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Literature in English

Browse library materials for the study of literature in English

Welcome ENGLISH 190-001 Students!

Class Activity Instructions

https://forms.gle/BJCG2TyoRbYQ23RK8

Resources featured in class

Further Reading - Woolf and the Bloomsbury Group

A selection of original Woolf editions in the Bancroft Library

Evaluating Sources

Quick Guide to Evaluating Sources

When you encounter any kind of source, consider:

  1. Authority - Who is the author? What is their point of view? 
  2. Purpose - Why was the source created? Who is the intended audience?
  3. Publication & format - Where was it published? In what medium?
  4. Relevance - How is it relevant to your research? What is its scope?
  5. Date of publication - When was it written? Has it been updated?
  6. Documentation - Did they cite their sources? Who did they cite?

For a deeper dive on source evaluation, see our Evaluating Resources Guide.

Evaluating Sources - Tactics

There are many ways to evaluate sources. Here are a few tactics:

  • Use search features like peer-review limiters to only see peer-reviewed search results. (Note: This may only return articles and exclude books from your search.)
  • Look at any information provided in the source about the author(s) and their affiliations.
  • Click on the hyperlinked author name in a source record to search for other works by that author. 
  • Find book reviews to understand another person's view of the book.
  • Search for the author or publisher in Google to find information about them and their other publications.
  • Use 'cited by' features in Google Scholar and some other systems to see how much the source has been cited by others. (Note: With newer sources (under 5 years old) expect fewer citations. It takes time to publish academic work!)

Additional Helpful Tools and Tips

Zotero - Manage Citations and Bibliographies

Zotero is a free tool that helps you import citations and PDF files, organize your sources, and generate a bibliography. Find out how to install Zotero and get started in our guide.

Finding books on the shelf

UC Berkelely Library shelves are organized by Library of Congress call number. See our brief guide to reading call numbers to help you locate a book on the shelf.

Research Basics

A few more guides to help you get started on the right foot or take full advantage of the resources the Library offers.