readers' Guide Retrospective
Rather than a full text database, RGR is an index to the contents (including reviews) of several hundred popular American magazines, 1890-1982.
Finding Literary Criticism 
Literary Reference Center
LRC offers a wealth of material with which to study and analyze literature: 31,000 plot summaries, 100,000 critical essays, 140,000 author biographies, 430 literary journals, 605,000 book reviews, 60,000 poems, 15,000 short stories, and 5200 author interviews. It also provides reference material such as several encyclopedias of literature.
MLA International Bibliography Plus Full Text via Chadwyck-Healey's LiteratureOnline
MLA is a specialized database for literary criticism, allowing for thematic searching within works of literature or in relation to an author or authors, etc.
Finding Books
Catalog Search Tips
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: Spanish Harlem
Search by LC Subject Heading: Puerto Ricans -- New York (State) -- New York.
Keyword Search: cubans little havana
Search by LC Subject Heading: Cuban Americans -- Florida -- Miami.
POTENTIALLY USEFUL LIBRARY OF CONGRESS SUBJECT HEADINGS
Mexican-American Border Region -- Social conditions.
Puerto Ricans -- United States.
Cuba -- History -- Invasion, 1961. (Bay of Pigs)
Environmental justice -- United States.
Persian Gulf War, 1991 -- Journalists.
Catholic Church -- New Mexico.
Search for books By a literary author as an Author search; search for books About a literary author as a Subject search.
Author: Cather, Willa, 1873-1947.
Subject: Cather, Willa, 1873-1947..
Encyclopedic Resources for American Literature & History
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. A number of reference books from Oxford U. Press are now available electronically via Oxford Reference Online Premium.
The Oxford encyclopedia of American literature [electronic resource] . 4 vols. Jay Parini, editor in chief. Oxford ;New York : Oxford University Press, 2004.
This provides essays on individual authors as well as thematic essays.
Davis Reference PS21 .E537 2004
Dictionary of American history [electronic resource] . 10 vols. Stanley I. Kutler, editor in chief. 3rd ed. New York : Charles Scribner's Sons, c2003.
Davis Reference E174 .D52 2003
Encyclopedia of African-American culture and history [electronic resource] : the Black experience in the Americas . 6 vols. Colin A. Palmer, editor in chief. 2nd ed. Detroit : Macmillan Reference USA, c2006.
Davis Reference E185 .E54 2006
The Oxford encyclopedia of Latinos & Latinas in the United States [electronic resource].4 vols. Edited by Suzanne Oboler and Deena J. González. Oxford, UK ;New York : Oxford University Press, 2005.
Davis Reference E184.S75 O97 2005
The Greenwood encyclopedia of multiethnic American literature. 5 vols. Edited by Emmanuel S. Nelson. Westport, Conn. : Greenwood Press, 2005.
Davis Reference PS153.M56 G74 2005
Literary Terminology, the OED, & MLA Style
The Oxford dictionary of literary terms [electronic resource]Chris Baldick. 3rd ed. Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2008.
A handbook to literature. William Harmon. 11th ed. Upper Saddle River, N.J. : Pearson Prentice Hall, c2009.
A very clearly written handbook.
Davis Reference Desk PN41 .H355 2009
MLA handbook for writers of research papers. Joseph Gibaldi. 7th ed. New York : Modern Language Association of America, 2009.
Davis Reference Desk LB2369 .G53 2009
Oxford English Dictionary
A comprehensive dictionary of the English Language that stresses the historical origins of words.
Google Scholar
Useful Websites
Literary Resources on the Net (Jack Lynch, Rutgers)
Voice of the Shuttle (Alan Liu, UCSB)
