Library: Short Story Resources &amp; Criticism: Find Resources

EBSCO Discovery Search Tutorial

Video Credit: EBSCO Tutorials, Sep 19, 2023.

Literary Time Periods

Old English (Anglo-Saxon Period)	450–1066
Middle English Period	1066-1500
The Renaissance	1500-1600
The Neoclassical Period	1600-1785
The Romantic Period	1785-1832
The Victorian Age	1832-1901
The Edwardian Period	1901-1914
The Georgian Period	1910-1936
The Modern Period	Early 20th century
The Postmodern Period	Mid-20th century

Avoid Plagiarism

Remember, if you don't own or didn't create it, you'll need a citation or credit attached to the resource. Learn more about avoiding plagiarism below,

Avoid Plagiarism Guide
In this tutorial, we hope to show you how to avoid intentional and unintentional plagiarism in your research and coursework and understand the academic integrity policies of MCCC and the consequences of plagiarism.
ChatGPT & Generative A.I.
This guide is designed to assist you in learning more about generative ai.
Citation Guides
This guide is designed to assist with understanding and using MLA & APA citation styles.
Copyright & Fair Use Guide
This guide is designed to share information on copyright and fair use in an educational setting and provide guidance on finding and using materials in online, hybrid, and in-person courses.
Evaluating Websites
This guide is designed to assist in learning how to evaluate websites.

Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary Sources

What the difference between a primary, secondary, and tertiary source?

Primary sources are created as close to the original event or phenomenon as it is possible to be. For example, a photograph or video of an event is a primary source. More examples: Data from an experiment is a primary source, letters, journals, articles, speeches, video recordings, works of art, and books.
Secondary sources are one step removed from that. Secondary sources are based on or about the primary sources. For example, articles and books in which authors interpret data from another research team's experiment or archival footage of an event are usually considered secondary sources. More examples: Books written about an original event, artwork, or literary resources, biographies, essays, literacy criticisms, and commentaries.
Tertiary sources are one further step removed from that. Tertiary sources summarize or synthesize the research in secondary sources. For example, almanacs, fact books, textbooks, bibliographies, dictionaries, indexes, textbooks, and reference books are tertiary sources (Text in this section is from Suny Empire College's guide: Research Skills Tutorial).

Why is this important?

For your research assignments, you are asked to find primary, secondary, and tertiary sources. You'll need to be able to recognize the difference between all three. Remember primary sources are about the event. Secondary sources analyze the event and interpret another author's work. Tertiary sources summarize events from other authors after the event has occurred.

Library Databases

Academic Search Complete This link opens in a new window
What's included: Academic Search Complete is a scholarly, multi-disciplinary full-text database, with more than 5,300 full-text periodicals, including 4,400 peer-reviewed journals. Uses include: Searching index and abstracts records for various journals and publications including monographs, reports, conference proceedings, etc.
Biography Reference Center This link opens in a new window
What's included: Offers a comprehensive collection of more than 450,000 full text biographies. Uses included: Searching the full text run of Biography Today and Biography Magazine, as well as thousands of narrative biographies.
Credo Reference This link opens in a new window
What's included: Our largest online reference collection. Uses include: Resources for study such as atlases, biographies, dictionaries, and encyclopedias.
JSTOR This link opens in a new window
What's included: Journal articles in humanities, history, culture and the sciences and artwork from some of the most famous museums in the world. Uses include: Full-text books, scholarly articles, conference proceedings, images focused on historical and present-day art topics.
Literary Reference Center Plus This link opens in a new window
What's included: Stories, poems, and novel criticisms and author analysis. Uses include: Review more than 150,000 poems and short stories by region, language, and style.
Literature Criticism Online This link opens in a new window
What's included: Search articles from literary criticism reference books 2009-2010. Literary criticism tools such as word use in literature 1895-2010. Uses include: index to print Literary Criticism collection in library.
Newspaper Source This link opens in a new window
What's included: Articles from more than 160 American and international regional newspapers. Uses include: Review updated TV and radio news transcripts and syndicated content.
New York Times (Gale) This link opens in a new window
What's included: National and international news combined with strong regional coverage from 1985 to today (via Gale). Uses include: Find older issues of the New York Times for articles on various topics. For articles from 1923-1984 use ProQuest Historical Newspapers

Library Journals & Magazines

Atlantic
Features articles for the general reader, reports & comments on recent historical events, humor, fiction, poetry, arts & leisure, & book reviews.
The Kenyon Review
An international journal of literature, culture, and the arts, including poetry, fiction, drama, essays, and reviews.
The New Yorker
Discusses current events and ideas, combining domestic and international news analysis with cartoons, sports, fashion & arts, profiles, short fiction, and poetry.
Pennsylvania Literary Journal
A peer-reviewed journal that publishes critical essays, book reviews, short stories, interviews, photographs, art, and poetry.
Ploughshares
Fiction, poetry, essays, commentary and reviews guest-edited serially by prominent writers, who explore different and personal visions, aesthetics and literary circles.
Review Americana: A Literary Journal
American-written poems, short fiction, drama, essays about creative writing, and essays about the teaching of creative writing.
River Styx
An international journal of poetry, fiction, essays, interviews & art.
Sewanee Review
A literary quarterly devoted to criticism, fiction, and poetry.
Yale Literary Magazine
Publishes poetry, fiction, criticism, and artwork by Yale students.

Keywords

Here are some keywords to use in your searches. Remember to use terms that will narrow your search!

Alice Munro
Alice Walker
Allegory
Alliteration
Allusion
Annie Proulx
Antagonist
Anton Chekhov
Barry Hannah
Characterization / Direct Characterization / Indirect Characterization
Characters
Charlotte Perkins Gilman
Climax (or the high point of tension in a plot)
Complication
Conflict (also known as the story problem)
Criticism / literary criticism
Daphne du Maurier
Dénouement
Description
Diction
Dynamic character
Edgar Allan Poe
Elizabeth McCracken
Epiphany
Ernest Hemingway
Etgar Keret
Exposition
Fable
Falling Action
First-person or participant narrator
Flannery O'Connor
Flashback
Flash fiction
Flashforward
Flat character
Foreshadowing
Franz Kafka
Genre
Grace Paley
Henry James
Herman Melville
Hyperbole
Imagery
Ironic point of view
Irony / Dramatic irony
Isaac Babel
Italo Calvino
James Baldwin
James Joyce
John Cheever
Jorge Luis Borges
Joyce Carol Oates
Kate Chopin
Krys Lee
Lauren Groff'
Local color or regionalism
Limited or selective omniscience
Mark Twain
Motif
Narrator / naïve narrator / unreliable narrator
Nikolai Gogol
Novelette
Novella
O. Henry
Objective
Omniscience
Oscar Wilde
Parable
Plot
Poetry
Point of view
Protagonist
Ray Bradbury
Raymond Carver
Realism
Resolution
Rising Action
Round character
Setting
Shirley Jackson
Short Story
Static character
Stephen King
Stock character
Story
Story of initiation
Structure
Style
Suspense
Symbol
Tale
Ted Chiang
Theme
Third-person or non-participant narrator
Tim O'Brien
Tobias Wolff
Tone
Understatement
W. W. Jacobs
Washington Irving