Starting your research

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Key to library resources

	In the Library (or anywhere with a Library card for NSW residents)
	Only in the Library
	Publicly available

Introduction to your texts and key concepts

These eresources are a good starting point for your research, as well as a place to find overviews of major writers, literary movements (eg. romanticism), genres (eg. gothic novels), periods and detailed definitions.

Cambridge Companions [eresource]
Find authoritative introductions to authors, genres and historical periods of literature, from over 600 titles online. Literary criticism and debates by leading experts are included in detailed chapters, on topics such as the modern Gothic, world literature, twenty-first-century American poetry, the novel, and the Bloomsbury Group.
Oxford Reference [eresource]
Consult hundreds of specialist encyclopaedias, dictionaries and reference works from Oxford University Press. Browse by subject area (eg. Literature, Media Studies, Society and culture) or search across the database. Resources include A Dictionary of Critical Theory, The Oxford Companion to Australian Literature, The Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms, and The Oxford Encyclopaedia of British Literature.
Informit [eresource]
Browse the latest Australian literary journals for writing of all genres in full text. Using the Advanced search screen, type the journal title and then use the drop down arrow All Fields to choose Journal or Source Title. Journals include long-running publications such as Southerly, Meanjin and Island, and more recent and diverse publications such Griffith Review, Kill Your Darlings, The Lifted Brow, Voiceworks, Going Down Swinging and Overland.
Trove - Digitised Australian journals and magazines [external website]
Explore digitised Australian magazines from the early 20th century such as The Home and The Australian Women’s Mirror, and search within them. Select journal or magazine titles then search within them.
National Library of Australia: Research guide on Australian Literature [external website]
Gain an overview of resources on Australian Literature, including indigenous literature, drama, poetry and short stories. Find tips for searching library catalogues and databases, including useful subject headings (eg. Australian literature - - Women authors; Short stories, Australian - - 21st century).
Trove Books [external website]
Use Trove books search to find copies of texts held in libraries around Australia and in particular New South Wales public libraries.

Search tips for using eresources

Use “quotation marks” for exact phrase searching eg "social media"
Use ADVANCED search options to combine words using AND, OR, NOT
Use asterisks * for wildcards - alternative endings of words eg. poet* = poet, poets and poetry
Select Full Text search options to find only full text articles
Vary your search terms: try synonyms for your topic words eg. youth = teenagers, adolescents, young adults
Refine your results by limiting to scholarly or peer-reviewed (for academic level journals evaluated by experts)

Watch your spelling – both for accuracy and American spelling variations.

Featured journal: mETAphor

mETAphor is published by the English Teacher's Association NSW. Find full text articles through Informit database by entering the journal title in Citation Search. Whilst published for teachers, the journal has many relevant articles for HSC students, including close analyses of texts and genres, creative writing skills, essay writing tips, and a wide range of useful book reviews from many different genres.

English - HSC

Key to library resources