OLD Literature: Background Research
Resources for Literature-Based English Courses
Find Sources
Subject-Specific Scholarly eBook Articles
- Credo Reference This link opens in a new windowA collection of edited research books. Try the Concept Map!
Literary Reference Sources
- Gale Literature This link opens in a new windowJournal articles and other scholarly sources for author research, literary criticism, and overviews of primary texts.
- ProQuest One Literature This link opens in a new window
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Scholarly resources on literary topics. - Literary Reference Center This link opens in a new windowLiterary research including overviews, criticism, and overviews, from academic journals and scholarly ebooks. Includes full text ebooks of literary classics.
Why Conduct Background Research?
To gain familiarity with your topic.
To narrow your topic by finding specific aspects on which to focus.
To provide historical and social context.
To identify experts related to the topic.
Background Research Tips
- Tutorial: Background Research Tips (from Credo's Instruct)
This tutorial will examine how to: 1) Differentiate between background research and in-depth research. 2) Locate useful sources for conducting background research. 3) Utilize background research to help you refine your paper topic. - Video: Beginning Research with Wikipedia/Google
This very short video will introduce you to the pros and cons of using Google and Wikipedia as tools for gathering information. Run time: 1:49
