LibGuides: HIS301 A New Nation Research Guide: Assignment Tips

Assignment Tips

Descriptive Profile of a Work of 19th Century American Literature

Research Project:

Select an American 19th century primary source with literary qualities
- May be a novel, a short story, a slave narrative, or poetry
- Cannot be by an author covered in class
Compose a profile of the author and the work that could serve to reveal his or her unique perspective on the 19^th century in America
- Locate information about the author and the literary piece
- Research the historical context out of which the author created their literary piece
- Reflect on the power of the piece for engaging an historical aspect of 19th century American experience
  - How does the author accomplish this?
  - How does the unique perspective of the author shape their literary composition?
Support your research with specific evidence drawn from:
- Your main primary source (the literary work)
- Relevant primary material
  - You must use at least two (more is encouraged) primary sources in addition to the literary piece
- Relevant secondary material
  - You must use at least three (more is encouraged) scholarly sources
NOTE: The minimum requirement of primary and secondary sources must be different from the primary and secondary sources assigned in class

19th Century American Christmas

(Image from: http://www.historytoday.com/penne-restad/christmas-19th-century-america)

To assist you with your Desriptive Profile of a Work of 19th Century American Literature Research Project, the following sample primary source/literary piece was selected:

Alcott, Louisa May: Little Women

Using this sample, the beginning steps of conducting research on the author and the historical context of this novel are illustrated under the subsequent tabs in this box. Although research on your author and piece of literature may be somewhat different, hopefully these sample search strategies will give you a good sense of how this type of research can be conducted.

As I conduct research on this author, I will be looking for further information on the impact that transcendentalism had on families in the 19th century, as illustrated in Little Women.

Little Women Book Cover

(Image from: http://www.deeprootsathome.com/watch-your-temper-or-watch-and-pray/louisa-may-alcott-little-women/)

Author information can be located via a variety of research resources. Below are selected examples:

NOTE:

Since resources are not all set up in the same way, when searching for author infomation, try searching with both last name first and first name first
Although there may be some overlap in the information provided by various research resources, there will also be unique facts, so it is worth it to check a number of resources

Louisa May Alcott

(Image from: http://www.alcottfilm.com/louisa-may-alcott/photo-gallery/)

Reference Link

Credo Reference
- Sample search: Louisa May Alcott
- Sample titles:
  - Smith, D. E. (1971). Alcott, Louisa May (Nov. 29. 1832-Mar. 6, 1888). In E. James, J. James, & P. Boyer (Eds.), Notable American women: 1607-1950. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
  - Singley, C. (2005). Alcott, Louisa May. In S. Serafin & A. Bendixen (Eds.), Continuum encyclopedia of American literature. London, United Kingdom: Continuum.
Gale Virtual Reference Library
- Sample search: Louisa May Alcott
- Sample titles:
  - Alcott, Louisa May. (1979). In L. Unger (Ed.), American writers: A collection of literary biographies, Supplement 1 (Vol. 1, pp. 28-46). New York, NY: Charles Scribner's Sons.
  - Payne, A. J. (2000). Alcott, Louisa May. In T. Benbow-Pfafzgraf (Ed.), American women writers: A critical reference guide from colonial times to the present (2nd ed., Vol. 1, pp. 15-17). Detroit, MI: St. James Press.
Oxford Reference Online
- Sample search: Louisa May Alcott
- Sample titles:
  - Homestead, M. J. (2008). Alcott, Louisa May. In B. G. Smith (Ed.), The Oxford encyclopedia of women in world history. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
  - Alcott, Louisa May. (2005). In J. Parini & P. W. Leininger (Eds.), The Oxford encyclopedia of American literature. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

Books & eBooks Link

Summon
- Sample search: Louisa May Alcott
  (NOTE: This type of search will locate books both by her and about her)
  - Under Content Type, limit search to Book / eBook
  - Under Any, limit search to Items at Bethel
- Sample titles:
  - Cheever, Susan: Louisa May Alcott: A Personal Biography
  - Stern, Madeleine: Louisa May Alcott
EBSCOhost eBook Collection
- Sample search: Louisa May Alcott
- Sample titles:
  - Bloom, Harold: Women Writer's of Children's Literature
  - Rollyson, Carl: Notable American Novelists
ebrary (eBooks Collection)
- Sample search: Louisa May Alcott
- Sample titles:
  - Shealy, Daniel: Writers in Their Own Time: Alcott in Her Own Time: A Biographical Chronicle of Her Life, Drawn from Recollections, Interviews, and Memoirs by Family, Friends, and Associates
  - Francis, Richard: Fruitlands: The Alcott Family and Their Search for Utopia

Articles Link

JSTOR
- Sample search: Louisa May Alcott
- Limit search to (for example):
  - Articles
  - English language
  - Journals within specific disciplines
- Sample articles:
  - Gollin, R. K. (1980). Louisa May Alcott's "Hawthorne". The Concord Saunterer, 15(3), 17-20.
  - Talbot, M. (1938). Glimpses of the real Louisa May Alcott. The New England Quarterly, 11(4), 731-738.
Humanities Source
- Sample search: Louisa May Alcott
- Limit search to:
  - Scholarly (Peer Reviewed) Journals
  - Subjects:
    - Alcott, Louisa May, 1832-1888
- Sample article:
  - Englund, S. A. (1998). Reading the author in Little Women: A biography of a book. ATQ, 12(3), 199-220.

Primary Sources Link

Print Primary Sources
- Summon
  - Use the Advanced Search
  - Sample search:
    Louisa May Alcott
    AND
    (sources OR "personal narratives" OR correspondence OR letters OR diaries)
  - Sample titles:
    - Alcott, Louisa May: Louisa May Alcott: Her Life, Letters, and Journals
    - Alcott, Louisa May: The Journals of Louisa May Alcott
Online Primary Sources
- Sample search: Louisa May Alcott
  - Making of America Journals
    - Sample source:
      - Lazarus, J. (1891). Louisa May Alcott. The Century: A Popular Quarterly, 42(1), 59-68.
  - Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers
    - Sample source:
      - Historic Women: Louisa Women. (1921: March 6). Evening Star (Washington, DC), p. 14.
  - Women and Social Movements in the United States, 1600-2000
    - Sample source:
      - Alcott, L. M. (1881). Letter from Louisa May Alcott to Mrs. Stone, October 1, 1873. In E. C. Stanton, S. B. Anthony, & M. J. Gage, History of woman suffrage, Vol. 2, 1861-1876 (pp. 831-832). Rochester, NY: Privately Published

Reference Link

Encyclopedias, dictionaries, etc. are great places to locate concise background and context information
Examples:
- Credo Reference
  - Topic Page on Louisa May Alcott also listed Related Topics.
    Examples:
    - Thoreau, Henry David
    - Emerson, Ralph Waldo
    - Hawthorne, Nathaniel
    - Transcendentalism
    - Women's suffrage
    - Abolition movement
    - Child labor
    - Feminism

Books & eBooks Link

Summon
- Sample searches:
  - transcendental*
    AND
    ("19th century" OR "nineteenth century")
    AND
    "united states"
  - women
    AND
    work*
    AND
    ("19th century" OR "nineteenth century")
    AND
    ("new england" OR massachusetts)
- Sample titles:
  - Gura, Philip: American Transcendentalism: A History
  - Groneman, Carol & Norton, Mary Beth: "To Toil the Livelong Day": America's Women at Work, 1780-1980
EBSCOhost eBook Collection
- Sample search:
  "united states"
  AND
  ("19th century" OR "nineteenth century")
  AND
  women
- Sample title:
  - Volo, James & Volo, Dorothy: The Antebellum Period
ebrary (eBook Collection)
- Sample search:
  "united states"
  AND
  ("19th century" OR "nineteenth century")
  AND
  transcendental*
- Sample title:
  - Argersinger, Jana L., & Cole, Phyllis: Toward a Female Genealogy of Transcendentalism

Articles Link

JSTOR
- Sample search:
  transcendental*
  AND
  ("19th century" OR "nineteenth century")
  AND
  ("new england" OR massachusetts)
- Sample article:
  - Morita, S. (1999). Unseen (and unappreciated) matters: Understanding the reformative nature of 19th-century spiritualism. American Studies, 40(3), 99-125.
Academic Search Premier
- Sample search:
  transcendental*
  AND
  ("19th century" OR "nineteenth century")
  AND
  ("new england" OR massachusetts)
- Sample article:
  - Duran, J. (2009). Bronson Alcott: Transcendentalism in the personal. Transactions of the Charles S. Peirce Society, 45(2), 231-239.
Project MUSE
- Sample search:
  transcendental*
  AND
  ("19th century" OR "nineteenth century")
  AND
  "united states"
  - Narrow search by:
    - Articles
    - English
- Sample article:
  - Robinson, D. M. (2007). Emerson, Thoreau, Fuller, and Transcendentalism. American Literary Scholarship, 3-34.

Primary Sources Link

When searching, use terms and phrases that talk about the setting in which your author was writing

Print Primary Sources
- Summon
  - Sample searches:
    - "united states"
      AND
      ("19th century" OR "nineteenth century")
      AND
      (sources OR "personal narratives" OR correspondence OR letters OR diaries)
      - Limit search to: Book / eBook
    - "united states"
      AND
      ("19th century" OR "nineteenth century")
      AND
      women
      AND
      (sources OR "personal narratives" OR correspondence OR letters OR diaries)
  - Sample titles:
    - Link, W. A., & Link, S. J. (2012). The Gilded Age and Progressive Era: A documentary reader. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell.
    - Smith, S., Watson, J. (Eds.). Before they could vote: American women's autobiographical writing, 1819-1919. Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press.
Online Primary Sources
- American Eras Primary Sources: Civil War and Reconstruction (1860-1878)
  - Sample search:
    - alcott
  - Sample title:
    - Resistance to civil government (excerpt). In S. Constantakis (Ed.), American Eras: Primary Sources: Vol. 4. Reform era and eastern U.S. development , 1815-1850 (pp. 36-40). Detroit, MI: Gale.
- Eyewitness to History
  - Sample "title":
    - 19th Century
- Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers
  - Sample search:
    concord
    AND
    transcendental*
    - Limit dates of publication (e.g., 1850-1900)
  - Sample article:
    - Amongst ye philosophers in the "Cradle of Liberty". (1884, August 7). Iron County Register, p. 1.