LibGuides: Extended Essay: Resources for Literature

Literature Databases

Literature Resource Center

Investigate authors and their works across eras with biographies and overviews, full-text critical analysis, reviews, primary works, and more

Bloom’s Literature contains a wide range of reference essays and scholarly criticism examining great authors and their works. Includes student-friendly guidance on how to write good essays on the most assigned authors and works. T

Salem press Online

Literary Criticism on selected authors, individual works or literary themes. Physical copies also available in the library.

MS/HS Book Collection

Has a large collection of literary criticism and reference material

Passwords

Literary Podcasts

Podcast: Unreliable Narrators
from Oxford U.
History of LIterature
Amateur enthusiast Jacke Wilson journeys through the history of literature, from ancient epics to contemporary classics.
Literary Theory
From Yale: This is a survey of the main trends in twentieth-century literary theory
MIT: Open Courses about Literature
124 free courses

Crash Course Literature

Resources

OWL: Intro to Literary Theory
Good overview of all the major literary theories. Useful for your background section and interpretations.
Guide to Critical Theory
Overviews of Feminist, Marxist, Gender, Psychoanalyticaly, Narrative and Postmodern theories.
Literary Theory
Brief explanations of most general theories, including New Historicism and Post Colonial
Marxist Criticism
Summary, key questions, examples
Feminist Criticism
Summary, key questions and examples
Post Colonial Criticism
summary, key questions and examples
Deconstructionism
summary and key questions

Good information for cultural context and background.

Literature Periods and Movements
Tracing the evolution of literature through time scholars often group works from a certain timeframe together and label it as a period or movement.
Luminarium
British literature, from Chaucer to the 18th Century
Literary History
Links to criticism on various 19th and 20th C authors. Organized alphabetically by author.
Victorian Web
Collection of background infomation on all aspects of Victorian Society.
NPR Author Interviews
Good for contemporary authors. Search box at the bottom
Paris Review: Author Interviews
Excellent source of often seminal interviews from 1950s to current times.

Useful for more recent fiction.

Asian Review of Books
features long-format essays by leading Asian writers and thinkers, excerpts from newly-published books and reviews of arts and culture
London Review of Books
Some content is free; some is behind a paywall.
NY Review of Books
We have a subscription through Sora.
Sydney Review of Books

Choosing Effective Quotations
Half the battle in writing literary analysis is choosing meaningful quotations
How to Analyze a Song

Writing About Literature

What Makes a Good Lit Paper?
Detailed discussion for writing a literaly analysis, from idea to research to final draft.
Writing in Literature
Process advice from UNC
Writing in Literature
Purdue Owl's detailed discussion of all aspects of writing a literary analysis research paper.

Analyzing Literature: A Guide for Students
44 page guide covers everything from strategies for analysis to generating ideas to organzing the essay.

Guide to Literary Analysis
Brief overview covering the basic process and guiding questions.
A Short Guide to Close Reading
How to "go deep" on specific lines or paragraphs
MIT Online Course: Writing About Literature
Click download for all the materials
Choosing Effective Quotations
Half the battle in writing literary analysis is choosing meaningful quotations

Extended Essay: Resources for Literature

Books in the Library