How do I find information on the source/context of my chosen quote?
To find the source or context of your chosen quotes for Essay 2, try one of the specialized Best Bets English Literature databases below. For an example of a search in one of the databases, see the box on the bottom right.
Note: If you don't find enough in one database, try another one. Each database has different content!
Best Bets
- Literature Resource Center (Gale) This link opens in a new windowFull-text biographies and critical analyses of writers and their work from a variety of periods and disciplines. (VIVA)
- Literature Criticism Online (Gale) This link opens in a new windowCollection of literary criticism, excerpted from books and journals, on poetry, short stories, drama and Shakespeare. If the article is not in a good format for reading, click on the "Download" icon to view it as a .pdf.(NVCC)
- Literary Sources (Gale) This link opens in a new windowIncludes literature criticism and reference material on literature and authors. Combines the content of Literature Resource Center, Twayne's Authors Online, and Scribner Authors Online.
Searching Literature Resource Center
There are a couple of ways to start searching for textual analysis of your quote.
1) Search for the title of the work in which the quote appears. In this example, we search for Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, by Harriet Jacobs:
Some literature databases have criticism (analysis) of literature, as well as things things that might clutter up your results list, like author biographies and news stories. Look for an option to limit your results to Literature Criticism (see red circle above).
2) Search for the quote itself. For example, let's say you want to find any mention of this specific quote in Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl:
We could have told them a different story. We could have given them a chapter of wrongs and sufferings, that would have touched their hearts, if they had any hearts to feel for the colored people.
You can either type or copy/paste the quote into the search box. Be aware that any typos may result in the database not finding anything. Some quotes will simply not be mentioned specifically in any of the database articles, in which case you would also get zero results.