Finding Reference Resources in LION
Clicking "Criticism & Reference" from the LION main menu opens an "All" search of both criticism and reference.
Because criticism draws from several million scholarly articles, you may wish to focus on just reference resources when you are looking for an author biography or the definition of a literary concept.
Click on "Reference" to limit your search to LION's reference resources.
LION reference resources consist of over 3,500 author biographies, the online versions of 8 literary reference books, and KnowledgeNotes -- plot synopses and very basic commentary on selected works.
Note that the default setting is to search "All" these resources.
Searching Authors
A Subject search on "Bellow, Saul" retrieves 4 hits: a LION author biography and articles on Bellow from 3 reference sources ...
... whereas a Keyword search on "Saul Bellow" retrieves 38 articles in which Bellow is at least mentioned.
The Subject search guarantees articles where Bellow is the main focus, while the Keyword search also retrieves articles on writers and literary topics in which Bellow is simply mentioned.
Searching Literary Works
Expect to find articles on major works in literary reference books.
For selected texts LION also offers its own KnowledgeNotes: an overview of plot, characters, style, and themes.
WARNING:
Faculty will probably not accept KnowledgeNotes as an appropriate (scholarly) resource.
Searching Critical Concepts
Searching Technical Terms
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