back to Literature

 

AFRICAN AMERICAN LITERATURE

 

Tips for Finding Books in Begley Library

 

AFRICAN AMERICAN LITERATURE Tips for Finding Books in Begley Library FINDING BOOKS By SUBJECT By AUTHOR By TITLE LITERARY CRITICISM REFERENCE BOOKS

 

 

 

 

FINDING BOOKS

---

By SUBJECT

Search the library catalog.  Choose LC Subject Headings from the drop-down menu, and enter the subject heading of your choice.  Subject headings you may want to use include:

 

• African Americans - Fiction
• African Americans - Folklore
• African Americans - Intellectual Life
• African Americans in literature
• American Literature -- African American authors
• American Literature -- African American authors -- bio-bibliography
• American Literature -- African American authors -- dictionaries
• American Literature -- African American authors -- history and criticism
• American Literature -- African American authors -- history and criticism -- theory, etc.
• Harlem Renaissance

 

 

 

By AUTHOR

---

To find books by a specific author, select AUTHOR from the drop-down menu in the library catalog, and enter the author of your choice.

 

 

 

By TITLE

---

To find a specific title, select WORDS IN TITLE + CONTENTS or TITLE BEGINS WITH from the drop-down menu in the library catalog, and enter the full or partial title of your choice.  

 

• WORDS IN TITLE is a good choice if you know some or the words in the title, but you don't know all of them, and/or you're not sure which order they are in.
  • For example: mice men

 

• TITLE BEGINS WITH is a goos choice if you know the FIRST word or words in the title, but you're not sure of the rest. 
  • For example: TITLE BEGINS WITH: great

 

 

 

LITERARY CRITICISM

---

To find criticism on an author, select WORDS IN SUBJECT from the drop-down menu in the library catalog, and enter the author's name followed by: history and criticism or criticism and interpretation.

•     For example:
  • Langston Hughes criticism and interpretation
  • Toni Morrison history and criticism

 

 

 

 

REFERENCE BOOKS

---

There are several reference books in the library on African American literature.  A selection of these books includes:  (Click for call number and location information)

 

• African American Autobiographers: a Sourcebook
• African American Literary Criticism, 1773-2000
• African American Writers
• American Ethnic Literatures: Native American, African American, Chicano/Latino, and Asian American Writers and Their Backgrounds: an Annotated Bibliography
• Early Black American Playwrights and Dramatic Writers
• The Harlem Renaissance and Beyond: Literary Biographies of 100 Black Women Writers, 1900-1945
• Masterpieces of African-American Literature
• Oxford Compantion to African American Literature
• Sacred Fire: the QBR 100 Essential Black Books

 

    The library has several collections of literary criticism in the reference collection.  To locate criticism on a specific author or work, use the index in the last volume of the set.  Collections of literary criticism include:

 

• Contemporary Literary Criticism
• Nineteenth-Century Literature Criticism
• Short Story Criticism
• Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism

 

 

---

This page was created by Carrie Buff, June 2009