Latino Writers:
Selected Resources

This handout is compiled by Monica White for students in Kirsten Moreno's English 2 course and others interested in this subject. It is designed to help you begin your research at the LAC Library and on the World Wide Web. If you need further assistance, please consult a librarian at the Reference Desk during library hours.


Contents: 
Find Reference Books | Find Books to Check Out | Find Articles | Find Web Sites | Cite Your Sources



FIND REFERENCE BOOKS

The following reference books, shelved in the Reference Room, provide historical information about the Chicano Movement and biographical and critical information about Latino writers.
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American Ethnic Writers. 2 vols. Ref PS 153 .M56 A414
Profiles writers and their major works.
Concise Encyclopedia of Latin American Literature. Ref PQ 7081 .A1 E56 2000
Provides topical essays (such as the excellent one on Chicano literature), literary surveys of individual countries, biographical information on writers, and critical summaries of important works.
Dictionary of Literary Biography. Chicano Writers. Vol. 209. Ref PS 153 .M4 C485 1999
Features an introductory essay on the history of Chicano literature.
Handbook of Hispanic Cultures in the U.S. Literature and Art. Vol. 1. Ref E184 .S75 H365
Contains information about Chicano literature, Latina women writers, and literary language of United States Hispanics.
Hispanic Literature Criticism. Ref PQ 6039 .H5 1994
Presents biographical and critical information about major Hispanic writers and their works.
Hispanic Writers. Ref PQ 7081.3 H58 1991
Explores the Latino contribution to literature and culture in the Americas.
Masterpieces of Latino Literature. Ref PQ 7081.3 .H58 1991
Features critical summaries and descriptions of great works by Latino authors.
World Literature and Its Times. Latin American Literature and Its Time. Ref PQ 7081 .M625 1999
Provides information on notable literary works and analysis of the historical events that influenced them. Contains a useful chronology of Latin America and the United States. The essay on Tomás Rivera's And the Earth Did Not Devour Him explores the exploitation and alienation of Mexican American migrant laborers and the politcal activism of La Raza Unida.


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Image of Ancient Mexican Seal Design
Other useful reference books

These books are shelved in the Reference Room
of the LAC Library.

Chicano history
American Immigrant Cultures. 2 vols. Ref E 184 .A1 A63448 1997
Civil Rights in the United States. 2 vols. Ref E 184 .A1 C47 2000

Biography
American Writers Ref PS 129 .A55
American National Biography Bio Ref CT 213 .A68 1999
Contemporary Authors Bio Ref Z 1224 .C58
Current Biography Bio Ref CT 100 .C8
Dictionary of Hispanic Biography Bio Ref E 184.5 .S75 D53 1996
Dictionary of World Biography, The 20th Century. 3 vols. Bio Ref CT 104 .D54
Encyclopedia of World Biography. 20 vols. Bio Ref CT 103 .E56 1998
Notable Hispanic American Women. 2 vols. Bio Ref E 184 .S75 N68 1998
Notable Latino Americans Bio Ref E 184 .S75 M435 1997

Feminist literary criticism
American Women Writers. 5 vols. Ref PS 147 .A4 1994
Cambridge Guide to Women’s Writing in English Ref PR 111 .S24 1999
Feminist Writers Ref PN 451 .F46 1996
Masterplots II, Women’s Literature Series Ref PN 471 .M37 1995
Modern American Women Writers Ref PS 151 .M54 1990
The Oxford Companion to Women’s Writing in the United States Ref PS 147 .O94 1995

Critical works on the genre of the novel
Critical Survey of Long Fiction. 8 vols. Ref PN 3451 .C75 2000
Masterplots II. American Fiction Series. 6 vols. Ref PS 373 .M37 2000
Novels for Students. 10 vols. Ref PN 3365 .N68 2001

Critical works on the genre of poetry
Critical Survey of Poetry Ref PR 502 .C85 1992
Masterplots II. Poetry Series. 9 vols. Ref PN 1110.5 M37 1998
Poetry Criticism. 42 vols. Ref PN 1010 .P62
Poetry for Students. 11 vols. Ref PN 1101 .P64 2001

Specialized dictionaries and encyclopedias
American Writers. 13 vols. Ref PS 129 .A55
The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms Ref PN 41 .C67 1990
A Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Theory. 4th ed. Ref PN 41 .C83 1998
Encyclopedia of Literature Ref PN 41 .M42 1995
A Glossary of Literary Terms. 7th ed. Ref PN 41 .A184 1999
A Handbook of Literature Ref PN 41 .H6 1992
A Multicultural Dictionary of Literary Terms Ref PN 41 .C28 1999
The Poet’s Dictionary Ref PN 44.5 .P3 1989
Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics Ref PN 1021 .N39 1993


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FIND BOOKS TO CHECK OUT
The Library’s online catalog, called Voyager, indexes books, pamphlets, and other material by subject, author, title, keyword, and call number. By searching Voyager, you may identify author biographies, critical texts, and literary texts.

To search Voyager by subject, enter your search term (if it’s an author’s name, remember to enter the last name first), then click on “subject search” in the pull-down menu on the right side of the screen.

American fiction Hispanic American authors [Subject Search]
American literature Mexican American authors History and criticism [Subject Search]
American poetry Hispanic American authors [Subject Search]
Mexican American authors History and criticism [Subject Search]
Mexican Americans in literature [Subject Search]

Keyword searching allows you to search by descriptive words.
         Latino writers [Keyword Search]

Since LBCC Library has a partnership agreement with CSULB, you may check out books from the University Library. To identify books, search CSULB's online catalog, called Coast, which is accessible over the Web at http://coast.csulb.edu.


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FIND ARTICLES
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The Library subscribes to a number of online databases, which are accessible over the World Wide Web, from remote computers or those located in the Library. These databases index and abstract articles, and in some cases, provide the full text, enabling you to print a copy at a cost of $.10 per page. Alternatively, you may e-mail a copy of the article to your e-mail address, if you have one, and print it later at home.


The databases that are perhaps the most useful for your assignment are Literature Research Center, Biography Resource Center, and ProQuest. To access the Library’s online databases, first point your browser to the Library’s homepage at http://lib.lbcc.edu. Click on the button labeled "Online Databases." You will see a list of databases available for searching. Click on the database you want to search. If you are accessing the databases remotely from your home or office computer, you will be prompted for a user name and password. You may obtain a list of the current user names and passwords from a librarian at the Reference Desk.

To become proficient in database searching, the librarians recommend that you attend the free, drop-in workshops, offered on Tuesday from 1:30 to 3 pm in Room L208 (the Open-Access Lab.). There, you will receive individual instruction and hands-on practice.

Literature Resource Center (LRC)
This database contains full-text biographical and critical information about authors, literary movements, themes, and genres. Once you have selected Literature Resource Center from the list of available databases, click on the button labeled "Authenticate." You will see a list of GaleNet databases. Once more, click on Literature Resource Center.

There are many ways to search this database. To find information on a particular writer, type in the person's name in the box labeled “Author Search,” then click on the search button.

Sample author searches
Julia Alvarez [author search]
Gary Soto [author search]

After entering your search, the database will display biographical information about the writer you entered, as well as a list of critical articles. For the full text of an article, click on its title.
To find scholarly articles providing literary criticism about the writer's work, click on the tab labeled “Literary Criticism, Articles, & Work Overview.”
To identify Web sites devoted to the writer, click on the tab labeled “Additional Resources.”
To identify scholarly articles about a particular literary work, try the Title search. From the LRC homepage, click on “Title,” enter the title of the work, enter the name of the writer, then click the “Search” button.

Sample title search
Bless Me, Ultima [Exact title]
Anaya, Rudolfo [Start of last name]

Biography Resource Center (BRC)
BRC provides access to biographical information, full-text articles, and Web sites. To search BRC, simply enter the name of the writer you are researching, then click on the type of information you want to obtain.
Sample search
Richard Rodriguez

ProQuest
ProQuest indexes literature published in newspapers, magazines, and journals. This database is organized into collections of publications related to particular areas of focus. To focus your search on literary criticism, you may click on "Collections" from the main menu, and then select "Humanities Module."

The basic search allows you to search for keywords and combine keywords with the following connecting words (known as Boolean operators): AND, OR, NOT.

Sample basic search
Alvarez and Garcia girls

The guided search allows you to use fields to focus your search on a specific piece of information. Sample fields are subject, author, and publication name.

Sample guided searches
Acosta, Oscar [Personal Name]
literary criticism [Subject]

Print indexes
Essay and General Literature Index Index Ref AI 3 .E752
Humanities Index Index Ref AI 3 .H85
MLA International Bibliography. (Note: An online version is available, but the Library does not subscribe to it at this time.) Ref Z 7006 .M64. 1963-1991


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FIND WEB SITES

Several useful Web sites, related to literature, are accessible from the Library's homepage at http://lib.lbcc.edu. Click on "Internet Resources," then click on "Literature." You will see a list of relevant sites. Since the list contains hypertext links, simply click on the site you want to visit. (Note: Information on the Web is extremely dynamic, and some of the links may be "dead"--that is, they may no longer work.)

Librarians' Index to the Internet (LII) is an annotated subject directory of Internet Resources. To identify relevant resources, access this site at URL http://www.lii.org, then click on "Literature" and select a topic from the list, or enter your own search.

Google is a powerful search engine, used to search 2 billion Web pages. To access Google, go to http://www.google.com. To enter a query, type in descriptive words and press "enter," or click on the Google search button. Since Google is designed to retrieve pages that include all of your research terms, there is no need to include "and" between them. Following is a sample Google search:
Gary Soto


When selecting additional Web sites for research, consult Thinking Critically about Discipline-based WWW Resources. This page, authored by UCLA librarian Esther Grassian, presents an excellent set of criteria for evaluating the authority and reliability of Web sites.



CITE YOUR SOURCES

Remember to list the sources used in your research in a bibliography or works-cited page following a documentation style, such as MLA (Modern Language Association) or APA (American Psychological Association). The most up-to-date guides for citing Web pages and other electronic sources in footnotes and bibliographies are on the Web, and they are accessible from the Library's homepage at http://lib.lbcc.edu. Click on "Internet Resources," then click on "Citation Guides."


Contents: 
Find Reference Books | Find Books to Check Out | Find Articles | Find Web Sites | Cite Your Sources


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Images reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction or
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E-mail questions and comments to mwhite@lbcc.edu
Monica White, Liberal Arts Campus Library
http://lib.lbcc.edu/monicawhite/orientations/latinowriters.html
Last updated: July 21, 2003
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