My Research Guide: The Final Project

Project: Research Guide: Final Project
Instructor: Dena Laney
Course: Lib3 - Information Competency
Student: Patrick Singleton
Date: July 30th, 2009

A) Overview:

Topic: Short Story Literature Criticism

Description of topic: Literature/Literary criticism is a help to make clear what is obscure. The study of Literary Criticism may best begun by an inquiry into the meaning of the term. The following questions then suggest themselves:

a) What is the nature of the process called criticism?

b) How many kinds of criticisms are there and what is the principle of classification?

c) How is Literary Criticism distinguished from other variations or types of criticism?

Definitions of criticism - These may be drawn from the usages of speeches and writing, or
framed in accordance with some theory; or the two methods may be combined, one being
used to correct the other.

Source: An Introduction to the Methods and Materials of Literary Criticism:
The Basis in Aesthetics and Poetics. Galey, C. , Scott, F.
GinnCompany, 1889
Additional source: www.questia.com/app/direct/SM.qst


B) Library of Congress Subject Headings:

Short stories, American
(May, Subd. Geog) P5374.55 (History and Criticism)
{P5648.55} (Collections)

Short stories - 20th Century
Short stories - History and Criticism
Short stories - African(French)

C) Keywords:

1) Short; 2) Story; 3) American; 4) Criticism; 5) Modern.

Boolean search strategy: whatANDisANDliteraryANDcriticism. It displayed more than
56,000 results regarding Literary Criticism.

D) Reference:

keyed in shortandreference;
shortandstoryanddictionary

Results: Columbia Companion to the twentieth century. American short story/Gelfant, B., ed.
*This resource is very reliable source, because it is a handbook that provides pertinent data
on short stories in the 20th century.

Critical survey of short fiction/Magill, F. ed.
*This is very good resource, as the title is self-explanatory, it is gives a critical survey of short
fiction., for the advanced or beginner in literature criticism.

Handbook of short story writing/Dickson, F. and Smythe, S. ed.
*A very accurate and authoritative work, providing objectivity as to the how and why,
handbooks give complete and current coverage for my research.

E) Print Books:

Milne, I., ed. Short stories for students. Volume 7 Detroit: Gale Group, c 2000
* This is the most current resource, and it relates directly to students, accurate and on point
with my topic.
Akers, T., ed. Short stories. Volume 6 Detroit: Gale Group, c 1999
* This is a good resource for everyone, it is very relative to my topic in a general fashion,
Akers, T. and M.J., ed. Short stories for students. Volume 5 Detroit: Gale Group, c 1999
* Here is one of the first resources, and the basis from which the others were written, specifically targeting students.

Website Resources:
http://:librivox.org
http://www.fas.harvard.edu/-trollopel

F) Periodicals:

Jackson, M.. ""Sing Out, Warning! Sing Out, Love!": The Writings of Lee Hays. " . Journal of American Folklore 121.482 (2008): 495-496. Research Library Core, ProQuest. Web. 30 Jul. 2009.
Kelman, D.. "The Afterlife of Storytelling: Julio Cortázar's Reading of Walter Benjamin and Edgar Allan Poe. " Comparative Literature 60.3 (2008): 244-260. Humanities Module, ProQuest. Web. 30 Jul. 2009.
Söffner, C.. "A nest of singing birds; 100 years of the New Zealand School Journal. " Bookbird 47.2 (2009): 57-57. Children's Module, ProQuest. Web. 30 Jul. 2009.

The periodicals are relevant because each work is a short story of: 1) "Sing Out, Warning! Sing Out, Love! is an American Folklore; 2) "The Afterlife of Storytelling: Julio Cortazar's Reading of Walter Benjamin and Edgar Alan Poe, is Comparative Literature; 3) "A nest of singing birds; 100 years of the New Zealand School Journal, is an Academic Journal.

I performed the search by going to the LBCC Library home page, clicked on as a off-campus user, then logged on, using my student ID and last name, then highlighted articles and databases from the side menu. I then chose ProQuest for periodical related articles. Typed my subject in the search box, and found all of the above literary related resources.

G. Website Resources:

http://:libriVox.org

LibriVox provides "free audiobooks" from the public domain. There are several options for listening. the first step is to get the mp3 or ogg files into your own computer. This is very valuable to my topic because it provides another alternative to Short Story Literary Criticism by listening vs. reading. It was reliable as I checked the url, and it is a legitimate organization. It displayed plenty of links to search out my topic, including how to listen, even a forum index where you could meet other people who share your same literary interest. It showed me currency in providing the latest news, and the new releases of books. I found a link related to my topic under the title: Short Story Collection Vol 038 by various authors. I clicked on it, and it produced 20 shorts works of fiction in the public domain read by a group of LibriVox members. They were cataloged on July, 28th, 2009.

http://www.questia.com/app/direct/SM.qst

Questia Media America, Inc. is the publisher of this site, and posted a current copyright date
of c 2009. Regent University endorses and advertises on the webpage. They are a professional
corporation, comprehensive concerning my chosen topic. It is the world's largest full-text online
library of copy-righted-cleared books. It is also an online CMS for teachers to easily create, plan, or manage unique course material. It was reliable as there were several links to enhance my search. Questia has a school of digital learning and literarcy, covering all literary subjects, so it's
coverage is constantly updated.