• Searching for Books: LCSH
• Keywords
• Reference Books
• Reserve Materials
• Library Databases
• Open Web Sources
• Assignment

Gothic Fiction Research Essay Assignment - Research Guide

The following information will help you look for sources, criticism, interpretation, and history for your research on the gothic genre, especially in the 19th, 20th, and 21st century. These sources will include specific titles on reserve or in reference to be used in the library, books you can check out of the library, electronic books that can be viewed on a computer monitor, articles from library databases, and reliable web sites. Remember that a librarian is available to help you if you need more guidance.

Searching for Books: Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH)

Using the GCC library catalog, you can find many sources on gothic literature and horror. Go to the Catalog tab at the top of the library’s homepage and enter one of the following headings in a subject keyword search.

English fiction 18th century History and Criticism	Horror tales, English
English fiction 19th century History and Criticism	Horror tales, English History and Criticism
Gothic revival (Literature)	Vampires
Gothic revival (Literature) Great Britain	Vampires in Literature
Gothic revival (Literature) United States	Vampires Encyclopedias
Horror tales	Vampires, Romania
Horror tales, American	Vampires, History and Criticism
Horror tales, American History and Criticism

For example:

Circulating books are those you can check out of the library. All you need is a student id card or a picture id as long as you are registered for classes in the current semester. Below are some titles you may check out or view online through NetLibrary. For electronic books, go to the GCC library catalog and do a title search. Alternatively, you may go to the NetLibrary link located on the Article Databases tab on the GCC library homepage, and enter the title of the book. Create a NetLibrary account, and you will be on your way.

Print Titles	Author	Call Number
Contemporary Gothic	Catherine Spooner	306.1 S764c
Encyclopedia of Gothic Literature	Mary Ellen Snodgrass	809.911 S673e
The Gothic Text	Marshall Brown	809.9164 B879g
The New Gothic : A Collection of Contemporary Gothic Fiction	Bradford Morrow	813.08729 N532
Backgrounds to English Literature	Patrick Lee Brown	820.9 B126a; Vol. 2
English Gothic Literature	Derek Brewer	820.9001 B847e
The Gothic Tradition in Fiction	Elizabeth McAndrew	823.0872 M114g
The Cambridge Companion to Gothic Fiction	Jerrold Hogle	823.0872909 C178
Victorian Ghost Stories : An Oxford Anthology	Michael Cox	823.08733 V645
Gothic Quest : a History of the Gothic Novel	Montague Summers	823.609 S955g, 1964
Electronic Titles	Author	NetLibrary
Colonial Conan Doyle British Imperialism, Irish Nationalism, and Gothic	Catherine Wynne	Electronic Book
Contesting the Gothic Fiction, Genre and Cultural Conflict, 1764-1832	James Watt	Electronic Book
Gothic Literature	Andrew Smith	Electronic Book
Gothic Romanced Consumption, Gender and Technology in Contemporary Fictions	Fred Botting	Electronic Book
Romanticism and the Gothic Genre, Reception, and Canon Formation	Michael Gamer	Electronic Book
Screening the Gothic	Lisa Hopkins	Electronic Book
Victorian Hauntings, Spectrality, Gothic, the Uncanny, and Literature	Julien Wolfreys	Electronic Book

Keywords

Use keywords to search for information in the library catalog, in databases, and on the Web. Below are some examples of keywords related to the topic of horror or the Gothic. Remember to review all your hits since some of your sources will be more specific to art or architecture as opposed to literature or culture.

Gothic

Gothic fiction

Gothic history

Horror fiction

Horror tales

 

Reference Books

Reference books are books you can use in the library, but can't check out. You'll find them downstairs on the main floor of the library. Reference books are sometimes the best resources available, so make sure to take a look at what's available. You can photocopy what you need if necessary. Below are some reference books available in the GCC library collection related to your assignment:

The Vampire Book: The Encyclopedia of the Undead	REF 398.2103 M528v 1999
A Companion to the Victorian Novel	REF 823.809 C737

 

Reserve Materials

Reserve books are located at the Circulation/Reserve Desk and have been placed on reserve for specific classes by instructors. Below are a few items that you may find helpful that have been reserved for ENG 102.  Some reserve items may be checked out of the library for 3 days, some may be checked out overnight, and others are available for 2-hour checkout for in-library use only. Below is a list of titles related to your assignment that are available on library reserve:

Gothic (Punter)	ENG 102-Kwa
Routledge Companion to Gothic (Spooner and McEvoy)	ENG 102-Kwa
English 102 Course Packet : Advice, Readings, Assignments	ENG 102-McLemore

 

Library Databases

GCC has two subscription databases that contain literary criticism and secondary sources on literature. These are JSTOR and Literature Resource Center (LRC). Go to the Article Databases tab located at the top of the library’s homepage.  Scroll down the alphabetical list of databases to either JSTOR or Literature Resource Center.  Remember, if you need more guidance, speak to a librarian.

For JSTOR, select the Advanced Search link just underneath the search box. Enter some important keywords for your research assignment. Use some of the hints/clues that are included in your research assignment sheet (located towards the bottom of this page.) Look at the screen shot below, and take special note of the items in red and blue. Use some of the keywords or LCSH terms listed in the above sections. JSTOR isn’t a very rigid database, so play around with the terms you use to find interesting sources.

Example of a search in JSTOR:

 

For Literature Resource Center (LRC), the most fruitful search is to conduct an author search for Bram Stocker; this search will yield the most relevant hits for your assignment. A general search for gothic will yield an imprecise search.

Example of a search in Literature Resource Center:

 

Open Web Sources

The best strategy to search for more quality content and reliable information on your research topic is to do a domain search and select keywords. For example, go to Google’s Advanced Search Screen and enter the terms gothic literature (as a phrase), Dracula (or any other keywords like gender or imperialism) and enter edu in the domain search box.

The best strategy to search for more quality content and reliable information on your research topic is to do a domain search and select keywords. For example, go to Google’s Advanced Search Screen and enter the terms gothic literature (as a phrase), Dracula (or any other keywords like gender or imperialism) and enter edu in the domain search box.

Example of a search in Google’s Advanced Search screen:

 

 “The Literary Gothic” – http://www.litgothic.com/index_fl.html  --

“My Hideous Progeny”, a website about Mary Shelley - http://home-1.worldonline.nl/~hamberg

Academic Info – Victorian Literature --  http://www.academicinfo.net/englitvictorian.html

A Glossary of Literary Gothic Terms – http://personal.georgiasouthern.edu/~dougt/goth.html

The web site of University of Minnesota instructor Dr. Carolyn Sigler includes lots of online resources on this subject --

http://www.d.umn.edu/~csigler/talesofterror.html

 

ENG 102 Research Essay Assignment

 

Revised by schin 03/09