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English and American Literature

A resource guide for the study of English and American Literature.

Database search tips

Here are some tips for better search results in databases.

This usage works on most databases, but check 'Help' sections for supported search syntax.

Boolean: (using operators: and, or, not)

  • mother AND father searches for occurrences of both words within scope defined.
  • mother OR father searches for one or all, but both are not required.
  • mother NOT father searches for occurrences of the word ‘mother’ without use of the word ‘father.’
  • (mother NOT father) AND god searches for occurrences of the word ‘mother’ without use of the word ‘father,’ then also requires the word ‘god.’

Truncation:

art* (asterisk as truncation character) searches for art, arts, artistic, artful, etc.


Wildcard:

m?n (question mark as wildcard character) searches for man and men.

Search Google Scholar

Keep in mind that Google Scholar does NOT search all of NYU's licensed databases. To do a comprehensive search, use the databases in your subject area or choose a database from our alphabetical list.

Try a search:

Google Scholar

Literary Criticism via General / Multi-Disciplinary databases

Literary Criticism via Subject Specific databases