Looking for biographical information or book-length biographies on your author?
Instead of doing a simple keyword search - which is the default search type in CU Discover - try a subject search on your author's name. This kind of search will retrieve biographies and books about your author.
Use these two reference databases to find short author biographies with helpful bibliographies for further reading:
Contains plot summaries, author biographies, literary criticism essays, and book reviews. Combines research from major reference works, books, and literary journals. Also includes full-text of classic novels, short stories, and poems.
Contains plot summaries, author biographies, literary criticism essays, and book reviews. Similar to Literary Reference Center but also includes content on plays/drama, children's literature, fantasy, science fiction, religious literature, and contemporary literature.
1. Begin by searching your author's name in the search bar:
2. Then limit Source Type to "Biographies". Hit Apply to refresh your results.
3. You'll see search results like this (short biographical essays on your author):
Not only do these sources provide helpful biographical information, at the end of the entry, they often include an annotated bibliography of other recommended biographies:
*Note! Literary Reference Center is not displaying the titles of these recommended works in the bibliography for some reason. I recommend searching the author's name and publisher to figure out the title of work.
Oxford Reference is another great reference database that searches a wide range of encyclopedias
E-book collection of dictionaries, encyclopedias, and research companions published by Oxford University Press. Organized into subject areas including the sciences, social sciences, arts, and humanities.
Here is an example of a short entry from Oxford Reference:
You can also find short biographical entries in print reference books, such as these:
American Writers: A Collection of Literary Biographies
by
Again, look at the end of the biographical entries for recommended book-length biographes.
Instead of doing a simple keyword search (which is the default type of searching in CU Library and OhioLINK), try a subject search on your author's name. This kind of search will retrieve biographies and books about your author.
1. Go to Advanced Search for CU Discover or CU Library
2. In the Links Menu at the top of the screen, click the three dots "..." for the More Menu
3. Choose Search By Field
4. Toggle to Browse by Subject
5. Type in your author's name using this format: Last name, First name. Hit enter or click the search icon.
6. You'll see a list of all subject headings that contain the name of the author (for example, "Austen, Jane"). Click the result that only contains your author's name to see a list of books/biographies about your chosen author.
7. Have fun exploring all the books we own about your author!
