General tips for starting out:

For this or any other research project, you might find our webpage guide Getting Started on Research to be a useful summary of the general research process. It contains advice on choosing your research tools and search tips for getting the most out of them.

This guide can also be accessed from the LITS homepage (http://www.mtholyoke.edu/lits/) under 'Research Guides'.

You might also find helpful suggestions on the Research Guide for
English Language and Literature

Searching for Books using the Five-College Library Catalog

Search by Keyword
Just put a few of the key terms from your topic: e.g. ; "Celtic myths" or autism and savant. Remember that you may need to do a couple of searches using alternate spellings, synonyms, or searching under broader terms.

Search (or Browse) by Subject
If you find materials you think may be useful from your keyword search, then use some of the subject headings from those records to give you additional search terms, or just browse the other materials under those subject headings.

Here is a very small sampling of the subject headings you can use to find information on your topics just to give you some ideas of how subject headings work:

• All proper names will be subject headings, with the last name coming first. Under most subjects there will be sub-headings, or narrower categories to help you sort out which books will be more useful.--
  • Chandler, Raymond, 1888-1959
  • Stout, Rex , 1886-1975-- Characters -- Nero Wolfe
  • Dante Alighieri, 1265-1321 -- Criticism and interpretation
  • Shaw, Bernard, 1856-1950. Pygmalion.
• Additionally, there are many, many topical subject headings that might be helpful. A few examples are--
  • Detective and mystery stories
  • Detectives in literature
  • Murder -- Japan -- Fiction
    
  • Autism
  • Genius and Mental illness
    
  • Myth in literature
  • Mythology, Japanese
  • Legends -- Ireland
    

Searching for Articles using the Databases

Most of the scholarly databases we list on our Library webpage are actually indexes to large groups of journals. By searching in one of these you can find out if any articles have been published on your topic.

Select a database (index) from the E-Resources A-Z list - or try one of these likely possibilities:

MLA International Bibliography = Indexes over 3,000 journals in the fields of literature, language, linguistics, and folklore. It also covers relevant books, working papers, proceedings, bibliographies, and other formats.

LION/Literature Online = searchable library of more than 350,000 works of English and American poetry, drama and prose, 208 full-text literature journals, and other key criticism and reference resources.

Academic Search Premier (EBSCO) = Provides indexing for more than 4,700 publications, including full text for more than 3,600 peer-reviewed journals. Coverage spans virtually every area of academic study.

PsycInfo = contains nearly 2.3 million citations and summaries of scholarly journal articles, book chapters, books, and dissertations, all in psychology and related disciplines, dating as far back as the 1800s.

 

Selected Reference Bibliography

We have many specialized encyclopedias, handbooks, dictionaries, etc. and they can be very useful both when you are first starting out and at points along the way. They can provide background information or a quick overview of a topic. They can also help you with definitions for unfamiliar terminology and with finding more search terms to try. Here are just a very few examples:

• Biographical Information:
  • Mystery and Suspense Writers
    PN 3448 D4 M97 1998 Ref (2 volumes)
  • Contemporary Authors
    PN 771 C62 Ref (multiple volumes)
  • Biography Resource Center
    (online)
  • Dictionary of Literary Biography
    various call numbers - Index at Ref Desk
    
• Mystery or Mythology:
  • World Mythology
    BL 311 G683 Ref
  • Oxford Companion to World Mythology
    BL 312 L44 2005 Ref
  • Encyclopedia of Irish Spirituality
    PN 41 E63 1993 Ref
    
• Special topics - such as:
  • St James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture
  • Kodansha Encyclopedia of Japan
    DS 805 K633 1983 Ref (multi volume)
  • Corsini Encyclopedia of Psychology and Behavioral Science
    BF 31 E52 2001 Ref (4 volumes)
    

Also, there are lots of language dictionaries (and other "quick reference" books) available online in the Oxford Reference Online collection

Writing Resources

• Writing & Citing Tools - can also be accessed from the English Language and Literature Research Guide.
• Student Resources from the Mount Holyoke College Speaking, Writing and Arguing Program.
  

 Evaluating and Citing Sources

• Five Criteria for Evaluating Web Pages - From the Cornell University Library Web Page.
• Thinking Critically about World Wide Web Resources - by Esther Grassian of the UCLA College Library
  
• MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, 5th edition
  MH/Main Reference LB 2369 .G53 1999