English : English 394: Literary and Cultural Theory

A page to guide topic formation and research for your essays

Consulting Sources - Use the BEAM Model

Background, Exhibits, Argument, Method

Background: factual and/or contextual information, often in encyclopedias or dictionaries

The Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms

Johns Hopkins Guide to Literary Theory and Criticism
A guide to literary theory and criticism, presenting a comprehensive historical survey of the field's most important figures, schools, and movements.
Access is restricted to current students, faculty, and staff of the University of Saskatchewan, and walk-in users, for educational, research, and non-commercial personal use. Systematic copying or downloading of electronic resource content is not permitted by Canadian and international copyright law.
Gale Literature
Search by "Person" or "Work" by selecting the appropriate icon near the bottom right of the search screen.
Access is restricted to current students, faculty, and staff of the University of Saskatchewan, and walk-in users, for educational, research, and non-commercial personal use. Systematic copying or downloading of electronic resource content is not permitted by Canadian and international copyright law.

Exhibits: primary sources written by relevant authors and theorists

Search for primary works of literature by title or author in the Library Catalogue. If you have trouble finding specific short works such as a poem or short story chat online with library staff for one-to-one assistance.

For items about specific theories try word searching, or a subject search using the specific theory, such as feminist theory (This will not always work. If it doesn't try, using your terms as a word search).

You can also try these strategies in USearch but you will likely get more results (and less helpful results) than you can manage.

Looking for something else? Email me.

Argument: secondary sources (journal articles, books) that help you make your point

Include those you cite in your Works Cited list. The library subscribes to hundreds of databases in all disciplines. If you are looking for sources on topics that are not specifically literary, look for appropriate databases on the research guides for other subjects.

USearch
Put the name of your author or work of literature in quotation marks (if more than one word) and add a word or combination of words related to your topic such as the theory you are researching: "Bertolt Brecht" and Marxism. *Do not limit to full text.
Google Scholar
Free access to what Google considers scholarly. Be sure to set and save preferences the first time you use this database on a new computer to link to the University of Saskatchewan's licensed databases to get access to the full text of articles.
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Configuring Scholar settings to display University Library materials
-From scholar.google.com select the Settings icon
-From the Settings page select “Library Links”
-In the search box search for “University of Saskatchewan”
-Select the boxes beside both results
-Click "Save"

MLA International Bibliography
Bibliography of journal articles, books and dissertations covering international literature, linguistics and folklore research. Coverage is international and includes indexing and links to titles from JSTOR language and literature collection.
Access is restricted to current students, faculty, and staff of the University of Saskatchewan, and walk-in users, for educational, research, and non-commercial personal use. Systematic copying or downloading of electronic resource content is not permitted by Canadian and international copyright law.
Academic Search Complete (ASC)
A comprehensive scholarly, multi-disciplinary full-text database indexing journals, including thousands of peer-reviewed journals. Abstracts and indexes are also included for monographs, conference proceedings, and reports.
Access is restricted to current students, faculty, and staff of the University of Saskatchewan, and walk-in users, for educational, research, and non-commercial personal use. Systematic copying or downloading of electronic resource content is not permitted by Canadian and international copyright law.
JSTOR
Fulltext archive of core scholarly journals in the arts, humanities, social sciences and sciences.
Access is restricted to current students, faculty, staff, and alumni of the University of Saskatchewan, and walk-in users, for educational, research, and non-commercial personal use. Systematic copying or downloading of electronic resource content is not permitted by Canadian and international copyright law.
Project MUSE
Full text of high quality humanities, arts, and social sciences journals from scholarly publishers.
Access is restricted to current students, faculty, staff, and alumni of the University of Saskatchewan, and walk-in users, for educational, research, and non-commercial personal use. Systematic copying or downloading of electronic resource content is not permitted by Canadian and international copyright law.

Method/theory: sources detailing the theories or school of thought your argument is about

Search sources in the Background section (above) using the name of your theory of focus.

Also try the library catalogue. Make it a subject search and use the name of your theory (e.g. New Criticism). Or, use a word search with the name of an author and a theory (e.g. Achebe and postcolonial*)

Developing a research topic

Video: Mapping your research ideas
Think about possible topics for your essay and then watch this video. Have a blank sheet of paper handy or open a Word document to brainstorm your ideas as you watch it.

Worksheet: Mapping your research
Use this to map your research after watching the video. The second page provides examples of two ways to organize your ideas in Box 4.

Recorded workshops on developing a research question
By USask peer mentors, in 12, 21, or 48 minute options .

Developing a search strategy

Video: Turning your ideas from Step 1 into a search strategy
The beginning of this video will be a brief review of what you've already done. But it quickly gets into how to use that work in a database.
Guide: Look at an example of how to fill in a concept worksheet
Look at all 4 steps and the final search phrases to use in database search boxes.