Four Good Databases for E-42a
Oxford Bibliographies Online Harvard Key
This database, essentially a collection of annotated reading lists on topics from across the humanities, social sciences, and interdisciplinary sciences, will have extraordinarily utility for you during your time at Harvard. Consider it an all -purpose tool, something that can work in tandem withi HOLLIS at the start of projects.
Often the situation you face in information seeking isn't a lack of resources, but rather, their abundance. It can be challenging to figure out how to prioritize in your reading, how to distinguish the good from the better or best, and how to identify the scholars who have done most to push the research conversation forward.
OBOs are selective, not exhaustive -- but selectivity makes them all the more useful. Items that look promising from an OBO entry can be searched by title in HOLLIS to determine their availability in print or in online form.
Examples pertinent to E-42a course themes: Modernism | Dylan Thomas | Langston Hughes
MLA International Bibliography Harvard Key
This is considered the most important academic database for deep searching of the scholarship produced about all periods of literature and in all languages, including poetry.
Project Muse Harvard Key
Originally a collection of high quality journals published by the Johns Hopkins University Press, Project Muse now includes both journals and and books from non-profit scholarly publishers, including university presses and societies. Muse is weighted heavily toward the humanities, making it a good database to use alongside HOLLIS and the MLA Bibliography.
Google Scholar searches differently from most library databases, including HOLLIS and the MLA. In addition to searching "metadata" (lots of descriptive info about a book or article, it also searches full-text . This can be an additional advantage when you've got a very narrow topic or are seeking a "nugget" that traditional database searching can't surface easily.
Google Scholar incorporates more types of information -- not just books and journal contents-- and depending on your need, comfort level, and perspective, that eclecticism can be an advantage.
It's also an excellent way to follow citation trails. Enter the title of a book or journal article and then click on "Cited by" when the item appears.
