Skip To Main ContentUniversity of Oregon
University of Oregon Libraries
University of Oregon Libraries

CRWR 417 (Kidd Tutorial) Course Research Guide

This is a guide to the library and research materials you may find useful to accomplish the objectives of CRWR 417--Kidd Tutorial.

Note: items with theoff-campus access limited to UOicon are available only to University of Oregon faculty, staff, and students, or to users working in the library.

Finding Creative Work by Subject

Finding a book of fiction or poetry by its author or title is relatively simple; just search the library's online catalog. [Help in catalog searching.]

There are several ways you can find fiction and poetry by its theme, topic, or format.

Using Subject and Genre Headings

Subject headings for fiction are usually standard Library of Congress (LC) subject headings, often with the word "Fiction" or "Poetry" attached as a subheading. Some examples of these kinds of subject headings are:

Dogs -- Poetry
Family -- Fiction
Nature -- Poetry

There are also some subject headings that describe a type or school of writing, by which the general content of the work is implied:

Ghost stories
Horror tales
Lyric poetry

There is a separate set of headings that are sometimes applied to describe the genre (the form, format, or style) of a work. Genre headings are designed to describe the formal qualities of an item, rather than its subject content. To search genre headings, go to the Library's advanced catalog search and click the "Genre" button. To determine the best genre heading for your search, enter the best terms you can think of and skim the genre heading index, or review the selected list of genre headings maintained by the Online Computer Library Center. Some sample headings are:

Epic literature
Black humor literature
Tall tales
War poetry

The only problem with using subject or genre headings as outlined above is that these headings have only recently begun to be used, and they aren't used in all cases.

Return to top

Using Bibliographies

Bibliographies are the best way to search for creative work by its topic, theme, setting, or characters. You can browse for many of them on the fourth floor of Knight Library at Z 5616-Z 5617.

Here are several standard sources for bibliographies:

Fiction Catalog
Allows you to find novels and novelettes by theme, using the index in the back. Covers both works originally in and translated into English. Titles must have been published and/or distributed in the United States. Includes older and out-of-print works. Each entry gives a full citation and publication information for the novel, and then a brief published review. KNIGHT REFERENCE Z5916 .W6
Cumulated Fiction Index
Does the same thing that Fiction Catalog does, but for British novels. Lists topics and themes in a single alphabetical, and gives no publication details for the novels listed; you have to look them up in Books in Print or another source. Includes extensive coverage of crime thrillers and other genre novels. KNIGHT REFERENCE Z5916 .F5
Themes and Settings in Fiction: A Bibliography of Bibliographies
Lists bibliographies that list novels and short stories by theme or setting. Doesn't list the novels and short stories themselves, but gives subject access to lists of works via an index in the back of the book. Look your topic up there, then track down the listed bibliographies (either essays or books) and consult them. KNIGHT Z5916 .H28
Short Story Index
Lists short stories in collections and periodicals, by subject, author, or title. Covers stories either written in or translated into English. Subject access is only provided for stories in collections, not those published just in periodicals. The fullest information for each story is provided in the author entry, so be sure to cross-reference. There are several volumes of the Index; all are available at KNIGHT REFERENCE Z 5917 .S5 C62.
Columbia Granger's Index to Poetry in Anthologies / Columbia Granger's Index to Poetry in Collected and Selected Works
Allows you to find poems by title, author, first line, last line, or subject. Works best for English-language poems, though poetry in translation is included in the latest editions of the Index to Anthologies. Each edition indexes a slightly different collection of anthologies, so check several editions to cover all your bases. KNIGHT REFERENCE PN 1022 .F73.

Return to top

Finding Literary Criticism

Literary criticism may be found in books or in journals. To search for journal articles, you will need to use a database, sometimes known as an index. Articles in journals not owned by UO Libraries can easily be obtained from other libraries through Interlibrary Loan.

MLA International Bibliography off-campus access limited to UO
The essential index for critical materials about all literatures (except classical Greek and Roman), languages, folklore, and film. The database provides access to over 1.3 million entries gleaned from essay collections, dissertations, books, and over 6,000 journals. Covers 1926-present. (Does not include book reviews.) Guide to using the MLA International Bibliography.
Academic Search Premier off-campus access limited to UO
A multidisciplinary database that indexes more than 8,000 publications, with full text for approximately 4,600. Covers 1965-present.
Contemporary Literary Criticism KNIGHT REFERENCE PN 771 .C59
Each of the 221 volumes in this series profiles approximately 6-8 novelists, poets, playwrights and other creative and nonfiction writers by providing full-text or excerpted criticism taken from books, magazines, literary reviews, newspapers and scholarly journals.
Maintained by: Elizabeth Peterson, emp@uoregon.edu
Last Modified: 04/22/2008