Pre-Instruction Survey
Login to your Rockhurst email remote access to open the message containing the pre-instruction survey link.

Ask A Librarian Research Assistance
This instruction page will likely inspire additional questions on your research when you return to this page to use the recommended resources. Please visit our Ask a Librarian page to get additional help from a librarian.

Information Literacy Competency
The Information Literacy Competency for Rockhurst University Students document outlines the needed competencies for a person to be considered "information literate" in today's world. You will develop competencies in many of these areas in this course and in the future courses you will take in your program. Several of these competencies will be addressed in today's presentation.

Library Accounts
The Rockhurst University ID card also is the library card for students. At the bottom of the card is the library account number, which begins "10006".

Register for your library account at the Circulation Desk on the main floor of the library. Rockhurst students, faculty and staff are required to use their Rockhurst email addresses in their library accounts. Library accounts expire at the end of each semester so you will need to reactivate your account next semester. This can be done online.

You will be given a unique identification number in addition to your library account number. With this library account number and unique borrower identification number you may:

• Request items directly from the other libraries in the Online Catalog;
• Checkout items directly from other MOBIUS libraries. Rockhurst University is a member of the MOBIUS consortium consisting of 60 Missouri academic libraries around the state. This gives our students the ability to identify and use materials from the collections of these libraries. Currently the total of the collections of these libraries is nearly 20 million items.
• View your library account to see what you have checked out, renew items, view any unpaid fees on your account or view items on request from other libraries.

Detailed information about library accounts and utilizing all of the functions listed above can be found on the library's Circulation Services web page.

Identifying Books and Journals in the Library Collection
Materials owned by the library can be identified by using the Online Catalog on the library's web site.

Rockhurst University is a member of the MOBIUS consortium consisting of 60 Missouri academic libraries. Books available in MOBIUS libraries can be requested by you and sent here for your use. Additional information about this is found on the Patron Initiated Borrowing Through the Online Catalog guide.

Select the Subject search option to find books about the author’s work. Type in the author’s name as your subject. You can also type in immediately following the author’s name "criticism and interpretation", "bibliographies", or the title of a specific work.

Examples:

This subject search will identify general works which give critical analyses of the author’s works.

Huxley, Aldous, 1894-1963—Brave New World

This subject search will identify entire books that evaluate one specific work.

Subject headings can also be subdivided by literary period or themes:

Periodicals (journals, newspapers and magazines) owned by the library can be identified by linking to the Periodical Holdings page on the library web site. On this page you will be directed to use the Periodicals Holdings List to see if we have a subscription to a title.

Access to Library Databases
On campus access to most of the library's subscription databases is available on the "Electronic Resources" page on the library's web site. Use either the alphabetical or subject lists of databases to find the one you need.

Off campus access is available through the VPN proxy server provided by Computer Services. The Off Campus Access to Databases page will link you to the page provided by Computer Services. If you link directly to the library's web site outside of VPN you will not be able to use the databases.

Understanding the Difference Between General Periodicals and Scholarly Journals
Criteria to determine how scholarly and trade journal articles differ from general interest articles in the field can be found on the Scholarly Journal, Trade Journal or Popular Magazine? research guide.

Proper Citation of Sources
When using information from other sources, whether copyrighted or not, it is necessary to give attribution to those sources. Doing so will help you avoid plagiarism.

More information about copyright is found on the Copyright and Fair Use guide.

Information on how to avoid plagiarism is on the Avoiding Plagiarism guide.

The library provides the RefWorks bibliographic management system. This is a bibliography management program that allows Rockhurst University faculty, students and staff to set up their own online account to manage electronic citations imported from databases subscribed to by the Greenlease Library as well as input citation information from print sources. Only Rockhurst University email accounts may be used with RefWorks accounts. These citations are easily incorporated into documents created in word processing programs. Many citation formats are included.

RefWorks Account Information

Tutorial and Quick Start Guide (PDF 2.42MB)*

Connect to RefWorks

How to Export or Import Saved Citations from a Database Into RefWorks (PDF 87KB)*

Adding References Manually to RefWorks

Examples of general topic databases: These databases can be accessed via the Alphabetic electronic list.

Credo Reference
Credo Reference is a collection of over 400 reference titles covering topics in the humanities, science, medicine and social sciences. The full text of these titles are available and there are links from titles to related articles in many of the library's journal databases and to books identified in the library's online catalog.

JSTOR
JSTOR (short for Journal Storage) is an online archive of scholarly journals which have been digitally reproduced to provide access to the backfile of each title. Some titles go back to the 19th century. JSTOR will not include the latest 2 - 5 years of the journals for most titles, although some publishers of journals are now providing links to some recent content. (Included are Arts & Sciences I, II III, IV and the Complement Collections ; Ecology and Botany Collection; General Science Collection). View a list of journals in each collection.

Academic Search Premier
This database indexes and abstracts articles appearing in over 7300 journals in the areas of social sciences, humanities, education, computer sciences, engineering, physics, chemistry, language and linguistics, arts & literature, medical sciences, ethnic studies, and many more, some as far back 1965. Full text of articles appear from 4000 scholarly journals, including 3100 peer-reviewed titles.

In the First Person
An index to diaries, letters, oral histories and personal narratives covering many subjects, all in the English language. Source formats include text, audio and video files. The sources are repositories and collections which are available free on the web, as well as some which are only available in subscription databases. Results that instruct the user to login will not be accessible since the library does not subscribe to those subscription databases.

Electronic Sources of Analysis and Discussion on Literary Criticism

Literature Resource Center
This database includes biographical information on authors and literary criticism of author works. The content for this database is taken from the authoritative critical sets published by the Thompson Gale company, as well as literary journals. Also included is the Encyclopedia of Literature and a Literary-Historical Timeline. A complete list of sources is available.

Click here for citation information for this database.

MLA International Bibliography
Bibliography of journal articles, books and dissertations on literature and languages.

Print Sources of Analysis and Discussion on Literary Criticism:

Indexes:

Essay & General Literature Index
Index Area Ref Z 1011 E752 (1900-2004)This is a bibliographic database that cites essays and articles contained in collections of essays and miscellaneous works published in the U.S., Great Britain, and Canada. Annually indexed are more than 300 volumes and more than 20 annuals and serial publications. Full bibliographic information on collective titles are indexed. This database focuses on the humanities and social sciences, including economics, political science, and history of criticism of literary works, drama, and film.

Humanities Index
Index Area REF AI 3 R492 (1974-2004)
Citations and abstracts from periodicals in archaeology, art, classics, film, folklore, journalism, linguistics, music, the performing arts, philosophy, religion, world history, and world literature.

Compilations of Criticisms
These sets, published by the Gale Group, are useful to get introductory criticisms for an author's work. To find out which set your author would appear in, connect to the Gale Literary Index and search by either author name or the title of the author's work. This index also covers the sets listed below under bio-bibliographies

Literature Criticism from 1400-1800. Detroit: Gale, 1984- present. Ref. PN 86 L56 1984
Literary criticism compilations, authors of 1400 through 1799, excluding Shakespeare.

Nineteenth-century Literature Criticism. Detroit: Gale, 1981 - present. Ref. PN 761 N56
Literary criticism compilations, "authors who died between 1800-1899"

Twentieth-century Literary Criticism. Detroit: Gale, 1978- present. Ref. PN 771 T83
Literary criticism compilations, "authors who died between 1900-1959"

Contemporary Literary Criticism. Detroit: Gale,1973 - present. Ref. PN 771 C59
Literary criticism compilations, "authors now living or who died after Dec. 1, 1959"

Poetry Criticism. Detroit: Gale, 1991 - present. Ref. PN 1010 P62
Excerpts from criticisms of the works of poets of all nationalities, movements and periods of literary history.

Short Story Criticism. Detroit: Gale, 1989 - present. Ref. PN 3373 H37
Excerpts from criticisms of the works of major short fiction writers of all nationalities and periods of literary history.

Bio-bibliographies
These sets given biographical information and also lists the works on the author.

Dictionary of Literary Biography Series.
Biographical information and literary criticism on authors and their works. The volumes are organized by literary periods and styles. Shelved individually by volume title within the Reference Collection--check online catalog for call number specific to a volume title.

Contemporary Authors: A Bio-Bibliographical Guide to Current Writers in Fiction, General Nonfiction, Poetry, Journalism, Drama, Motion Pictures, Television and Other Fields. REF Z 1224 C6; REF Z 1224 C58; REF Z 1224 C6 A9
Biographical information on authors of the 20th and 21st centuries, including lists of works. There are several series to this set. The index to the set must be used in order to find which series/volumes cover an author.

Interlibrary Loan
Articles not found full text in the library's collection or books not found in a MOBIUS library can be ordered from other libraries across the country through Interlibrary Loan. Use the forms on our Interlibrary Loan page to submit your request electronically. Books are free; articles are 20 cents per page per article. Usually you will have your materials within a week after submitting your request.

Free Internet Sources

Glossary of Literary Terms
A free resources provided by the Gale Group, a leading publisher of literary criticism reference sources.

Internet Public Library Online Literary Criticism Collection
The Internet Public Library at the University of Michigan is a terrific source for links to resources on literature criticism.

Librarians' Internet Index
Links to web sites, evaluated and organized by librarians. Web sites are chosen for the quality of their informational content and most sites are free to use.

Additional Sources of Information in the Library Collection
In addition to the sources listed below, the library has many print sources in the Reference collection that give information on (subject). Most of these sources cannot be checked out, so plan time to visit the library to consult them. Many of these are listed on the Literary Criticism Research Guide available on the library web site.

* PDF document which requires Adobe Acrobat Reader to view, download or print.

Updated December 3, 2009