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ENG 448 - The Roaring 20s: Finding Sources

Resources to help with ENG 448 research and writing assignments

Archival Sources

"Archival" sources (or contemporary sources) are sources that were published in the 1920s.  Likely, you will be looking at book reviews, letters, or newspaper interviews/articles with the authors.  The sources here should help you get started - but be careful to make use of the date limiter options!

Scholarly Literary Criticism and Reviews

Many of these databases also include biographical information and contemporary reviews (You will likely notice the duplication).  So here are some quick questions to ask yourself when identifying scholarly sources.  If you can answer "yes" to all of these questions, you are likely looking at a scholarly source.  

  1. Does the sources have a bibliography? 
  2. Is the source about 5-10 pages long?
  3. Does the source appear in a reputable, peer-reviewed journal?
  4. Does the source have an author listed?  Bonus: Are the author's credentials and contact info listed? 

You'll also want to consider the elements of the CRAAP test - high quality scholarly articles should score especially high in Authority, Accuracy, and Purpose. 

And if you are unsure, you can always ask your professor or your librarians!

Biography and Autobiography