Basic Resources
for Research on Short Fiction
Librarian: Anne
Barker
How to Find a Short Story
- LION: Literature Online provides online texts of many English and American literary works with a search mechanism to facilitate text analysis. From the main LION menu, choose Texts to search for words and phrases within a specific work or group of works. LION also lists literary works published in journals. To find these, choose Criticism and tick the box to limit to "literary works".
- The MERLIN Catalog lists collections of short stories. Search by table of contents to see if a specific story is listed, but note that MERLIN doesn't provide the table of contents for all books.
- The Short Story Index (Ref. Z5917.S5 C62) fills the gap by listing stories and showing where they have been published.
Background & Biographical Information
- LION: Literature Online Use the Quick Search box to link to a variety of reference sources.
- Reference Guide to Short Fiction (Part of the Gale Virtual Reference Library.)
- The Literary Index will guide you to information in the following books:
- Dictionary of Literary Biography Ref. PN451 .D43
- Contemporary Authors Ref. Z1224 .C62
- Short Story Writers (Ref. PN3373.S398 1997)
- Critical Survey of Short Fiction (Ref.PN3373.M5)
Criticism
Finding criticism on a specific story can be tricky since most catalogs and indexes are not this detailed. The following specialized indexes identify criticism on specific stories. To find criticism using other databases or library catalogs, search the author's name as a subject and possibly general themes. You may not be able to tell if an article or book treats a specific story until you have the publication in hand.
- The Literary Index indexes the print publication Short Story Criticism (Ref. PN3373.S386), which excerpts criticism of stories published in a variety of sources.
- Twentieth-Century Short Story Explication: Interpretations, 1900-1975 (Ref. Z5917.S5 W33 1977)
- Twentieth-Century Short Story Explication: New Series (Ref. PN3373 .W34 1993)
This SOURCEPACK is a service of Ellis Library
Librarian/Webmaster: Anne Barker
Last updated:
March 13, 2007