Research Guides: LIT 2090: Literary Analysis (McCartney): Biographical &amp; Historical Analysis

Biographical & Historical Analysis

Biographical and historical analysis is a staple of any critical analysis. It is vital for most papers that you understand the period in which a text was written and the background of the author.

This kind of research is very specific to your topic, but here are some sources to get you started in the right direction!

Biographical Research

For short biographies of your author, search Literary Reference Center and limit Source Type to "Biographies"

Literary Reference Center This link opens in a new window
A rich full-text literary database covering all genres and timeframes. It includes thousands of synopses, critical essays, book reviews, literary journals and author biographies, plus full-text classic novels, short stories and poems.
Literary Reference Center is a comprehensive database that provides a broad spectrum of information on thousands of authors and their works across literary disciplines and timeframes. LRC combines information from major respected reference works, books, literary journals as well as original content from EBSCO Publishing. LRC also includes full text of selected classic and contemporary poems and short stories, and of classic novels. As reference material, LRC includes full text of a number of literary encyclopedia and guides.

For lengthier book-length biographies, do a SUBJECT search CU Books or OhioLINK. Search your author's name as the subject (rather than the default keyword search):

1. Go to the Advanced Search screen for CU Books.

2. Find the Search Options box on the right side of the screen. Click Subject.

3. Type in your author's name using this format: Last name, First name and hit the Submit button

4. You'll see a list of all subject headings that include the name of the author you searched (for example, "Austen, Jane"). Click the first result to see a list of books/biographies about your chosen author.

5. Have fun exploring all the books we own about your author!

Historical Context

Here are some great history databases to help you find scholarly research on different time periods:

American History

America: History and Life This link opens in a new window
Index to articles on the history and culture of the United States and Canada. Includes or has links to full text.
America: History and Life is a comprehensive bibliography of articles on the history and culture of the United States and Canada from prehistory to the present. AHL offers abstracts and citations for articles appearing in over 2,000 journals published worldwide in history, related humanities, and the social sciences. Coverage also includes citations to book reviews from approximately 100 major journals of American history and culture and relevant dissertations from Dissertation Abstracts International.

Subject keywords: History. Interdisciplinary Studies. Popular Culture. Multicultural Studies. American Studies. Women's Studies/Gender Studies. Anthropology. Literature/Folklore. Sociology. Genealogy. History of Science, Economics, Business, Education, Music, Art, and Law.

European & World History

Historical Abstracts This link opens in a new window
Index and abstracts to articles covering world history from 1450 to present (excluding U.S. and Canada).
Historical Abstracts is a reference guide to the history of the world from 1450 to the present (excluding North America, which is covered in America: History and Life). Historical Abstracts indexes key historical journals from virtually every major country, plus a targeted selection of hundreds of journals in the social sciences and humanities that are of special interest to researchers and students of history.

Historical Abstracts also cites new books reviewed in key English-language history and review journals. Dissertation citations relevant to the subject scope are derived from Dissertation Abstracts International.

Subject keywords: History. Multicultural Studies. Sociology. Psychology. Women's Studies/Gender Studies. Religion. Anthropology. Political Science. History of Science, Economics, Business, Education, Music, Art, and Law.

All History

JSTOR This link opens in a new window
JSTOR is an interdisciplinary archive of over one thousand leading academic journals from the humanities, social sciences, and sciences, as well as select monographs and other materials valuable for academic work.
JSTOR is an interdisciplinary archive of over one thousand leading academic journals from the humanities, social sciences, and sciences, as well as select monographs and other materials valuable for academic work. It is full-text searchable and includes images. There are embargos of between 3-5 years for most journal titles. Journals are always included from volume 1, issue 1.

OneSearch
Search engine to find books, articles, and other resources through Cedarville's Library
Google Scholar
Google Scholar provides a simple way to broadly search for scholarly literature. From one place, you can search across many disciplines and sources: articles, theses, books, abstracts and court opinions, from academic publishers, professional societies, online repositories, universities and other web sites.

Other Relevant Databases

Women's Studies International This link opens in a new window
Index and abstracts for publications covering Women's Studies.
Women's Studies International covers the core disciplines in Women's Studies to the latest scholarship in feminist research. This database covers over 2,000 periodicals and nearly 800 other essential sources, including journals, newspapers, newsletters, bulletins, books, book chapters, proceedings, reports, theses, dissertations, NGO studies, Web sites & Web documents, and grey literature. Women's Studies International supports curriculum development in the areas of sociology, history, political science & economy, public policy, international relations, arts & humanities, business and education.
Gender Studies Database This link opens in a new window
Index and abstracts for publications covering gender-engaged scholarship.
Gender Studies Database combines 'Women's Studies International' and 'Men's Studies' databases with the coverage of sexual diversity issues. GSD covers the full spectrum of gender-engaged scholarship inside and outside academia. Source documents include professional journals, conference papers, books, book chapters, government reports, discussion and working papers, theses & dissertations and other sources. Several thousand links to freely available and indexed full-text articles and documents on the Web are available, including carefully selected and important Websites.
Race Relations Abstracts This link opens in a new window
An essential resource for ethnic and racial studies, this database includes abstracting for the top academic journals, books, periodicals and newspapers related to the field

You can also search CU Books and OhioLINK for historical books to provide context for your research:

Prose Analysis

The Cambridge Introduction to Jane Austen, 2nd ed. by Janet Todd
Call #: MAIN 823.74 Z3774
Publication Date: 2015
Also available as an e-book
A Companion to Jane Austen
Blackwell Companions to Literature and Culture Series by Claudia L. Johnson & Clara Tuite (Editors)
Call #: MAIN 823.74 Z3381
Publication Date: 2009

Poetic Analysis

The Cambridge Companion to British Romanticism by Stuart Curran (Editor)
Call #: MAIN 820.9145 C178
Publication Date: 2010
The Cambridge Companion to the Sonnet by A. D. Cousins & Peter Howarth (Editors)
Publication Date: 2011
(book is not yet available for checkout)
The Cambridge Introduction to Modernist Poetry by Peter Howarth
Call #: MAIN 821.909 H853C
Publication Date: 2011

Theoretical Analysis

Understanding Marilynne Robinson by Alexander John Engebretson
Call #: RESERVE - MAIN DESK
Publication Date: 2017