ENGL 4361 Literature for Adolescents

Keywords and phrases for finding literary criticism

By genre or form

• Adolescent literature
  Possible keywords: young adult fiction, coming-of-age, adolescence AND literature, teenage protagonists, bildungsroman
• Metafiction
  Possible keywords: metafiction, self-referential narratives, narrative structure, storytelling about storytelling, authorial voice, fourth wall
• Surrealism and speculative fiction
  Possible keywords: surrealism, magical realism, speculative fiction, allegory, symbolism, imagination, worldbuilding AND literature

By topic

• Trauma and growth
  Possible keywords: trauma, intergenerational trauma, resilience, posttraumatic growth, coping mechanisms, emotional trauma AND literature,
• Race and representation
  Possible keywords: race, racial identity, racism, racial stereotypes, racialized experiences, multiculturalism, diversity in literature, ethnicity AND culture, systemic inequality
• Body Image and self-perception
  Possible keywords: body image, self-esteem, body positivity, self-acceptance, physical appearance AND literature, body representation

A note on searching for a title or author directly

In many databases and scholarly search engines (like Google Scholar) searching for the title of a work will surface results for book reviews or interviews which are not peer-reviewed. To avoid this problem, combine the title/author with a keyword relevant to your topic.

Examples: "American Born Chinese" AND identity, Isabel Quintero AND Chican*, Pet AND Akwaeke Emezi AND speculative fiction

Create a Search Strategy

The most efficient way to search in a database is to use the words AND, OR, and NOT to define relationships between keywords and phrases. Learning how to use these operators ensure that you will be able to quickly find articles that are most appropriate for your topic.

AND - combines terms and narrows results. The database must find all of the keywords and phrases in an article in order to return results.

OR - identifies alternate terms and expands results. The database will return results with any (or both) of the keywords in the record.

NOT - subtracts results containing the NOT term, narrowing the results. The database will search for articles containing the first time, then remove results that contain the NOT term.

Use "OR" to maximize your search results

Using the boolean operator OR can make searching in the databases quicker and easier, but you have to format the search correctly.

1. Open an advanced search in your chosen database (many databases default to advanced search)
2. Enter your keywords leaving the operator box set to AND
3. Add alternate terms to the appropriate box using OR between each term (you can add as many terms as you'd like
4. Click "Search" and evaluate your results

Look for additional keywords in:

• Abstracts/Summaries even if the article is not relevant to your research, it may provide terms common to the field or other term related to your research.
• Book Indexes are basically keywords lists that help you navigate information in a physical book.
• "Suggested Topics" or "Related Searches" in databases and Google Scholar. Often these can help you rephrase terminology into the "official" database subjects.