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Rider University Library

Literary Criticism and Theory

Search box 1 Author Drop down 1 subject; AND Search box 2 Title of work with drop down 1 All fields AND search box 3 Your topic of interest and drop down 3 All fields

 

Efficient Strategies:

1. Search for the AUTHOR of the novel, story, play, poem, or other work as the SUBJECT.

  • Articles and books are assigned the SUBJECT heading of the AUTHOR when the articles or books are ABOUT the author or the author's works. The fastest way to find literary criticism is to search by SUBJECT.
  • Leaving as keyword (All Fields) will capture chapter titles in tables of contents of books and ebooks, broadening your search beyond entire books about the author or articles. However, you might get more irrelevant results (a magazine article that mentions the author in passing). Toggle between Subject and All Fields to see and combine with filters post-search!

2. Search for the TITLE of the story or poem as:

  • a KEYWORD (All Fields)
    • especially when limiting to "University Library Catalog" in  Library One Search. Doing this will titles mentioned in tables of contents of books.
  • or the SUBJECT
    • to get more relevant results for articles or book chapter citations in literature databases.

3. If needed, enter other topics or concepts you wish to search for as keywords (All fields).

4. Delete terms to broaden your search; add terms to narrow your search.

  • HINT: If you are having trouble finding results, start with a broad search (author as subject) and use the subject filter post-search to narrow your search or give you ideas for terms.

Search box 1 AUTHOR Drop-down 1 Subject terms; search box 2 Title of Work; drop-down 2 Subject terms; search box 3 Your topic of Interest; dropdown 3 All fields.

  • Toggle between All Fields and Subject to change up your results.

 

Example 1:

Search box 1 william shakespeare drop-down box 1 subject terms AND search box 2 As You Like It and drop-down 2 Subject Terms

  • This search will find entire books and articles about As You Like It.

 

Example 2

Search box 1 william shakespeare drop-down box 1 subject terms AND search box 2 gender OR women drop-down 2 All fields

  • This search will find articles about William Shakespeare that discuss gender or women, using either of these terms.
  • Change the All Fields to Subject to increase relevancy and reduce results when you know that your terms are subject terms.

 

Example 3

Search box 1 william shakespeare drop-down box 1 subject terms AND search box 2 As You Like It and drop-down 2 Subject Terms AND search box 3 gender OR women drop-down 3 All fields

  • This search will find entire articles and books on As You Like It that discuss either gender or women, using these terms.