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Lansing Community College Library

Banned Books: Finding Articles

A research guide for use by students learning about banned books.

What is Literary Criticism?

Literary criticism is the evaluation, analysis, description, or interpretation of literary works. It is usually in the form of a critical essay, but in-depth book reviews can sometimes be considered literary criticism.

Criticism may examine:

  • a particular literary work
  • an author's writings as a whole

Definition from IPL Lit Criticism Pathfinder

I Can't Find Enough Criticism...

You might need to broaden your search to include:

  • Author’s Work in General
  • Themes or Motifssuch as utopia, scapegoat
  • Types of Criticism – Marxist, feminist
  • Genre – such as science fiction
  • Literary Elements – such as metaphor, imagery
  • Time & Culture – such as 20th century, women

Find Literary Criticism with OneSearch

 

 

Find literary criticism published in peer-reviewed journals in multiple databases.

 

Search Tips for OneSearch

  • Put the title of the work in quotes and the author's last name, for example, "Doll's House" Ibsen
  • If you can't find criticism about a specific work, put the author's name in quotes along with the word criticism, e.g. "Luisa Valenzuela" criticism

Recommended Literature Research Databases

Writing About Literature