Secondary sources:

(mainly form Klarer)

material written on the primary sources (original texts such as

(the case of literary essays: they can be treated as both primary and secondary sources)

(the case of deliberate neglection of traditional types in The Waste Land (poen with endnotes) and Nabokov’s Pale Fire (novel in the form of a critical edition of a poem, including a foreword, comentary, index, )

books : if on a single theme = monographs

journals: contain articles, essays, book review, notes

collections, anthologies or festschrifts: articles, essays, book review, notes

encyclopaedia: CAUTION (we expect you to use more specialized sources)

avoid Encarta

use Encyclopaedia Britannica for a general approach

Printed, electronic and on-line sources:

Standards of scholary practice:

- objectivity, documentation of sources, and general validity (as in other sciences)

- any reader has to be able to check and follow your arguments and results

the reader shoud be able to retrace every reference to your source of information (both primary or secondary source)

This documentation allows your reader to refar back to the original texts and to compare results and judge the quality of your interpretation

Secondary sources have a “critical apparatus”:

footnotes or endnotes (with comments on your text, or references to sources)

bibliography or list of works cited

if possible, and index

Access to secondary sources:

- For lower level papers -> look for monographs

- For more elaborate material (dissertations, articles in journals) -> look for as many sources as possible

Where to find them?

- libraries

books or monographs

which catalogue references in Biblioteca Joan Regla? (Apèndix I)

monographs on the author, work, period, movement

books of History of English / American / Irish Literature (Novel, Poetry)

journals: Which journals do we have? MLA, Shakespeare Quaterly, Shakespeare Survey,

- Internet: CAUTION

Today not many secondary sources on literature are published on the Internet.

Some on-line journals are for registered users only

Check reliability:

How to find secondary sources?

- read an encyclopaedia entry on your topic and see its bibliography

- consult the subject index in the library’s catalogue

- consult bibliographies and databases:

  • MLA International Bibliography (since 1921)

Electronic databse version since 1963

enter the name of author and title of the work you’re studying

List of all entries

Look at DE (field descriptor): this gives you an idea of the relevance of this article for your paper

Look for references before 1963 in printed editions of the MLA Bibliography

An Annual Subject Index allows you to see a variety of topics

An annual Author Index divided into national literatures and periods

  • ABELL (on-line subscription)

- consult catlogues of large libraries: British Library, Library of Congress (on-line)

- many universities provide linkes to catalogues or networks that search a large number of international library catalogues simultaneously: Online Public Access Catalogue (OPAC), Online Computer Library Center (OCLC) also referred to as OCLC WorldCat.

- look at the bibliography or list of works cited in the sources you’ve found already

For larger research projects: consult Harner, James Literary Research Guide.

You may need to consult databases for

periodical articles (InfoTrac, ProQuest, EBSCOhost)

psychological research (PsycInfo),

education research (ERIC),

covering news, business, legal matters (Lexis-Nexis Academic Universe)

Assessing secondary sources:

- what is the source’s main thesis or claim?

- how does it support this claim?

does it show relevant and sufficient evidence or just a few anecdotes or emotional examples?

is it just an aesthetic opinion?

- look at the author’s assumptions? Are they firmly grounded? are they questionable?

- does the author weigh contrary arguments and refutes them persuasively

- is there any logical fallacy?

- How fairly does the author treat opposing views?

- Does the author’s language show signs of bias?

Apendix I

Catalogue Biblioteca d’Humanitats Joan Reglà

C.D.U. classification: Classificació Decimal Universal

Filologia - begins with 8 , 80-89, 800-899

(Philosophy 1, Art 7, Geography, Biography and History with 9)

800 - Language and languages in general

801 History of Linguistics

802 Comparative linguistics. Western languages in general

802.0 English

803.0 German

82 Literature.

82H histories and treatise of literature

82F sources: creative works

82M monographs

essays, theoretical studies, critical studies

comparative literature, literary semiotics

analysis of literary discourse. Theory of stylistic commentary

82.01 Literary theory

82.03 Theory and practice of translation

82-1 Literary theory on poetry

82-2 Literary theory on drama792 theatre technique

82-3 Literary theory on prose and narrative

82-4 Litrary theory on essays, and other genres

820/890 Literatures

820 English literature

827 American literature

820H Histories and treatises of English literature

820F

820M

820-1H 10th to 15th century

820-1F

820-1M

820-2H 16th and 19th

820-3H 18th and 19th

820-4H 20th and 21st