For your research assignment in this class, you'll need to identify, read, analyze, and respond to several scholarly (peer-reviewed) articles or book chapters that demonstrate a critical approach to your primary text or topic.
Not sure where to start? Here are three broad strategies that you can try:
These journals contain articles related to many aspects of popular culture and comics, including theory, history, and criticism.
Like most other disciplines, English has several subject-specific databases. The MLA International Bibliography and Gale Literature Criticism are two examples. Subject databases index scholarly materials (books, chapters in books, scholarly articles, dissertations) that will be of interest to researchers within that discipline. MLAIB is the key database for literature, linguistics, and related areas.
Depending on your primary text and your angle, you may wish to search these additional databases.
A sampling of potentially relevant books is listed below.
The Superhero Reader by 
Superhero Comics by 
Ages of Heroes, Eras of Men: superheroes and the American experience by 
The Blacker the Ink: constructions of black identity in comics and sequential art by 
It Happens at Comic-Con: ethnographic essays on a pop culture phenomenon by 
Our Superheroes, Ourselves by 
Super Black: American pop culture and black superheroes by 
Super-History: comic book superheroes and American society, 1938 to the present by 
Superhero Synergies: comic book characters go digital by 
Unstable Masks: whiteness and American superhero comics by 
War, Politics and Superheroes: ethics and propaganda in comics and film by 1. Start with specific titles suggested in subject encyclopedia entries.
2. Identify the Library of Congress Subject Headings for that book to identify more books on the topic.
3. If required for your assignment, make sure that the book is scholarly.
4. To find eBooks, use the filters on the right side menu to limit your results to eBooks (under "Resource Type")
Collins Library, like most academic libraries in the United States, uses Library of Congress Subject Headings to describe the content of books.
You only need to be an observant user of Primo -- not an expert in the use of subject headings -- to make them work for you. Availing yourself of frequently used subject headings will help you locate secondary sources easily. Use subject headings to search for resources related to a specific author or work, in addition to literary themes or movements, genres, and/or critical approaches.
Here are several examples, centered on superheroes and comics, of the various ways you can use LCSH to help pinpoint what you need:
Comic books, strips, etc. -- History and Criticism
Comic books, strips, etc. -- United States
Comic books, strips, etc. -- Moral and ethical aspects
Comic books, strips, etc. -- Political aspects
Comic books, strips, etc. -- Social aspects
Subject heading searches may also be used to find critical work on individual authors, characters, or publishers:
Moore, Alan, 1953- -- Criticism and interpretation
Texts that interpret literary works are usually persuasive texts. Literary critics may conduct a close reading of a work, critique a literary work from the stance of a particular literary theory, or debate the soundness of other critics' interpretations.
During the preview phase, you'll want to concentrate on these key elements:
Once you've selected the article, you can actively read for content, argument, analysis and evaluation.
Tip: Read the article more than once! It may help to print out a copy so that you can make notes.
If your article is not available at Collins Library, you've got another option for getting it. Use Tipasa, our interlibrary loan service.
Tipasa is linked to your library account so you'll need to log in to use it.
Once you are logged in, either go directly to Tipasa and manually enter the information, or, if you're using a database, look for a shortcut link to automatically fill out the form:
Allow at least a week for the article to come. If your article is delivered in electronic format, you'll receive an email with a link to follow as soon as it's arrived.
