Find Scholarly Articles in Databases
Examples of peer-reviewed journals in the MLA International Bibliography database.
- MLA International Bibliography This link opens in a new windowScholarship on literature, language, linguistics, and related areas.
- JSTOR This link opens in a new window Full-text access to thousands of scholarly journals covering the humanities, social sciences, and sciences, plus monographs and other academic materials.
- Literature Resource Center This link opens in a new window Database providing full-text biographies, bibliographies, and critical analyses of authors from every time period and literary discipline.
Articles not available in full-text? Request through ILLiad interlibrary loan.
Look for Request from ILLiad or Request from another library links when a database advices you that full-text is not available.
Scholarly Journals
Databases can contain different types of material.
Assignments often require articles that are from peer-reviewed scholarly journals.
Look for options in databases to limit your results.
MLA Citation Help
- OWL Purdue Citation Formatting The OWL Purdue citation guides provide clear instructions and examples of the correct formatting of citations.
The Chicago Manual of Style, 17th Edition by
Technologies may change, but the need for clear and accurate communication never goes out of style. That is why for more than one hundred years The Chicago Manual of Style has remained the definitive guide for anyone who works with words. In the seven years since the previous edition debuted, we have seen an extraordinary evolution in the way we create and share knowledge. This seventeenth edition of The Chicago Manual of Style has been prepared with an eye toward how we find, create, and cite information that readers are as likely to access from their pockets as from a bookshelf. It offers updated guidelines on electronic workflows and publication formats, tools for PDF annotation and citation management, web accessibility standards, and effective use of metadata, abstracts, and keywords. It recognizes the needs of those who are self-publishing or following open access or Creative Commons publishing models. The citation chapters reflect the ever-expanding universe of electronic sources--including social media posts and comments, private messages, and app content--and also offer updated guidelines on such issues as DOIs, time stamps, and e-book locators. Other improvements are independent of technological change. The chapter on grammar and usage includes an expanded glossary of problematic words and phrases and a new section on syntax as well as updated guidance on gender-neutral pronouns and bias-free language. Key sections on punctuation and basic citation style have been reorganized and clarified. To facilitate navigation, headings and paragraph titles have been revised and clarified throughout. And the bibliography has been updated and expanded to include the latest and best resources available. This edition continues to reflect expert insights gathered from Chicago's own staff and from an advisory board of publishing experts from across the profession. It also includes suggestions inspired by emails, calls, and even tweets from readers. No matter how much the means of communication change, The Chicago Manual of Style remains the ultimate resource for those who care about getting the details right.
MLA Handbook 2021 by
Relied on by generations of writers, the MLA Handbook is published by the Modern Language Association and is the only official, authorized book on MLA style. The new, ninth edition builds on the MLA's unique approach to documenting sources using a template of core elements?facts, common to most sources, like author, title, and publication date?that allows writers to cite any type of work, from books, e-books, and journal articles in databases to song lyrics, online images, social media posts, dissertations, and more. With this focus on source evaluation as the cornerstone of citation, MLA style promotes the skills of information and digital literacy so crucial today. The many new and updated chapters make this edition the comprehensive, go-to resource for writers of research papers, and anyone citing sources, from business writers, technical writers, and freelance writers and editors to student writers and the teachers and librarians working with them. Intended for a variety of classroom contexts?middle school, high school, and college courses in composition, communication, literature, language arts, film, media studies, digital humanities, and related fields?the ninth edition of the MLA Handbook offers ?New chapters on grammar, punctuation, capitalization, spelling, numbers, italics, abbreviations, and principles of inclusive language ?Guidelines on setting up research papers in MLA format with updated advice on headings, lists, and title pages for group project ?Revised, comprehensive, step-by-step instructions for creating a list of works cited in MLA format that are easier to learn and use than ever before ?A new appendix with hundreds of example works-cited-list entries by publication format, including websites, YouTube videos, interviews, and more ?Detailed examples of how to find publication information for a variety of sources ?Newly revised explanations of in-text citations, including comprehensive advice on how to cite multiple authors of a single work ?Detailed guidance on footnotes and endnotes ?Instructions on quoting, paraphrasing, summarizing, and avoiding plagiarism ?A sample essay in MLA format ?Annotated bibliography examples ?Numbered sections throughout for quick navigation ?Advanced tips for professional writers and scholars
Call Number: Colby Miller Library 1st Floor Librarians Alcove - REF LB2369 .M52 2021
OneSearch
OneSearch searches multiple resources at once. Use for very precise searches:
- Finding a specific article
- Finding book chapters on a topic
- Finding book reviews
For best results, use limiters: field drop-downs (Title, Publication Title), content type (articles, book chapters, book reviews), etc.
For topical searches, first consult CBBcat and individual databases.
Girl reading a book, Freestocks, 2016. Flickr (CC0 1.0)
Reference & Contextual Information
Dictionary, Mike Licht, 2016, Flickr (CC by 2.0)
- Oxford English Dictionary This link opens in a new window The full text online version of the Oxford English Dictionary contains both the complete Second Edition and the New Edition in progress.
- Credo General Reference This link opens in a new window A search engine covering hundreds of reference works, including dictionaries, encyclopedias, thesauruses, and books of quotations, plus subject-specific titles covering topics such as arts, business, history, law, literature, medicine, music, philosophy, psychology, religion, science, and technology.
- Oxford Bibliographies Online: American Literature This link opens in a new window Oxford Bibliographies Online is a scholar-curated library of discipline-based subject modules, designed to help researchers find reliable sources of information by directing them to chapters, books, websites, archives, or data sets.
- Johns Hopkins Guide to Literary Theory & Criticism This link opens in a new window An encyclopedic guide to literary theory and criticism, with entries covering critics and theorists, critical movements, and terms related to literary criticism.
Search Tips
KEYWORD SEARCH
In library catalogs and many databases, keyword searches only look for EXACT matches. A search using one form of a word may not find derivatives. A search of a singular noun, may not find results that only use the plural form.
An ASTERISK is a wild card that stands in for different endings of a word. ideal* = ideal, ideals, idealism, idealistic
Use QUOTATION MARKS to glue together words in phrases, titles or an author's name. "stream of consciousness"
Use OR phrases (in parentheses or within a search row) to cover possible synonyms. (jester OR fool)
Use AND phrases to narrow and focus a search. mother* AND "toni morrison"
SUBJECT SEARCH
Subject searches take you to books that have been tagged as being about that person or subject. Identify SUBJECT HEADINGS by checking the item records found in a keyword search.
To find subject headings for an author, do a Subject Search using the author’s name (last name first): Eliot, George (Select Subject from first drop-down option in CBBcat.)
Following a Citation Trail
Check the works cited, notes, references and bibliographies of every relevant article or book. You may discover a book or article perfect for your topic.
Bibliography, Hafley, James Robert, The Glass Roof: Virgina Woolf as a Novelist, UC Press, 1954.
LOOK FOR A CITED WORK USING:
- Google Scholar This link opens in a new windowGoogle Scholar indexes many scholarly journals, theses, books, and white papers from academic and society publishers. It also indexes patents and some case law.
- OneSearchChange first drop-down to title and enter enough of title to be distinctive. If no, results, check "Add results beyond your library's collection" at top of results page.
- HathiTrust This link opens in a new windowA digital library containing assets from over 100 research libraries, with document types including books, images, images, music scores, newspapers, and videos. Use the yellow "Log In" button to find and select Colby College, then follow the login prompts.
Librarian
Find Books in Our Library Catalog
Search for physical and digital books, films and other media in our library catalog.
A book of literary criticism can be by a single author or can be an edited anthology with chapters ("book articles") on different aspects of the book's general theme.
To identify SCHOLARLY BOOKS, investigate/examine the:
- author (university affiliation, research specialty)
- publisher (academic or university press)
- writing style & intended audience
- arguments, analysis, study methodology
- notes, references, bibliography
PRINT: Look at the location and call number. Most Colby owned books related to literature can be found on the two bottom floors of the Miller Library book stacks. Order books from Bates, Bowdoin and the Colby Annex by clicking CBB Request in an item record.
DIGITAL: look for a small circular red E in the icons to the left of your results . .
Or use the drop-downs on the CBBcat search page, for a more precise search.