The following resources are accessible via the USC Upstate Library
I. Locating Information
I.a Starting places: useful when you want to get the basic facts about an author, a work of literature, a period in literary history, a genre, or a literary term. Not usually appropriate for citing in a paper. Be sure to look for lists of items under sections titled things like ÒFurther ReadingÓ or ÒBibliography.Ó Many of those items will be more substantial.
Oxford Reference Online: Premium Collection
The Premium Collection combines quick reference coverage of the full subject spectrum with the rich resources of the Oxford Companions. From ready-reference to comprehensive scholarly articles, The Premium Collection provides librarians and end-users with reliable and authoritative answers to their research questions.
Gale Literary Index
Gale's Literary Index is a master index to the major literature products published by Gale. It combines and cross-references about 146,000 author names, including pseudonyms, variant names and listings for over 193,000 titles into one source.
Literature Resource Center
Literature Resource Center, provided by DISCUS, allows access to biographies, bibliographies, and critical analyses of more than 120,000 authors from every age and literary discipline. Scribner Writer's Series includes 15-20 page signed essays on more than 1,600 authors and literary genres drawn from 13 acclaimed Scribner print series. Twayne World, US, and English Authors each contains the full text of 200 frequently used Twayne Literary Masters books on individual World, US, or English authors, for a total of 600 full-text titles.
Scribner Writers Series
The Scribner Writers Series, provided by DISCUS, includes 1,600+ essays on authors of all nationalities and time periods. Many authors are seen from multiple perspectives and contain a broad biocritical overview as well as specialized treatments. Each essay includes a concise introductory preface and a biography placing the author's work within a personal and historical framework.
I.b Access points to scholarly resources
JSTOR
JSTOR offers full-text on-line access to back issues of more than 100 scholarly journals in the humanities, social sciences, and sciences. Issues are entered on-line after having been published for 2-5 years. The entire printed matter of the journal as published is included, and coverage for most titles begins with their starting issues.
MLA Bibliography
MLA International Bibliography is a bibliography of journal articles, books and dissertations. Produced by the Modern Language Association, the electronic version of the Bibliography dates back to 1963 and contains over 1.5 million citations from more than 4,400 journals and series and 1,000 book publishers.
Oxford English Dictionary
The Oxford English Dictionary is widely acknowledged to be the most authoritative and comprehensive dictionary of English in the world, and the definitive record of English language development over the last fifteen hundred years.
II. Retrieving information
II.a Electronic format
JSTOR
á Provides you only with full-text articles you can download and print.
á Coverage is not as wide as MLA Bibliography; in other words, there may be interesting and important articles that exist but are not provided by JSTOR.
á Typically does not have full-text articles from the most recent issues of many journals, though it will give you the citations for the.
The MLA Bibliography
á Provides some links to full-text articles, but mostly gives you citations.
á Coverage is pretty close to comprehensive; in other words, if a citation doesnÕt show up here, itÕs not very likely it will show up anywhere.
TDNet
á Accessible from the USC Upstate library homepage
á Use this resource if you havenÕt found the full text of an article in JSTOR or MLA.
á Type in the name of the journal and TDNet tells you whether USC UpstateÕs library has full-text articles from that journal.
á Click on the link to go specifically to that journal.
á Browse through the journal until you find the article youÕre looking for.
II.b Print: From our library
á Search our library catalog to learn what books we have on the shelves, available for you to check out.
á Search our library catalog to learn what journals we have on the shelves, available for you to read or photocopy.
II.c Print: From other libraries
á Use our library catalog to search all of the libraries in the USC system at once. If a book is in the USC system, chances are pretty good it will get to you quickly if you request it through Interlibrary Loan. If a book is not in the USC system, you will still be able to request it through Interlibrary Loan.
á Use the Interlibrary Loan online form to request materials if
o not available in print format in our library, or
o not available in electronic format in our library.
III. General Tips
á Always check to see how many results are returned from your search. If you have too many, refine your search strategy.
á Use the Òadvanced searchÓ option on the databases where necessary.
á Always take notes on your search activities so you do not have to repeat yourself.
o Where did you search?
o What search terms did you use?
á Save your search results or email them to yourself.
á Always browse the footnotes and references of the scholarly material you are reading in order to find more scholarly material.
á Pay attention if a particular scholar is cited often by others. That personÕs work is important, and you should read it.