English 130 Library Tutorial Module 1: Introduction

Purpose of This Tutorial

The purpose of this tutorial is to introduce you to some of the strategies and resources that are most useful when writing about literature, as you are doing for English 130. If you would like a refresher on using the library in general, please see the library’s English 110 guide.

For the most part, this tutorial imagines you are looking for literary criticism, that is, the scholarly analysis of literary works, in the process of advancing your own interpretation. The point of consulting literary criticism is to understand how others have made sense of a work before you; ultimately, you will need to show where your own work draws on and departs from the scholarship of others.

This is different from the kind of research where you are making sure you have your facts right.

Literary Research

You may be wondering: if I already understand library research, why do I need more information about literary research specifically?

Every subject has strategies and resources that experts use to find information more efficiently. If you are an English major, or even if you’re just planning on taking more English classes, you’ll be able to use these skills in those classes.

Even if this is the last English class you ever take, you should know that whatever your chosen major is, it likely has resources that are designed specifically for use in that field and particular research approaches that work better. I hope you’ll seek them out.

Getting Help

I’m Nancy Foasberg, the librarian for English and some other departments. Please feel free to email me! I’m always happy to hear from you; answering questions from students is one of the best parts of my job. If you’d rather talk about research over video chat, we can also arrange a time to do that.

Alternatively, if you’d like to talk with a librarian immediately, please use our chat widget (available from every page of the library website), which is staffed by QC librarians during normal business hours. Outside those hours, you can still get an answer, but it will probably be from a librarian in a different time zone.

Exercise

Take a few minutes to look over the library website. See if you can find:

• Information about accessing the library building:

• What are the library’s hours?
• How do you make an appointment to visit the library?
• Include the link for one of these pieces of information:

• At least one way to ask for help

• List one contact point for the library you think you might use:
• Put the link here:

• The list of databases

• In the list of databases, find the database Oxford Art Online (as an example).
• Put the link here:

• Guides to help you with your research

• Find the guide for Sociology (as an example).
• Put the link here:

• Materials on reserve

• Find the page where you can access e-reserves. Put the link here:
• Check to see whether any of your classes have e-reserves available.  Did they?

Try to get a little more comfortable navigating the library website. There are lots of resources that won’t be featured in this tutorial.