Finding Sources for Your Project

Scholarly Sources

A scholarly source is one that's been written by an expert in the field, goes through a review process before publication, and is intended for an academic audience. In literary studies, this usually means:

• Journal articles

  Published in peer-reviewed academic journals. These are the most common type of scholarly source you'll find. They typically analyze a text, apply a theoretical framework, or examine a historical/cultural context.

• Book chapters

  Chapters from edited academic collections or critical companions. These often focus on a single author, work, or theme.

• Literary criticism and theory

  Works that provide a framework for analyzing literature — feminist criticism, postcolonialism, queer theory, etc. These help you build the analytical lens for your project.

Where to Search

• Macomb Library Databases

  Start here. Log in through the Macomb Library website and search databases like JSTOR, Project MUSE, Literary Reference Center, or MLA International Bibliography. These databases specialize in literary studies and will give you the best results.

• Google Scholar

  Google Scholar searches across academic publishers. It's a good starting point but the full text is often behind a paywall. If you find something on Google Scholar that you can't access, try searching for the same title in the Macomb Library databases — you may have access through the college.

Search Tips for Literary Studies

Finding sources for literary analysis is a little different from general research. Here are some strategies:

• Search by author + theme or concept.

  Instead of just searching "Frederick Douglass," try "Frederick Douglass" AND masculinity or "Harriet Jacobs" AND resistance. Pair the author with the angle you're exploring.

• Search by theoretical framework.

  If you're using a specific lens, search for it alongside the text: "Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl" AND feminist criticism or "Sweat" AND Hurston AND womanist.

• Use the work's full title in quotes.

  Searching "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass" in quotes will return results specifically about that text, not just anything mentioning Douglass.

• Look at the works cited of sources you've already found.

  If you find one good article, check its bibliography — you'll often find other relevant sources listed there. This is one of the most efficient ways to find scholarly work.

• Try JSTOR and Project MUSE first.

  These two databases are where most literary scholarship lives. JSTOR has a strong back catalog; Project MUSE tends to have more recent work.

Finding Sources on Literary Theory

If your project uses a theoretical framework (feminist criticism, postcolonialism, Marxist theory, etc.), you may need a source that explains or defines that framework. Here are some good starting places:

• Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy (IEP)

  iep.utm.edu/literary/ — Peer-reviewed, free, open-access. Written by specialists but aimed at non-specialists. Has a dedicated literary theory entry plus individual entries on major thinkers. Citable.

• LibreTexts: Creating Literary Analysis

  LibreTexts textbook — OER textbook with chapters on specific frameworks (feminist, postcolonial, racial/ethnic, etc.). Written for applying theory to literature. Particularly relevant for this course. Citable.

• Purdue OWL: Literary Theory Frameworks

  PDF overview of literary theory frameworks — a saved copy of the Purdue OWL’s literary theory pages (the original site removed this content). Good for getting oriented to a framework quickly. (external link)

• Our course page

  The Literary Theory page on this site introduces 12 frameworks. It's a starting point for choosing a framework, but you'll want one of the sources above (or a journal article) for the depth you need to actually apply it in your project.

Multimedia & Other Sources

Your site should include multimedia elements — not just text. These don't need to be scholarly, but they should be purposeful. Think about what would help a visitor to your site understand or engage with your topic.

Some possibilities:

• Video

  Documentaries, author interviews, lectures, performances, film adaptations. YouTube, Kanopy (free through many libraries), and PBS are good places to look.

• Audio

  Podcast episodes, audiobook excerpts, music, oral histories. LibriVox has free public domain audiobooks. Spotify and Apple Podcasts have literary criticism and history podcasts.

• Images

  Historical photographs, artwork, book covers, maps, archival documents. The Library of Congress, Smithsonian Open Access, and Wikimedia Commons are good sources for public domain images.

• Websites & Archives

  Digital archives, museum exhibits, author websites, cultural organizations. These can provide historical context, primary documents, or curated collections related to your topic.

How to Tell If a Source Is Scholarly

If you're not sure whether something counts as a scholarly source, check for these:

• Author credentials — Is the author affiliated with a university or research institution? Do they have expertise in the subject?
• Publication — Is it published in a peer-reviewed journal, by a university press, or as part of an academic collection?
• Audience — Is it written for other scholars and researchers, or for a general audience?
• Citations — Does it include a bibliography, footnotes, or works cited? Scholarly sources reference other scholarly work.
• Depth — Does it make an argument and support it with evidence, or is it just summarizing or reporting?

When in doubt, ask. I'd rather you check than spend time with a source that won't work for the project.