Guides: ENG 4990 Senior Seminar in English: Home

Books

How to Write Essays and Dissertations: A Guide for English Literature Students by Alan Durant; Nigel Fabb The first book that literature students should read, this guide reveals the distinct set of skills, conventions and methods of essay and dissertation writing. Taking students through the various stages of writing, from planning to final submission, it offers specific guidelines and a lively, detailed commentary on actual examples of student work at each stage.
ISBN: 1138169021
Publication Date: 2015-10-28
How to Write Critical Essays by David B. Pirie This invaluable book offers the student of literature detailed advice on the entire process of critical essay writing, from first facing the question right through to producing a fair copy for final submission to the teacher.
ISBN: 0203407563
Publication Date: 2002-09-11

English Databases

JSTOR This link opens in a new window
Subjects: applied behavior analysis, biology, biotechnology, chemistry, english, environmental science, mathematics, sustainability, theater
Content: journals, primary sources, books
Dates of publication: 1923 - present
Academic Search Complete This link opens in a new window
Academic Search Complete is a scholarly, multi-disciplinary database providing information on a wide range of subjects. It contains full-text access to peer-reviewed journals, magazines, monographs, reports, and conference proceedings as well as indexing and abstracts for thousands of publications.
Subjects: multidisciplinary
Content: journals, magazines, newspapers, books
Publication dates: 1887 - present
CQ Researcher This link opens in a new window
CQ Researcher provides comprehensive reporting and analysis on issues in the news. Each single-themed report is researched, footnoted and fact checked, and contains an introductory overview; a background and chronology on the topic; an assessment of the current situation; tables and maps; a pro/con debate by representatives of opposing positions; and bibliographies of key sources.
Subjects: health, social trends, criminal justice, international affairs, education, environment, technology, economy, political science
Content: reports
Publication dates: 1996 - present
Issues & Controversies on File This link opens in a new window
Issues & Controversies offers in-depth pro/con articles exploring hundreds of current topics in politics, government, business, society, education, and popular culture. It features key facts, arguments, history, and current context of timely issues and provides infographics, court cases, editorial cartoons, graphs and charts, and editorials.
Subjects: communication, criminal justice, education, english, latin-american studies, media studies, political science, sociology, speech communication
Content: journals, government documents, newspapers
Publication dates: 1995 - present

Search Tips

Keywords

Identify keywords for your topic and brainstorm narrower, broader, and related terms.

Example: Factors that affect academic performance in first-generation college students.

Academic Performance	College	First-Generation Students
Student Success	Higher Education	Children of Immigrants
Student Achievement	University	Minority Students
Learning Outcomes	Community College	Nontraditional Students

Boolean Operators

Boolean Operators AND, OR, and NOT allow you to broaden or narrow your results in the library catalog and databases. You can easily use these to clarify what you need by choosing the advanced search option.

Found too many results?

Add more keywords.

Adding additional keywords to your search can help to further narrow your topic.

Example: college AND first-generation students AND academic performance

Use a filter

Look on the left side for ways you can filter your materials. Here are a few to consider, depending on your needs.

material type - such as a book, newspaper article, or review
peer-reviewed - to find scholarly articles
date - typically to find the most current materials
subject - to find articles about a certain topic

Found too few results?

Try different search terms.

What other words could you use to describe this concept? Brainstorm related terms, synonyms, and slightly different forms of your word or phrase. Also brainstorm broader categories or concepts it belongs to, as well as narrower elements or examples. (See the keywords section above for examples.)

It may also be useful to consider the official, academic, or formal way to write that term. This is more likely to be used in academic writing.

Use fewer search terms.

Sometimes less is more! The more words, phrases, or subjects you ask the database to find, the fewer sources will meet the criteria.

Use OR.

Broaden your search by using the boolean operator OR to link your terms.

Example: (college OR higher education OR university) AND first-generation students AND (academic performance OR student success)