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Finding Web Sites on Literary Topics
By far, the best search engine on the World Wide Web is Google, which is located and maintained at Stanford University. Google allows for phrase searches, for combination (boolean) searches, and for domain limitations. For example, if you wanted to find sites about writing Literary Analyses which included Online Tutorials and were hosted by educational institutions, you would type in the following (including spaces and punctuation):
"literary analysis" "online tutorial" site:.edu
This search results in 72 hits (of the millions of sites on the web), and one of those hits is called Media and Media Literacy. It's site description states "This online tutorial takes students through ... Literary Analysis Guide Suggestions to help students analyze a passage from ...," which indicates that this site may have exactly what you are looking for. Indeed, this site has a section called WRITING ABOUT LITERATURE which contains links to tutorials and examples of literary analyses (HINT: In this case, the site could be accessed as a .doc (Microsoft Word file) or as a .html site. In such cases, chose the .html (web page), and you will note that Google color codes your result so you can quickly find the words "literary analysis" on the page.
But back to why the searched worked: The Google command for domain limitation is site:, followed by the domain you wish to limit results to, such as government agencies (.gov), universities (.edu), not-for-profit organizations (.org), and military sites (.mil). By typing site:.edu in the above search, you are telling the search engine to return only those sites that come from educational institutions. The Google command for a phrase search is enclosing the phrase within quotes. So when you typed "literary analysis" and "online tutorials" (in quotes), you tell the search engine not to return sites with the word literary in them, unless that word is immediately followed by the word analysis. The space between the three commands takes the place of the boolean operator and, thus allowing you to combine terms.
Of course, you can also click on Google's Advanced Search options, which would allow you to more graphically envision your search strategy. And as always with the web, keep in mind that site evaluation is important, as this web tutorial instructs.
Now try typing the following into Google:
"edgar allan poe society"
You will retrieve the Edgar Allan Poe Society of Baltimore webpage in your results list. This is a site run by an organization dating back to 1923, which since 1977 has focused on hosting the annual commemorative Poe lecture and its associated publications. In addition, the society continues to respond to all inquires relating to Poe's life and works. In a typical year, the Poe Society receives dozens of letters from around the world, particularly from school children seeking general guidance for reports and other projects (The Edgar Allan Poe Society is a legally established non-profit organization, incorporated in the state of Maryland).
Now try this search:
"kate chopin" awakening feminism site:.edu
You will retrieve over 2000 hits discussing this aspect of her novel.
The other excellent search engine on the web is called All The Web. However, it is not as intuitive as Google. You have to click on Advanced Search in order to get it to handle phrases correctly, or in order to limit your results by domain extension. Still, alltheweb.com allows some commands that Google does not, so if you need to do an expert search, give it a try. Where both Google and All The Web allow you to search for images, only All the Web will allow you to find video and audio files.
Tony Fonseca
Serials Librarian
325 Ellender Memorial Library
Phone: 985-448-4675
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