These books talk about the theme, style, structure, and purpose of literary works. There are two online databases that are good sources of criticism. The best place to start is probably:
Gale Academic OneFile's advanced search displays a screen with multiple spaces for key words, as shown below. Try putting "Tolkien" on the first line and the title of the book on the second line. Then check off the boxes next to "Chemeketa Periodicals," "Full text," and "Scholarly journals." Click "Search. If you find too many book reviews, try adding "Not reviews," in the Subject, as shown in the illustration.
You can also Academic Onefile Subject Search. To do a subject search for information in the database, start Academic Onefile and click on the Browse Subjects link in the toolbar banner.
When you click a subject, a list of articles will appear. If you wish, you can use the "Refine Results" sidebar to limit your search to full electronic text. An option is also available to add a word to your search or to limit results to peer-reviewed (i.e., scholarly) journals.
To find books on Tolkien, search in a library catalog. The CCRLS catalog covers Chemeketa and the public libraries in its area.
The Summit catalog covers 36 college and university libraries in Oregon and Washington. For information on Summit borrowing, including how Chemeketa students can use other Summit libraries as visiting patrons, see About Summit.
If you are near Chemeketa's Salem campus, you may wish to check whether there may be items on reserve for ENG221. Reserve items are kept at the library's Circulation desk.
These reference books and sites will explain specialized literary terms that may be found in works of criticism:
| Oxford Reference Online has a number of handbooks and dictionaries of English literature, all searchable with one interface. | |
| Some reference books at Chemeketa | R 803 C74 | The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms (also available in Oxford Reference Online) |
| R 801.95014 H31 | A glossary of contemporary literary theory |
| R 803 C18 | A multicultural dictionary of literary terms |
| R 803 H73 | A Handbook to Literature |
| R 803 M55 | Merriam-Webster's Encyclopedia of Literature |
| Also available online in Literature Resource Center | |
| R 820.3 Ox2 | The Oxford Companion To English Literature |
| Also available online in Oxford Reference Online | |
| R 820.9 C14 | The Cambridge Guide to Literature in English |
| [online] | Oxford Reference Online has eight reference books on mythology and folklore |
| REF 293.13 L64 | Handbook of Norse mythology |
| REF 299.16 M19 | Dictionary of Celtic mythology |
| REF 398.209415 Oh5 | The lore of Ireland : an encyclopaedia of myth, legend and romance |
| R 801.95014 H31 | Brewer's dictionary of phrase and fable |
| REF 803 B43 1996 | Benet's reader's encyclopedia |
A user-friendly book on Norse mythology, not in reference, is
| 293.13 C88 | The Norse myths |
Encyclopedia Mythica online covers Norse and Celtic mythologies, among others.