Features

Designed to meet the research needs of undergraduate students, the Literature 
Resource Center (LRC) provides biographical, bibliographical, and criticism of authors 
of all types from all time periods. LRC covers more than 120,000 novelists, poets, 
essayists, critics, journalists, and other writers, with in-depth coverage of 2,500 of 
the most studied authors, as well as literary movements and literary themes. The 
database is updated continuously. LRC includes such special features as:

• Over 300,000 full-text (i.e., complete) articles from a core collection of literary 
  journals

• Plot summaries, work overviews, and explications for more than 2,000 major 
  works of literature

• Over 40,000 critical essays on all aspects of literature

• 2,500 author portraits and more than 120,000 author biographies

• Merriam Webster’s Encyclopedia of Literature, featuring 10,000 definitions of 
  literary terms

• Links to authoritative related websites

• Contains a Research Guide: “Guide to Conducting Literary Research”

• Authors on the Highway section lists author appearances by city, state, or venue

Where Is It?

LRC can be accessed from any of the workstations throughout the Library and the 
college campus via the Articles & More option on the Library’s homepage. Remote 
access is available to Santa Ana College students, faculty, and staff.

Finding Information

LRC can be searched by author or title; in addition, searches can be conducted by 
literary movement or time period, and by using keywords or a variety of criteria. 
Once you have entered the database, select the type of search you need:

Author Search: Retrieves all information related to an author, including biographies, 
literary criticism, journal articles, websites, literary and historical events from that 
author’s lifespan, etc. Type the name of the author in the rectangular search box. 
You can type first name first (william shakespeare) or last name first with a comma (shakespeare, william) or enter only part of an author’s name.

Title Search: Searches for all information related to a title. You can search either 
the exact title or for any or all words contained in a title— just click on the 
appropriate radio button. When using the exact title search, be sure to include the leading
article of the title (“A,” “An,” “The”). Searches can be further refined by adding in the 
author’s name.

Authors by Type: Searches for an author using a variety of classifications specific 
to the author, such as nationality, ethnicity, date of birth/death, genre, etc.

Literary-Historical Time: Searches specific date ranges for literary figures, 
movements, and historical events.

Keyword/Advanced Search: Allows users to conduct very broad searches using a 
variety of terms or concepts.

Reviewing Results Lists

After you have filled in your search criteria (e.g., title, author) and selected Search, 
you will be presented with a list of the available records that fulfill your query. When 
you search for an author, you will be taken to the Results Page for that author and 
given a selection to choose from:

• Biographies (information on the life and background of the author)

• Literary Criticism, Articles, and Work Overviews

• Bibliographies (lists of additional books and articles written by or about the author)

• Additional resources (selected websites on the author)

• Literary-Historical Timeline (major events that occurred during the author’s lifetime)

• To review/read an item from the results list, click on the blue citation record to 
  call up the information on your computer screen.

Printing

To print, select the print button in the upper left of the screen to automatically 
format the document for printing; click on Print in the toolbox menu. The Library 
charges ten cents ($.10) a page to print.

Email Articles

To email articles, select the select the email button in the upper left of 
the screen; enter the email address in the blank box; select either HTML or Plain Text; 
click on Send.

Downloading

To save your results to a disk, select “Save as” from the File menu. Then: Change 
drive to Drive A (3½ floppy); Change the file name and extension to .txt 
(e.g., article1.txt); Change Save as Type: to Text File; Click Save button to 
begin downloading.

Marking Documents

Documents may also be saved to a marked list for later reading. To save to the 
Mark List, check the box next to the title in the Results List, then click on the button 
“Update Mark List.” Checked documents will be sent to the Mark List. To see the 
marked records, click on the “View Mark List” button on the left side of the screen.

Citing LRC

Using the Modern Language Association (MLA) format, citation elements for records 
in LRC should include (if available): author, article title, publication name, publication 
date, page number/range, database name, service provider name, name of the library 
where service was accessed, date of access or use, URL or web address of the service.

Examples:

Barnhisel, Greg. “An Overview of ‘A Worn Path’.” Short Stories for Students. 1997. 
       Literature Resource Center. GaleNet. Santa Ana College, Santa Ana, CA. 30 March 
       2002. <http://www. infotrac.galegroup.com>.

Coddon, Karin S. “Slander in and Allow’d Fool : Twelfth Night’s Crisis of the 
       Aristocracy.” Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900 33 (1993): 309-25. 
       Literature Resource Center. GaleNet. Santa Ana College, Santa Ana, CA. 
       1 April 2002. <http://www.Infotrac.galegroup.com>.

Eisiner, Chester E. “Herzog: Overview.” Reference Guide to American Literature. 3rd ed. 
       1994. Literature Resource Center. GaleNet. Santa Ana College, Santa Ana, CA. 
       1 April 2002. <http://www.infotrac.galegroup.com>.

Materer. Timothy. “Sylvia Plath.” Dictionary of Literary Biography, Volume 152: 
       American Novelists Since World War II, Fourth Series: 194-201. 1980. 
       Literature Resource Center. GaleNet. Santa Ana College, Santa Ana, CA. CA. 
       30 March 2002. <http://www.infotrac.galegroup.com>.

NEED ADDITIONAL INFORMATION?

Additional information on authors and literary works will be found in other library 
databases, including EBSCOHost Academic Search.

Page URL: http://www.sac.edu/students/library/nealley/pathfinders/LRC.htm
Web page submitted by DR