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Literature and Literary Criticism

The Literature and Literary Criticism guide describes sources and research strategies. It aims to assist the student of literature in discovering analysis and insight into the authors and works that they will encounter in the course of their study.

About this Guide

This PCC Library Research Guide is your guide to using the resources of the PCC Library for Literature Criticism. The navigation links on this site will take you to the following sections of this guide:

  1. Literature Home: the current page; basic library information and guide overview.
  2. Beginning Your Research: How to locate background information and topic overviews.
  3. Finding Articles: A selection of databases for finding scholarly and non-scholarly articles in the library collection.
  4. Literature Criticism in Books: Catalog search tool for finding books and ebooks available from the PCC Library.
  5. Tutorials for Specialized Databases: Drop-down menu of tips and tools for various databases of literature criticism.
  6. Research Strategies: Tips for coming up with search terms and how to create an effective search in library databases.
  7. Citation Style: Why and how to cite your sources.
  8. Get Help: Help chat box and contact information for further assistance.

Criticism Defined

criticism (critic; adj. critical; from Greek, 'judge')

Reflection on a literary text, which can take many forms: close reading or analysis, comparison with other works, drawing out theoretical implications, or evaluation. A critic is a person who engages in this activity. Although 'critical' has a negative connotation when used in everyday speech ('he's critical of everyone'), it is more balanced when used for discussion of the arts.

--The Anthem Dictionary of Literary Terms and Theory p. 66

Guides for Writing about Literature