The resources listed herein are merely starting points. The library can provide many more resources specific to a particular topic. Many of the sources below are databases accessible via the Internet.

Catalogs and Union Catalogs

Online Catalog LibCat includes the materials (books, journals, videos, documents and other materials) that the Libraries hold. Be aware that there are groups of materials not included in the catalog: many government documents and microform sets that we own may not appear in LibCat.

WorldCat Catalog of books and journals, the contents of over 14,000 research libraries, mainly in North America. Anything found on WorldCat that is not available in Evans Library can be ordered through Interlibrary Services or Get it for me.

Literature Criticism and Reviews

MLA International Bibliography This database indexes sources on literature, linguistics and drama from 1963 to present. Also available in print back to 1920. While it indexes secondary literature, it may lead to other pertinent information on the topic. PB1 .M46 from 1920 to 1962; from 1963 to present, on the web.

Annual Bibliography of English Language and Literature An electronic index of critical articles and book reviews on language and literature in English back to 1892. The print index of article citations on English language and literature covers published articles from 1920 to present. PB1 .A55.

Wilson Indexes A collection of databases of article citations, on a variety of subjects from science to business to the social sciences. The web versions of Humanities Index, Reader’s Guide to Periodical Literature and Essay and General Literature Index will provide citations to literary criticism articles and book chapters. Reader’s Guide to Periodical Literature, AI3 .R48, continues Poole’s Index, AI3 .P7, covering periodical literature from 1800 to present. Essay and General Literature Index includes citations to articles and book chapters from 1900 to present, AI 3 E752. Humanities Index will provide citations to criticism articles in literature, including poetry, short fiction, drama and novels. The print indexes back to 1972. AI3 H84

EBSCOHost (Academic Search Complete) is a collection of selected full-text periodicals and scholarly journals, U.S. and international newspapers, reference books and detailed pamphlets from a variety of disciplines.

PCI (Periodicals Contents Index) includes citations and selected full text from critical articles as well as book and performance reviews in humanities and social sciences journals from 1770 to 1993. This is the only electronic resource available that indexes back to the 1770s.

Arts & Humanities Citation Index and Social Science Citation Index are part of the Web of Knowledge, an online database indexing resources in all areas. It includes citations of critical articles on popular culture, film and television. The online versions go back to 1982 while the paper version of Arts and Humanities Citation Index, Z 5931.A78 goes back to 1975, and Social Sciences Citation Index, Z 7163.S6 extends back to 1956.

Book Review Digest provides citations and excerpts from reviews in approximately 90 popular journals from 1983 to present in the electronic version. The paper version has excerpts from complete reviews for fiction and nonfiction in many disciplines starting from 1905. Z1219 .C95.

Film Index International includes filmographies on films made from 1930 to the present, in addition to references to current and historical critical articles and popular reviews.

Author Bio-bibliographical Resources

Dictionary of Literary Biography is a valuable place to start when doing research on an author. It provides personal background, a bibliography, brief critique of the body of their work and contributions to the fields, as well as locations of major collections. PN 451 .D53.

Contemporary Authors also provides an overview of an author, as well as additional biographical and critical resources to consult. PN 451 .C6.

Biography and Genealogy Master Index is an index of indices, providing coverage of Biography Index, Who’s Who, Contemporary Authors and other biographical sources. CT120 .B56.

Electronic Journals and Full-text Databases

Lexis-Nexis Academic Universe is a full-text resource including newspapers as well as popular, trade and scholarly publications in all areas from about 20 years to the present. It will have the full-text of critical articles and reviews from current sources.

Project Muse and JSTOR are packages of electronic journals in the Humanities. They are among the more than 20,000 online titles to which the Libraries have access. Project Muse is a full-text collection of humanities journals from 1995 to present; JSTOR is a full-text collection of history, philosophy, economics, and political science journals from their conception (at times, from the 1700s) to present. These are also accessible via the E-Resource Locator on the Libraries' web site at http://library.tamu.edu.

Reference Sources

Bleiler, Richard. Reference guide to mystery and detective fiction. Englewood, Colo.: Libraries Unlimited, 1999. PN3448.D4 B54 1999

Albert, Walter. Detective and mystery fiction: an international bibliography of secondary sources. Madison, IN: Brownstone Books, 1985. PN3448.D4 A36 1985

Critical survey of mystery and detective fiction: authors, edited by Frank N. Magill. Pasadena, CA: Salem Press, 1988. PN3448.D4 C75 1988

Encyclopedia of mystery and detection, edited by Chris Steinbrunner and Otto Penzler. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1976. PN3448.D4 E5

Skene Melvin, David. Crime, detective, espionage, mystery, and thriller fiction & film: a comprehensive bibliography of critical writing through 1979. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1980. Z5917.D5 S55

Mackler, Tasha. Murder ... by category : a subject guide to mystery fiction. Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press, 1991. PR830.D4 M24 1991

Gale Criticism Guides: Shakespeare, Twentieth Century, Nineteenth Century, Classic and Medieval, etc (also located in the Main Reference Section) are excerpts from literary criticism appearing in monographs and periodicals in a given era. Many instructors prefer that the students don't cite from these sources: if so, the student may take the citation in the reference work and look up the original article. Selected full-text articles from the Contemporary Literary Criticism are also available electronically.

Selected Titles

Dilley, Kimberly J. Busybodies, meddlers, and snoops : the female hero in contemporary women's mysteries. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1998. PS374.D4 D55 1998

Thoms, Peter. Detection & its designs : narrative & power in nineteenth-century detective fiction. Athens: Ohio University Press, 1998. PR868.D4 T48 1998

The detective in American fiction, film, and television, edited by Jerome H. Delamater and Ruth Prigozy. Westport, CT.: Greenwood Press, 1998. PS374.D4 D48 1998

Rosenheim, Shawn. The cryptographic imagination : secret writing from Edgar Poe to the Internet. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1997. PS2642.C5 R67 1997

Nyman, Jopi. Men alone: masculinity, individualism, and hard-boiled fiction. Amsterdam; Atlanta, GA: Rodopi, 1997. PE1 .C66 n.s. v.111

Melling, John Kennedy. Murder done to death: parody and pastiche in detective fiction. Lanham, Md.: Scarecrow Press, 1996. PR830.D4 M45 1996

Roth, Marty. Foul & fair play : reading genre in classic detective fiction. Athens, Ga.: University of Georgia Press, 1995. PN3448.D4 R66 1995

The critical response to Dashiell Hammett, edited by Christopher Metress. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1994. PS3515.A4347 Z6 1994

It's a print! : detective fiction from page to screen, edited by William Reynolds, Elizabeth A. Trembley. Bowling Green, OH: Bowling Green State University Popular Press, 1994. PN1995.3 .R4 1994

Pyrhönen, Heta. Murder from an academic angle : an introduction to the study of the detective narrative. Columbia, SC: Camden House, 1994. PN3448.D4 P96 1994

Twentieth-century crime and mystery writers, preface to the third edition Kathleen Gregory Klein. Edition: 3rd ed. Chicago: St.James Press, 1991. PR830.D4 T8 1991.

Useful Web Sites

MacGuffin Guide to Detective Fiction is a searchable database of authors and characters with bibliographies, author pseudonym connections, awards and other information. http://www.macguffin.net/

Contento, William G. Mystery Short Fiction: 1990-1998. An Index to Mystery Magazines, Anthologies, and Single-Author Collections. “The goal is to list all mystery short fiction published in English since 1990.” http://www.best.com/~contento/mags/0start.html.

MysteryNet.Com: the online mystery network is the world's leading developer and producer of web-based short-form and interactive mysteries and a source of information and shopping for mystery books, TV, movies, and games. http://www.mysterynet.com/

Library Assistance

If you need additional assistance, please don’t hesitate to go the Evans Reference Desk for help. They are located on the 1^st floor of Evans Library. You may also contact them via phone at 845-5741 or via email at lib-help@tamu.edu.

If you want specialized help, you may schedule an appointment with me, as liaison librarian to the Department of English, and I will be happy to help you with your research topic, recommend sources and introduce you to searching some of the electronic materials.