Literature Research Guide: Websites

Not all information is trustworthy.

(Extracted from common knowledge - we hope!)

Take a visit to these two web sites if you need guidance on evaluating the quality of the information you find on the internet.

CRAAP Test

Evaluate Websites (from the Community College of Rhode Island)
       

"Basic" Plots in Literature - Internet Public Library (IPL) FAQ
Literary Criticism - Index from the IPL
Literary Criticism on the Internet - from Literary History.com
Top 10 Literary Hoaxes - Guardian newspaper, U.K.
Writing in Literature - Purdue OWL

This listing of literature-related websites is intentionally selective and brief.  Its purpose is three-fold:

1. To introduce the reader to the diversity of types of literature-related websites available;
2. To serve as an enticement for the reader to explore the wealth of high quality resources available on the web;
3. To encourage students to have conversations with their instructors about these resources and their suitability for a particular assignment and for literary research in general.  It is important that students have this discussion with their instructors before including material from websites in their work.

ELECTRONIC BOOKS COLLECTIONS
American Verse Project
Bartleby
Hypertexts at the University of Virginia
Internet Archives: Digital Library of Free Books
Online Books Page
Poet's Corner - texts of poetry in public domain
Project Guttenberg
Wright American Fiction 1851-1875

WORKS OF INDIVIDUAL AUTHORS
Emily Dickinson Electronic Archives
Jack London Online Collection
Mark Twain Project Online
Shakespeare Online
Walt Whitman Archive

ABOUT AUTHORS
C-SPAN American Writers: A Journey through History
Today in Literature: Authors: Life Stories, Books and Links
 

American Literature - Voice of the Shuttle
Exiled Writers Ink: Voices in a Strange Land
Invitation to World Literature - Annenberg Foundation
Japanese Literature Home Page
VG/Voices from the Gaps - Women Writers & Artists of Color
World Book Club from the BBC

There are author websites for most major authors which are either maintained by the authors themselves or by a literary society that focuses on that author.  These sites usually present biographical information, author interviews, critical essays, additional resources, announcements for scholarly conferences, newsletters, etc.
Author websites are easily found with a simple Google search by typing the author's name in quotes.
Here are two examples.  The first is the author's own site and the second one is maintained by a literary society.
Terry Tempest Williams
Joy Harjo

Why is this here?  What does this sign have to do with literature?

If you don't already know discover the answer by doing some research about literature.