Poetry Project: Secondary Bibliography

Your task is find as many books and critical articles about your poet as you can, and winnow these into a selected bibliography. In some instances, the Gale Literary Databases may have done much of this work for you, while others will require more legwork. But even if you're one of the lucky ones, you mustn't stop with Gale.

You should start with Catalyst (the HSU library's online catalog) by plugging your poet's name into a "subject" search. But you mustn't limit your research to HSU's library, since it's a small library, and it may not have much material on a relatively obscure writer. Where else would you look? You might come across bibliographic references in the single-author volumes and anthologies containing works by your poet, or even on the Web (but be wary). In the latter two instances, you'll want to consult other members of your team. But you will certainly need to refer to comprehensive databases that catalog books held by other libraries (WorldCat), articles published in journals (Academic Search, ArticleFirst, JSTOR, MLA Bibliography and Project Muse), and articles published in popular periodicals (Lexis/Nexis: search "Guided News Search," then "Arts & Sports News"; and Factiva). You might also check the catalog of the British Library (to find items that may only have been published in the UK). And you never know what a search of a national on-line bookseller like Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk will turn up.

When all else fails, hoof it down to the library and pore over some reference books. The following, for instance, are all in the Reference section on the main floor, not in the stacks. (This is not an exhaustive list; you may find other useful works on your own.)

Benson, Eugene and L. W. Conolly. The Encyclopedia of Post-Colonial Literatures in English. 2 vols. New York: Routledge, 1994. HSU Main Reference PR9080.A52 E53 1994 (vol.1) and PR9080.A52 E53 1994 (vol. 2)
Fister, Barbara. Third World Women's Literatures: A Dictionary and Guide to Materials in English. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1995. HSU Main Reference PN 849 .U43 F58 1995
Meisami, Julie Scott and Paul Starkey. Encyclopedia of Arabic Literature. 2 vols. New York: Routledge, 1998. (HSU Main Reference PJ7510 .E53 1998 vols.1 and 2)
Serafin, Stephen R., ed. Encyclopedia of World Literature in the 20th Century. 4 vols. Detroit: St. James, 1999. HSU Main Reference PN771 .E5 1999

Compile and collate all the citations you've assembled, and put some thought into how to arrange them. (I'd recommend subsections for "Books" and "Articles" at the very least.) How should your entries be formatted? MLA Style (as outlined in the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, 6th ed.). Capital Community College in Hartford, CT has an excellent web-based introduction to MLA Style.

English 240: Literature of North Africa and the Middle East > Iraqi Poets Web > Secondary Bibliography
	Your task is find as many books and critical articles about your poet as you can, and winnow these into a selected bibliography. In some instances, the Gale Literary Databases may have done much of this work for you, while others will require more legwork. But even if you're one of the lucky ones, you mustn't stop with Gale. You should start with Catalyst (the HSU library's online catalog) by plugging your poet's name into a "subject" search. But you mustn't limit your research to HSU's library, since it's a small library, and it may not have much material on a relatively obscure writer. Where else would you look? You might come across bibliographic references in the single-author volumes and anthologies containing works by your poet, or even on the Web (but be wary). In the latter two instances, you'll want to consult other members of your team. But you will certainly need to refer to comprehensive databases that catalog books held by other libraries (WorldCat), articles published in journals (Academic Search, ArticleFirst, JSTOR, MLA Bibliography and Project Muse), and articles published in popular periodicals (Lexis/Nexis: search "Guided News Search," then "Arts & Sports News"; and Factiva). You might also check the catalog of the British Library (to find items that may only have been published in the UK). And you never know what a search of a national on-line bookseller like Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk will turn up. When all else fails, hoof it down to the library and pore over some reference books. The following, for instance, are all in the Reference section on the main floor, not in the stacks. (This is not an exhaustive list; you may find other useful works on your own.) Benson, Eugene and L. W. Conolly. The Encyclopedia of Post-Colonial Literatures in English. 2 vols. New York: Routledge, 1994. HSU Main Reference PR9080.A52 E53 1994 (vol.1) and PR9080.A52 E53 1994 (vol. 2) Fister, Barbara. Third World Women's Literatures: A Dictionary and Guide to Materials in English. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1995. HSU Main Reference PN 849 .U43 F58 1995 Meisami, Julie Scott and Paul Starkey. Encyclopedia of Arabic Literature. 2 vols. New York: Routledge, 1998. (HSU Main Reference PJ7510 .E53 1998 vols.1 and 2) Serafin, Stephen R., ed. Encyclopedia of World Literature in the 20th Century. 4 vols. Detroit: St. James, 1999. HSU Main Reference PN771 .E5 1999 Compile and collate all the citations you've assembled, and put some thought into how to arrange them. (I'd recommend subsections for "Books" and "Articles" at the very least.) How should your entries be formatted? MLA Style (as outlined in the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, 6th ed.). Capital Community College in Hartford, CT has an excellent web-based introduction to MLA Style.
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