English 014: Your Favorite Author

Finding Biographies and Bibliographies

Below are some steps for starting your search. Keep in mind the process is never linear, so feel free to start with any of the steps. Click on the number of the step for full directions.

Step One

Search library biographical databases to find lists of complete works for your author.




Step Two

Search FRANCIS to find local holdings and scholarly bibliographies about your author.




Step Three

Browse Reference Books to find specific and specialty bibliographies about your author.




Step #1

The library has a number of biographical databases. Start with the one below by running a search on your author's full name. (If you are having trouble, try searching some of the other biographical databases.)

Biography Resource Center
A great place to start for biographical and bibliographical information. Look for Contemporary Authors as the source. It contains the most complete entries with a short biographical essay and a list of complete works broken down into different subjects.

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Step #2

FRANCIS, the library catalog, is the place to go to search for access to resources on campus. Visit FRANCIS and try 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 "Bibliography"

    Example Search: Salinger, J D

    This search will find "J. D. Salinger" as the subject of the work. It's useful to run this search when you want to look at the possible categories that the library uses to catalog books about the author.
  2. Do an Advanced(keyword) search using the [author’s first name] [author’s last name] and variations of the keywords [criticism interpretation handbooks manuals].

    Example Search: Jerome David Salinger criticism interpretation handbooks manuals

    This search will find any manuals and handbooks about the work of "J. D. Salinger". Handbooks and manuals often include complete lists of works.

    Note: When you can, try to find the full name of your author and search with it. Jerome David Salinger works better than J D Salinger in the advanced search of FRANCIS. Use search strategy 1 above to browse for your author's full name if necessary.

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Step #3

Browsing additional specialty reference books might help you turn up some information on current or lesser known authors. Some reference books to get you started are below.

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