• Subject Headings
• Circulating
• Reference Books
• Magazines and Journals
• Web Sites

There are many ways to locate materials about short stories.  Information can be found in circulating books (which may be checked out of the library or viewed online, if available as electronic books); journal or newspaper articles (in both print and online resources such as ProQuest); and web sites.

Subject Headings

The following terms are some of the subject headings related to the short story that can be used to locate materials in the online catalog:

To find non-English short stories, search by subject using short stories followed by the language. 
For example:

Short stories, French

Short stories, Chinese

Note:  For materials that contain examples of short story, select Subject Search while using the term history and criticism.  By using short story as your search term in a Title Search, you find works related to the short story and criticism.

Circulating Books

Some books which may be checked out:

• The Best American Short Stories of the Century
  (813.01 B561c)
• The Short Story:  25 Masterpieces
  (823.01 S559)
• Short Story: A Thematic Anthology
  (808.831 S559e)
• Making Waves: An Anthology of Writings By and About Asian American Women
  (305.4 M235)
• The Columbia Companion to the Twentieth-century American Short Story
  Electronic Book*

*Electronic Books are offered through ebrary, which provides a digitized “version of books, journals, and database content.” netLibrary is accessible 24 hours a day/7 days a week.  You may access netLibrary through the catalog by clicking on the link in the catalog record or through ebrary’s link on the Glendale Library databases page.

Reference Books

Some reference books of interest include:

• Critical Survey of Short Fiction
  (REF 809.31 C934, 2001)
• Index to Best American Short Stories and O. Henry Prize Stories
  (REF 016.813 w587i)
• Masterplots II: Short Story Series
  (REF 809.3 m423, 2004)
• Reference Guide to Short Fiction
  (REF 809.31 R332)
• Short Fiction Criticism
  (REF 016.808301 T545s)

General Literary Criticism where the short story is included:

• Contemporary Literary Criticism
  (REF 809.04 C761)
• Nineteenth-century Literature Criticism
  (REF 809.04 N714)
• Modern American Literature
  (REF 810.9 M689, 1976)
• Magill's Bibliography of Literary Criticism
  (REF 016.8 M194)
• Dictionary of Literary Biography
  (REF 810.9 D554)

Locating Literary Criticism on Short Stories in Library Databases

Article Databases

• JSTOR - backfiles of academic journal articles in fulltext (does not include the last 3-5 most recent years)
• Literature Resource Center – literary criticism in fulltext
• ProQuest Literature Databases– popular and scholarly articles, full- and non-fulltext
• Salem Literature - fulltext of Critical Insights series, including literary criticism

Subject-Related Periodicals in the GCC Library

• American Literature
• College English
• English Journal
• PMLA
• Poets & Writers
• Review of Contemporary Fiction

Web Sites

Some helpful web sites include:

Literature: What Makes a Good Story?

This site provides a lesson on the elements that make up a good short story. Susan Glaspell’s ”A Jury of Her Peers,” is used as an example to analyze such structural elements as plot, character, setting, point-of-view, and theme. This site is a good primer for analyzing the short story for the first time.

Scribbling Women

This site provides dramatizations of stories written by noteworthy American women writers of the short story.  The site is freely accessible and provides supporting resources for the study of American literature by women.  Resources are designed to work well in the classroom environment for teachers and students alike.  Resources include lesson plans and literary interpretations in addition to archival links to audio broadcasts of the play adapted from the short stories.