Documented Literary Analysis

Identifying Sources of Literary Criticism

 Visit the Alabama Virtual Library at www.avl.lib.al.us

 Click on “View All Resources”

 Click on “Gale Literary Sources”

 At the Gale database, type the name of the literary work in the search box

and then click the hourglass to perform the search

 You will be shown a list of results. Look on the right hand side of the screen

and find the options under “Content Types.”

 If you need to access the story or the poem, you will find the actual work at

the “Primary Sources & Literary Works” link.

 There are two content types links at which you will find the two sources of

literary criticism you will need for your papers:

o “Topic & Work Overviews” – Begin your search here.

o “Literary Criticism” – Move to this link if you do not find your two

sources at the “Topic & Work Overviews” link.

o You will move through the list of search results at these two links,

skimming each search result to see if the particular article is one that

you can use in your essay. In your search, you are looking to find

articles that match the argument from the thesis of your essay. For

example, if you are writing about the setting of a work, you will

search for articles that address the setting of the story.

o Once you find an article you want to use, you can print the article,

email a link to the article to yourself, or save the article on a flash

drive.