Collins Memorial Library: ENGL 237: America Beyond Borders: Books &amp; Articles

Featured Books

The Cambridge Companion to Transnational American Literature by Yogita Goyal (Editor)
Call Number: PS169.T73 C36 2017 Print Books
ISBN: 9781107085206
Publication Date: 2017
Leading scholars open up wide-ranging examinations of transnationalism in American literature - through form and aesthetics, theories of nation, gender, sexuality, religion, and race, as well as through conventional forms of historical periodization.
The Global Remapping of American Literature by Paul Giles
Call Number: Click on the title above for online access
ISBN: 9780691136134
Publication Date: 2011
This book charts how the cartographies of American literature as an institutional category have varied radically across different times and places.
Global Matters: The Transnational Turn in Literary Studies by Paul Jay
Call Number: Click on the title above for online access
ISBN: 0801449006
Publication Date: 2010
Provides a concise, informative overview of theoretical, critical, and curricular issues driving the transnational turn in literary studies and how these issues have come to dominate contemporary global fiction as well.

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Recommended Subject Databases

There are several databases from which to choose when you are seeking scholarly work. For this course, most of you will want to start your search with MLAIB (literature and linguistics), America: History & Life (U.S. and Canadian history), or Historical Abstracts (world history).

MLA International Bibliography This link opens in a new window
The key database for identifying scholarly books, essays, articles, and dissertations on modern literature in all languages. Also covers cultural studies, folklore, film studies, and linguistics.
America: History & Life This link opens in a new window
U.S. and Canadian history from prehistory to the present.
Historical Abstracts This link opens in a new window
World History (minus the United States and Canada) from 1450 to the present.

Depending on your topic and your angle, you may wish to search additional subject databases.

Arts & Humanities Database This link opens in a new window
Covers scholarly work in Art, Architecture, Design, History, Philosophy, Music, Literature, Theatre and Cultural Studies.
Black Studies Center
Includes scholarly essays, recent periodicals, historical newspaper articles, reference books, and much more.
Literature Criticism
Includes overviews by topic, author, and work, as well as excerpts from articles, books, and essays written by scholars.
Literature Resource Center
Contains articles from academic journals and literary magazines as well as excerpts from scholarly monographs, literary correspondence and diaries.

E-Journal Collections

These e-journal collections provide access to many journals in the humanities, but they are more limited in coverage compared to subject databases. In most cases, it's better to search subject databases to identify articles, and then search the journal title in Primo to link to the materials in these e-journal collections.

JSTOR
JSTOR is an online archive of select scholarly journals. Because it is an archive, current content from journals is not included. The "embargo" on current content ranges from one to ten years, depending on the journal.
Project MUSE
Project Muse provides full-text access to journals in the humanities and social sciences. Coverage of journals typically begins in the late 1990s or later.

General Database Search Tips

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Try multiple searches and evaluate your results -- try to figure out why you got the results you did, and adjust your search until you get closer to results you can use.
Use database descriptors -- once you find an article that looks good, see what descriptors or "subject headings" were assigned to it in the database. You can use these to search only for articles that have the same descriptors attached.

Tipasa: Interlibrary Loan

If your article is not available at Collins Library, you've got another option for getting it. Use Tipasa, our interlibrary loan service.

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