NIC Resources
Visit the library homepage and in the main search box, click on 'Advanced Search'.
The Discovery Search allows you to search for all of the formats available through the NIC library's collections, including scholarly articles, books, ebooks, and videos. Here is where you will enter your search terms. Here is an example of a search you could run to find secondary sources on Alice Munro's Dance of the Happy Shades.
TIP: To find sources about an author, enter their first name and then last name and enclose it in quotation marks (e.g. "Alice Munro"). If want to find works written by an author, enter their last name and then their first name (e,g, Munro, Alice).
TIP: Enclose phrases in quotation marks to keep the words together in your search (e.g. "Dance of the Happy Shades").
Once you have a list of resources, you can refine your results, for example, by choosing a format (print, ebook), applying peer-reviewed or publication date.
Expand your search by adding other keywords related to the work, including literary devices, themes and context (e.g. narration, tense shifts, aging, gender, historical context). You can also search for the author's name and literary analysis.
Tip: You can combine related keywords with "OR" to expand your search. For example, "literary criticism" or "literary analysis" or "literary theory".
Continue Your Search in ProQuest
Once you have searched in Discovery, you can continue your search in another set of databases through ProQuest, located on the right hand side of the Discovery results page. Look for the ProQuest logo.
All of your search terms will be applied in this new search. **NOTE** - you will have to reapply peer-reviewed, publication date, and any subjects.
Searching Outside the NIC Library
Canada Canlit.ca - https://canlitguides.ca/structured-guides/
Other Postsecondary Libraries (e.g. UBC or UVic) - Run a similar search as you did in the NIC databases and then place an interlibrary loan for the article through NIC Library.
Search JSTOR – run an advanced search and then limit by subject – Language and Literature
Here are some links to resources about writing literary analysis, including suggestions on close reading, how to write about different genres, and integrating quotes.
Purdue OWL - Writing in Literature