Research Assignments
All assignment descriptions for the course are posted in D2L. If you have any questions regarding your assignments, please let your professor know.
Use the next tabs to connect with helpful resources for your assignments.
Video Tutorials
Below are video tutorials to help you navigate some of the library resources.
Reference Databases
The following resource will provide you some resources for background information. Doing background research will not only help you narrow your focus, but will also help you identify keywords to use when searching the databases for scholarly articles.
- Credo Reference This link opens in a new windowIncludes materials from over 650 reference books on many topics in higher education, including art, business, history, languages, literature, science, criminal justice, and political science.
Boolean Operators
Using Boolean operators in a database is highly recommended, as this approach usually generates the most useful results. Databases are not "intuitive" like search engines (e.g., Google) - they must be "told" how to process a search query. Boolean operators let you "tell" the database what you want to see in your results.
| AND |
Use AND to connect KEYWORDS - Retrieves sources with both/all terms [refines search] Example: diabetes AND adult AND self-management |
| OR |
Use OR to connect SYNONYMS & LIKE CONCEPTS - Retrieves sources with either/any term(s) [broadens search] Example: heart attack AND (female OR women) AND symptoms |
| NOT |
Use NOT to EXCLUDE word(s) - Eliminates sources with the word(s) following NOT Example: Omega-3 fatty acids NOT fish oils |
Identifying Keywords
When you are conducting your background research on your topic, consider the who, what, when, where and why of what you are reading, and highlight or write the main points down. You can use those as keywords in the databases!
Research Databases
- Gale Literature Resource Center This link opens in a new windowFull-text journal articles, critical essays, work overviews & summaries, and author biographies from authoritative sources.
- JSTOR This link opens in a new windowComplete historical full text of all issues of journals in a wide range of humanities and social science fields.
- Bloom's Literature This link opens in a new windowEssays and criticism examining the lives of great authors and their works.
- Gale Literature Criticism: Short Story Criticism This link opens in a new windowPresents full-text literary criticism on the works of short-story writers of all nations, cultures, and time periods. Critical essays are selected from leading sources, including published journals, magazines, books, reviews, diaries, newspapers, pamphlets, and scholarly papers.
- Literary Reference Source This link opens in a new windowCriticisms, synopses, and reviews of authors and their works, full text poems, short stories, and classic novels, as well as full text from over 400 literary journals.
- Academic Search Complete This link opens in a new windowFull text of articles from journals, magazines and newspapers, plus image collections. Users can limit results to scholarly material.
- Gale Academic OneFile This link opens in a new windowQuickly access articles from a database of scholarly journals and other trusted periodicals. Best for academic research.
- Gale Literature Criticism This link opens in a new windowExplore the most extensive compilation of literary commentary available. Includes analysis from book excerpts, periodicals, and more.
- Gale Literature: LitFinder This link opens in a new windowAccess literary works and authors throughout history, including full-text poems, plays, short stories, speeches, and more.
Ebook Databases
- Ebook Central (LSCS) This link opens in a new window(ProQuest) Over 100,000 ebook titles covering a full range of academic topics. General reference works are also included.
- EBSCO eBook Collection (LSCS) This link opens in a new windowSearch complete electronic books. Set up a free account and download to your PC, Mac, Nook, Sony, Android, iPhone, or iPad.
General Websites
- The British Library
We are the national library of the United Kingdom and give access to the world’s most comprehensive research collection. We provide information services to academic, business, research and scientific communities. Our collection of over 170 million items includes artefacts from every age of written civilisation. We keep the nation’s archive of printed and digital publications, adding around three million new items to our collection every year. - Discovering Literature: Romantics & VictoriansThis interactive website from The British Library features numerous articles on various Victorian works of literature and authors, including: Charles Dickens, Thomas Hardy, and The Brontës.
- Literary Criticism on the InternetCovers criticism of works from the 19th and 20th centuries. LiteraryHistory.com chosen by the New York Public Library as one of 25 "Best of Reference 2003."
- Women in the Literary MarketplaceAn online exhibit from the Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections at Cornell U, contains short entries on several Victorian women authors and their typical themes, information about the publishing context, and some images of first editions.
- The Victorian WebOriginally begun back in 1987 as a means of helping scholars and students see connections between different fields, the site today has greatly expanded the kinds of connections one can find in Victorian literature and Victorian society.
- Great Writers InspireThis collection of freely available literary resources is aimed at students from sixth-form to university, their teachers, and at lifelong learners. It contains lectures, eBooks and contextual essays for reuse by individuals and the educational community.
- Victorian Women Writers ProjectThe Victorian Women Writers Project (VWWP) began in 1995 at Indiana University and is primarily concerned with the exposure of lesser-known British women writers of the 19th century. The collection represents an array of genres - poetry, novels, children's books, political pamphlets, religious tracts, histories, and more. VWWP contains scores of authors, both prolific and rare.
Author Websites
- The Bronte SocietyThe Bronte Society, founded in 1893, is responsible for running the, once the home of the Brontë family and also for promoting the Brontës' literary legacy within contemporary society.
- The Samuel Butler ProjectFunded by the Heritage Lottery Fund and St John’s College, Cambridge University, the project is a catalogue of the Samuel Butler Collection and is accessible to researchers, schools and the public.
- Darwin Correspondence ProjectFounded in 1974 through Cambridge University, The Darwin Correspondence Project is an independently funded research team. They locate and research letters written by and to the evolutionary scientist, Charles Darwin (1809–1882), and publish complete transcripts together with contextual notes and articles.
- RLS WebsiteThe most comprehensive web resource dedicated to Robert Louis Stevenson, designed for all: academics, school children and everybody interested in learning about RLS.
- Trollope SocietyThe Trollope Society exists, with a world-wide membership, to promote and publish the works of Anthony Trollope, to provide a forum for the exploration of all aspects of his life, and to encourage the reading and enjoyment of his fiction for future generations.
Streaming Videos
To view, select the video below and enter your library barcode number or myLoneStar Username and Password Login. Additional videos can be accessed through the library's Video Databases.
- The City and the Soul
This absorbing series ventures deep into the heart of 19th century Britain to explore how the gothic style rose from ridicule to define the era. It is a period synonymous with progress. But at the same time, a group of men and women seemingly spurned the modern age, turning to the medieval past as a source of inspiration. From Horace Walpole to John Ruskin to Bram Stoker, this is the story of how an old, derided style of architecture became a defining characteristic of the Victorian age and was as important as the Romantic and Modernist movements that it bridged. Discover how the gothic style went from vulgar to the height of fashion; how it first symbolised tradition before becoming the hallmark of industrial progress; and how it gave voice to the savage horrors of the time. - The Victorian AgeThis program offers literary and historical insight into key Victorian themes. Charles Dickens is featured as the central Victorian novelist and his social themes are examined in depth. Students survey the range of Victorian thought and tradition in excerpts from Browning, Arnold, Tennyson, Carlyle and Ruskin. Dickens's impact on his time and on the novel itself is considered.
- The Bronte SistersExamines the lives of Anne, Emily and Charlotte Bronte, and the influence of Lord Byron, John Martin, and their Aunt Branwell on their literary careers.
- Samuel Butler and Utopian TechnologiesShift your attention from rural American utopias to explore from a different perspective: Victorian anxieties about technology and the vanishing frontier. Analyze these fears in Samuel Butler's Erewhon, which utilizes utopian conventions and heavy doses of satire to critique religion, health, education, and humanity's increasingly complex relationship to machines.
- Charles Darwin: Evolution's VoiceDiscusses the life, accomplishments, and impact of the great naturalist, Charles Darwin, from his historic voyage on the Beagle to his personal anguish over publicizing his finding.
- Charles DickensThe work of Dickens is forever associated with Victorian England. The imprisonment of his father for debt gave him a trenchant insight into the world of the poor; his later involvement with projects for the betterment of man and the emotional strength of his novels derive from his first-hand experience.
- George EliotExamines the life of Mary Anne Evans, who wrote under the name of George Eliot. Her work as an editor of the Westminster Review and the influence of her long-term liaison with George Henry Lewes are discussed.
- Thomas HardyPieces that were known to be Hardy's favorite folk tunes embellish this program which faithfully documents his life and his literature.
- The Adventures of Robert Louis Stevenson, Episode 1The true-life adventures of author Robert Louis Stevenson often outdid the escapades of his famous fictional creations. A sickly provincial middle-class boy, destined to follow in his family's engineering dynasty, Stevenson somehow managed to break free to live a life of travel and unbridled imagination. For much of his twenties he rebelled, living a Bohemian life across the world with a fascinating band of misfits and troubadours, in search of the adventures that would provide the inspiration for his stories. He died in Samoa aged just 44, leaving behind three of the world's most memorable classics. Dramatisations of Stevenson's extraordinary life form the narrative backbone of the film, backed up by photographs, interviews with experts and, of course, his enduring literary legacy.
Other Resources
eBooks
