Charles Dickens
(1812-1870)

Research Guide

 2007

Valencia West Campus Library Tutorial Series

                                                   

Author Guides West Campus Library Home Page Tutorial Series

BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
Charles Dickens is probably the most widely read Victorian novelist.  He was an English author of short stories and novels.  Some of his most well known novels are Great Expectations, A Tale of Two Cities and Oliver Twist.  (Biography Resource Center)

REFERENCE SOURCES:
The following reference books can be used to get both biographical and critical information about authors.   Each book has one or more volumes.  Check the index (located either in the back of the book or a separate volume) for your author's name and/or a title of his or her work.
BIOGRAPHICAL SOURCES:
British Authors of the 19th Century
REF PR 451 .K8

Dictionary of Literary Biography
REF PS 221 .D5

CRITICAL SOURCES:

Critical Survey of Long Fiction
REF PN 3321 .C75

Great Writers of the English Language
REF PR 85 .G66

British Writers
REF PR 85 .B688

Critcal Survey of Mystery and Detective Fiction
REF PN 3348 .D4 C75 1988

Cambridge History of English Literature
REF PR 83 .C22 1919

Nineteenth Century Literary Criticism
REF PS 761 .N5

Short Story Criticism
REF PN 3321 .S5

Library of Literary Criticism of English and American Authors
REF PR 83 .M73

Library of Literary Criticism: The Critical Temper
REF PR 83 .C764

Supernatural Fiction Writers: Fantasy and Horror
REF PN 3435 .S96

Writers for Children
REF PN 1009 .A1 W73


LINCCWeb Searching:
The library catalog online (LINCCWeb) allows you to search for materials about or written by your author.  Click on the links below to view sample searches within the library catalog. 

Sample LINCC Keyword Search: "Charles Dickens"
Sample LINCC Author Search: "Dickens, Charles"

BROWSE THESE CALL NUMBERS:

PZ3 .D55
PR 4552 .A2 through PR 4564

FULL-TEXT DATABASES:
Search for articles and criticism about your author. (Highly recommended are highlighted)
From your home computer, login using your borrower id ( the 14 digit number on the back of your student ID) and your pin (EITHER the last 4 digits of your SSN for returning users OR the last 4 digits of your VID number for new students).

Academic Search Premier

Arts and Humanities Index

Biography Resource Center

Book Review Digest Plus

eBooks/netLibrary

Essay & General Literature Index

Expanded Academic ASAP

Humanities Full Text

InfoTrac OneFile

JSTOR

Literature Resource Center

MagillOnLiteraturePlus

New York Times Historical Edition

OmniFile Full Text Mega

WEB SITES:

The Best of Times: The Theater of Charles Dickens
Dickens Live: A Charles Dickens Journal
David Perdue's Charles Dickens Page
The Dickens Page
The Dickens Project (University of California)
Conservation of Charles Dickens' Manuscripts
Charles Dickens E-books
The Internet Public Library: Charles Dickens Literary Criticism
Literary Resources on the Net

SAMPLE GOOGLE SEARCHES:

intitle:"charles dickens" site:edu
(title phrase and domain search)
"charles dickens" "literary criticism"
(phrase searches with deafult AND)
intitle:"charles dickens" "great expectations"
(title and phrase search)

EVALUATE YOUR SOURCES:

Distinguishing Between Popular and Scholarly Sources
Evaluating Data
Evaluating Internet Sources
Using Primary and Secondary Sources

DOCUMENT YOUR SOURCES:

APA Documentation of Print Sources
APA Documentation of Electronic Sources

MLA Documentation of Print Sources
MLA Documentation of Electronic Sources

 

 

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Copyright (C) 2007
Valencia Community College West Campus Library
All rights reserved
Date last revised: 18 June 2007
This Research Guide prepared by: Catherine Katz

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