For your essay assignment, you'll need to identify and locate two scholarly, secondary sources that demonstrate a critical approach to your literary text or the author, or address a specific theme or issue raised in the text. This guide will introduce you to several broad strategies and resources for research.

Tertiary sources are excellent starting points! They consist of information synthesized from primary and secondary sources. These resources give you succinct overviews of your topic, explain scholarly arguments, point out interesting questions, and refer you to especially key sources. 

In Collins Library, the print reference collection is located on the first floor, and most of the online reference collection is available in one of the database collections listed below. Use Primo to identify subject encyclopedias in either format; or ask a librarian for recommendations.

Cambridge Companions are a series of authoritative essay collections that synthesize the most important aspects of a topic, each edited by a leading scholar in the field.

The sources listed below are good starting points for developing context for your project.