Finding Criticism: Books

You can search FRANCIS to find books of essays and criticism.

Try one of these strategies:

1. Do a Subject Heading search for [author's last name] [author's first name]. Choose the main heading or look for the sub-heading "criticism and interpretation"
   
   Example: Hemingway, Ernest
   
   This search will find Ernest Hemingway as the subject of the work. It's useful to run this search when you want to browse different aspects of the author as a subject of research.
   
   
2. Do a Subject Heading search for [title of the work]
   
   Example: The Sun Also Rises
   
   This search will find The Sun Also Rises as the subject of scholarly criticism. It's useful to run this search when you have a particular title in mind.
   
   
3. Do a Keyword search for [author's name] and [title of work]
   
   Example: Richardson and Clarissa
   
   This search will find the words "Richardson" and "Clarissa" anywhere in the record. It's useful to run this search when you want a broad range of results about your subject.  This search will find the primary text as well as chapters in books that have contents notes.
   
   
4. Do a Keyword search for handbooks and [author's name, literary genre, or literary movement]
   
   Example: handbooks and "Dickinson, Emily"
   
   "Handbooks, manuals, etc." is a subject sub-heading that leads to books that include overviews, critical essays, and lists of works. 

Searching Beyond Williams

You can use these same search strategies in any library catalog that uses Library of Congress Subject Headings.

NExpress Catalog: Search the combined catalog of our partners in the NExpress consortium, a group of similar liberal arts colleges in New England.  Use the Request this item link to borrow materials from these libraries.

BLC Catalog (beta): Searches our partners in the Boston Library Consortium, a group of mostly larger research libraries in New England. This catalog also includes the holdings of WorldCat, a catalog of over 9,000 libraries in the U.S. and around the world.  Use the request buttons to borrow materials from BLC libraries; materials not available at BLC libraries are automatically routed to ILLiad (interlibrary loan).

See loan periods and borrowing from other libraries for information on loan periods, renewals and length of time it takes to get an item.