Resource Guide: Northern California Writers

Where to Start Journal Articles
Reference Books Websites
Suggested Subject Headings Cite Your Sources
Where to Start
  • Search the Literature Online (LION) database to find background and criticism on authors, such as Kerouac and Steinbeck, as well as on individual titles.
  • Try the Literature Resource Center database as well for criticism and references on certain works or authors in reference sources, such as the Dictionary of Literary Biography, Literature Criticism, etc.
  • Search the Library Catalog (see "Suggested Subject Headings" below).
  • To dig deeper, search the MLA and Humanities Full-Text databases.
Reference Books

Contemporary Literary Criticism --   REF PN771 .C59
Contemporary Authors --   REF PN451 .C63
Dictionary of Literary Biography --   REF PS21 .D5
Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism --   REF PN771 .G27
Columbia Companion to the Twentieth-Century American Short Story --   REF PS374 .S5 C64 2000
Suggested Subject Headings

Use these terms to perform a subject search in the library's catalog. Be sure to browse through the headings list you get to see subtopics.

Journal Articles

Use the following library databases to find journal articles about authors who lived in Northern California, as well as biographical information, essays, and other critical and reference resources.

  • Humanities Full-Text
    Indexes articles under the subjects of archaeology, area studies, art, classical studies, communications, dance, film, folklore, gender studies, history, journalism, linguistics, literary & social criticism literature, music, performing arts, philosophy, religion and theology.
  • Literature Online (LION)
    Fully searchable library of more than 350,000 works of English and American poetry, drama and prose, 168 full-text literature journals, and other key criticism and reference resources.
  • Literature Resource Center
    Provides access to biographies, bibliographies, and critical analyses of authors from every age and literary discipline. Combining Gale Group's core literary databases in a single online service, the Literature Resource Center covers more than 120,000 novelists, poets, essayists, journalists, and other writers, with in-depth coverage of 2,500 of the most-studied authors.
  • MLA International Bibliography
    Indexes journal articles, books, and dissertations. Produced by the Modern Language Association, this database goes back to 1963 and contains over 1.5 million citations from more than 4,400 journals and series and 1,000 book publishers. Coverage is international and subjects include literature, language and linguistics, folklore, literary theory & criticism, dramatic arts, as well as the historical aspects of printing and publishing. Listings on rhetoric and composition and the history, theory and practice of teaching language and literature are also included.
Websites

American Literature and California -- a bibliography covering the topic - these books can be borrowed through the Interlibrary Loan service

California Fiction -- a database of works of fiction that take place in California

California Literature -- the Northern California Independent Booksellers Association

Calisphere: A World of Primary Sources and More -- from the University of California

The Jack London Online Collection -- from Sonoma State University

The National Steinbeck Center

Cite Your Sources

Citing Sources --   from the Duke University Libraries
MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers --   RREF LB2369 .G52 2003 *

* RREF stands for Ready Reference near the reference desk on the first floor.

Need more help finding resources? Email me at kowens@flagler.edu or visit the Library's Reference Desk.
Last Updated: September 09, 2008