FINAL PAPER - DATABAZE RESOURCES AND TEXTS IN ESSEX LIBRARY

Hi, class,

In anticipation of receiving your final research papers, I am again pasting below the instructions for you to access critical essays on whatever play you are focusing on.

As I have said several times, and also communicated to you via email and the course blog, you must use scholarly works for your papers—“scholarly” is defined as a journal article or academic book (critical/literary biography or collection of critical essays on the author or text under consideration).

  

This is not a sociology, education, anthropology, criminal justice, or psychology class, so you are not allowed to use texts from other disciplines. You are to stay focused on a literary interpretation. The works we have read and discussed in class are widely written about—but you must do the research, as per the requirements for this class—please read the guidelines regarding sources for literary papers:

You must use no less than four (4) secondary sources in the final version of your essay. At least two (2) of these secondary sources must consist of  literary journal articles on your primary text. The additional two (2) outside sources may be books--biographical, collected works, or bound essays. They must be literature-based works on your primary text or its author—not books from other disciplines (i.e., sociology, psychology, education, anthropology, etc.).

  

For this research paper, YOU MAY NOT USE the following as sources, as they are NOT considered scholarly works: SparkNotes, 123HelpMe, GoodReads, Wikipedia, CliffsNotes, ClassicNotes, Enotes, GradeSaver, or any other student guides. Any and all electronic sources must be approved by me at the time you submit your working bibliography.

PLEASE NOTE: Simply re-wording summaries or analysis from another source constitutes plagiarism--your work must consist of YOUR OWN THOUGHTS AND WRITING--please don't fail this course because of plagiarism. Make sure that you use quotation marks when you are using someone else's words, and that you give proper credit to the source if you are paraphrasing. 

DATABASE RESOURCES
To access The Literature Resource Center, and Contemporary Authors/Literary Criticism Select/Dictionary of Literary Biography, go to:

 http://infotrac.galegroup.com/itweb/essexcc

The password is: county

Click on Literature Resource Center - LRC

1) When you get to the search box, just type in your search terms:

EXAMPLES: 

hamlet AND ophelia
hamlet AND ghost
hamlet AND gertrude

2) under "publication century," click "21st century A.D. 

3) under "by content type," UNCHECK all the boxes EXCEPT "Literature Criticism"

4) Make sure "All electronic sources" is highlighted (it is the default)

5) then go back to "Basic Search" (with your search terms entered) and click "Search.

Several articles will likely come up--skim through to see if you find some suitable articles. Click on the ones you think might be suitable, and email them to yourself, or download them.
   
TEXTS AVAILABLE IN ESSEX LIBRARY

Also, below are titles of books (on Hamlet, as an example) that are accessible in the Essex County College Library. I have put the title of the book and the author/editor. I have put in bold type the call letters for you to find the texts in the stacks. If the book is not in the stacks, ask the reference librarian for access, as it may be on reserve. Please note that you also have access to the Rutgers-Newark Library.

  
Hamlet's Mother and Other Women/Carolyn G. Heilbrun. PR111 .H45 1990

Hamlet/edited and with an introduction by Harold Bloom. PR2807 .H26237 1990

Shakespeare Reread: the Texts in New Contexts/ed. by Russ McDonald. PR2976 .S3383 1994
  
Critical essays on Shakespeare’s Hamlet/David Scott Kastan. PR2807. K33 1995 

Critical responses to Hamlet, 1600-1900/edited by David Farley-Hills. PR 2807.C75 1996
  
Readings on Hamlet/ Don Nardo, ed. PR2807 .R4 1999 

Shakespeare: The Basics/Sean McAvoy. PR2976 M.34 2000