The Literature Resource Center "supports undergraduate work in English, World Literatures, Film, and theater." Unlike the MLA, this database contains both primary and secondary resources, in addition to reference materials. For this reason, it can be a good place to do preliminary research before getting more in-depth with MLA and other databases.
More specifically, the LRC contains:
Although the majority of resources at LRC are in English, there are also many items in French, German, and Spanish.
The LRC goes all the way back to the 22nd century B.C.E.! But most of what you find won't be nearly that old. Nor will you necessarily find the latest journal articles. Instead, the LRC is really for doing preliminary research. If you haven't narrowed a topic yet, this is a good place to start your research, just don't begin AND end it here.
Full text is immediately available in the Literature Resource Center.
The LRC Basic Search allows you to search for words or phrases in three fields (see descriptions on the left): person -- by or about; name of work; keywords; or all text. You can also set some basic limits, such as peer-reviewed, publication date, and content type. The Advanced Search will allow you to do all of these, but, in addition, you can add more limits and search by multiple fields. If your results are too many with the Basic Search, try using multiple search fields and limits to narrow your results.
The Person Search will allow you to search the database for a particular type of person, according to the profile you create. You can specify things such as nationality, literary movement, genre, even place and time of death. For example, if you want a list of English Renaissance poets, or Japanese novelists born before 1940, or Native American short story writers, use this search. But keep in mind that the list is NOT exhaustive.
The Work Search, like the Person Search, allows you to create a specific profile and to search for all works that match that profile. You can specify things such as the type of work, the author's nationality, the publication year, or the original language. For example, if you want a list of Victorian poems by English authors or Italian short stories published in 1962, search here. But again, keep in mind that the list will NOT be exhaustive.
Unless you specify otherwise, the LRC will search multiple content types and arrange your results accordingly. These include:
You can also specify the way in which your results are ranked, by clicking on the "Search by" drop-down menu. By default, LRC ranks results by relevancy, though you can choose to have them ranked by "Publication Date (Descending)" -- from oldest to most recent -- "Publication Date (Ascending)" -- from most recent to oldest -- or by Document Title, which will rank your results alphabetically.
If you have too many results, it might be a good idea to use the left sidebar to narrow your results further. You have two options: you can search within your results, by keyword, or you can narrow your results by subject, person, author, work, publication, or document type. Note: these modifications will apply only to the content type you're currently viewing.
Below are some of the advance search field limits you may want to use while searching for articles.
Person – by or about: Selecting this option will allow you to search for items by a particular person or those that are primarily about that person.
Name of work: This option will search for titles of works (poems, plays, books, etc.) that are either themselves in the database or that are discussed in the database
Keywords: This option will search for your term in the title of the item, its subject terms or abstracts, and its first fifty words. Use the Boolean AND to search for more than one keyword at a time. Note: if the keyword you use is very common, also include the author's last name to narrow your results.
All text: This option will search for the words anywhere in a document. Use this type of search if other options are returning too few results. Note: If you're looking for a famous quotation, "All text" may be your best option. But remember to enclose the quotation in quotation marks so that the database treats it as a phrase.
Below are limits you can apply to your search to help narrow down your results and find more relevant articles.
Limit by Peer-reviewed publications
Limit by Publication date
Limit by Publication century: If you're interested in a particular period, this limit will allow you to select the century you're primarily interested in.
Limit by Content Type: Check one of the content types to restrict your search to only one type of item. These include: Biographies, Multimedia, Reviews & News, Literature Criticism, Primary Sources and Literary Works, Topic & Work Overviews.
Limit by Publication title: If you know the title of the publication you're interested in, enter it in this field. If not, you can click "Browse" to try and locate it in the database.
Limit by document type: Select one of the publication types to restrict your search to only one type of item. These are more specific than Content type, including things like Character overview, Short story, and Theater review.
Limit by language
Limit by target audience
The content on this page was created by the University of Illinois University Library. The original content can be found on the Introduction to Library Research in English Literature Research guide.