Literature Resource Center
Vance Memorial Library
Rev 7/04
Gale’s Literature Resource Center provides access to biographies, bibliographies, and critical
analyses of authors from every age and literary discipline. Combining Gale Group's core literary
databases in a single online service, the Literature Resource Center covers more than 120,000
novelists, poets, essayists, journalists, and other writers, with in-depth coverage of 2,500 of the
most-studied authors.
Author Search (Default):
1. Enter the author’s name in the “Author Search” text box. You can type a full name,
last name only, or any words associated with the name, including pseudonyms.
2. Click Search.
Results:
• Biographies (articles describing the life and work of the author) will display as
default.
• Select the “Literary Criticism, Articles, and Work Overviews” tab to retrieve
articles of criticism relating to works by the author.
• The “Bibliographies” tab displays articles containing lists of the author’s works.
• Choose the “Additional Resources” tab to view links to selected websites
pertaining to this author and his/her works.
• The “Literary/Historical Timeline” tab displays a list of important events that
occurred during the author’s lifetime.
• Click the article title to view its contents, or save for later by choosing the “Add to
Mark List” box.
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Other Searches:
Title Search
This type of search is especially useful for finding criticism relating to a specific work
of literature.
1. Enter the title of the work, or as much of it as you know, in the text box.
2. Use the radio buttons to indicate whether the search engine will look for any of
your search terms in a title, all of your search terms in any order, or the exact
words in the exact order as entered.
3. You may choose to narrow your search by entering part or all of the author’s
name.
4. Click Search.
Advanced Search
Use this type of search to find articles on specific topics or to further narrow your
search. For example, find criticism written by a certain person, or find critical
articles on literature about presidents, etc.
1. You may enter up to three separate search terms. For each, use the drop-down
list to choose the index to be searched.
2. Use the “and” or “not” drop-down boxes to limit the search; use “or” to expand
the search.
3. If desired, choose to limit your results to specific document types or to search
only specified database groups.
4. Click Search.
Keyword Search
This is a very basic type of searching that will yield large results.
1. Enter your keyword.
2. Click Search.
Authors by Type
This useful search interface allows users to find authors based on user-specified
criteria. You can generate a list of authors fitting several types of categories, for
example, African-American authors of children’s literature, or British authors who
wrote about Fascism, or all American authors who died in 2001.
1. Enter as much information as appropriate. You do NOT have to enter a name.
2. Make selections from the drop-down boxes as appropriate. You may select from
these categories: author ethnicity, author nationality, literary genre, literary
theme, or literary movement or time period (i.e., romanticism or vorticism).
3. Multiple items in any category may be indicated by holding down the Ctrl key
while making selections.
4. Click Search.
Literary/Historical Timeline
Find out what authors were active during a specified time period, as well as what
other historical events were taking place at that time.
1. Enter your start and end times in the boxes provided. Enter only years, not
months or days.
2. Click Search.
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Other features:
1. E-mail articles to yourself or others – click the email icon at top left of article display.
2. While exploring your results, save interesting items for future review by checking the
“Mark” box at top of article display. To view saved items, choose “View Mark List”
from sidebar.
3. Select the “Encyclopedia of Literature” button in the banner to search for
encyclopedia entries or definitions relating to literature terms, movements, etc.
4. The “Authors on the Highway” button in the banner links to Publisher’s Weekly,
where you can view a list of living authors and their upcoming events. This site may
be searched by location, so you can discover what authors may be visiting your city
in the near future.
Print:
1. Reformat the article for printing by choosing the “Print” button in the sidebar.
2. Use the print command or icon compatible with your system.
For assistance please contact a Reference Librarian 214/333-5221 or 1/800/483-7048
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