Researching Authors

Searching the Catalog:

Books about authors and their works in the Spangler Library collection, and the Atlantic County Library System, can be located by searching the Online Book Catalog.

Examples of useful Subject Headings to search include:

Authors
Authors, American
Authors, American -- Biography
Authors, Spanish American
Afro-American Authors
American Literature
Women Authors

The names of individual writers can also be used as Subject Headings, such as:

Hemingway, Ernest, 1899-1961
Hemingway, Ernest, 1899-1961 -- Biography
Hemingway, Ernest, 1899-1961 -- Criticism and Interpretation

Using Reference Books:

Reference books to check when researching authors and their writing include:

African Authors. Ref PL8010 .H38
American Women Writers Ref PS147 .A42 1983
Contemporary Authors. Ref PS128 .C6
Contemporary Literary Criticism. Ref PN771 .C59
Current Biography. Ref CT100 .C8
Great Women Writers. Ref PN471 .G74 1994
Latin American Writers Ref PQ7081 A1 L37 1989
Nineteenth Century Literary Criticism. Ref PN761 .M56
Oxford Companion to Women's Writing in the US. Ref PS147 .094 1995
Twentieth-Century Literary Criticisms. Ref PN771 .G27

Online Sources:

Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center Provides full text to differing points of view on current social issues. Topic overviews, government and organizational statistics, biographies of social activists, court cases, newspaper, magazine and journal articles are included.
Online Literary Criticism accesses 4271 critical and biographical Web sites about authors and their works.
Author Guides from the Louisiana State University Library provides information on specific authors.
Articles in magazines and scholarly journals, which may contain articles on more recent authors, can be located by using the following online databases:
EBSCOhost includes the full-text of over 3,200 titles, and indexing for over 5,000 general interest and scholarly publications. EBSCOhost can be accessed off campus. Please contact the Library circulation desk for login directions.