Ms. Thompson/AP Literature/Short Story Research/Fall 2016

Resources

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The Short Stories for Students series provides critical overviews of short stories from all cultures and time periods. Each entry includes discussions of plot, characters, themes and structure as well as the story's cultural and historical significance. Print copies of volumes 1-24 are available in the library's reference room.  Digital copies of volumes 1-42 are available through Gale Virtual Reference Library.
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Twayne's Authors Series is devoted to literary critical interpretation and discussion. It offers in-depth critical introductions to the lives and works of major writers of the world, including close analysis of key works. It provides insightful and original commentary on the history and influence of literary movements. The library has some authors in print (in the 800s section of the library) and others in digital format through Gale Virtual Reference Library.
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The Great American Writers & Great World Writers series both contain biographical author information, including an extended discussion of significant events in each writer's life, as well as information on the writer's work, which looks at recurring themes and issues in the author's works. Also included is a section which analyzes the author's most notable works. These books are available in print in the library's reference room.
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Masterplots II Short Story Series offers information about the short story, the story's themes and meanings, and the story's style and technique. It is available only in print from the library's reference room.

Tips

  • Use the catalog to search the title of your short story. Putting the title in quotation marks will give you more accurate results.
  • Use the catalog to search the author of your short story. You will get resources with this search that you will not get by searching the story title.
  • To access digital reference books, use Gale Virtual Reference Library.
  • Our Gale digital resources are integrated with Google Drive. This means you can save/download articles and information directly to your Drive. This is super convenient and allows for easy annotation of your sources.

Citation Information

  • You must cite all of your sources (including images!!). 
  • Database articles, including everything from Gale Virtual Reference Library, have a complete MLA citation already done for you. 
  • MLA released a NEW style guide (8th edition) for citations in Spring 2016. For detailed information on the new guidelines, click here. 
  • For help citing images in MLA 8th edition, click here. 
  • To properly cite sources in a presentation, you will need brief citations on the individual slides as well as a formal Works Cited slide at the conclusion of your presentation.