Literary Research: Introduction

When you conduct literary research and produce something from that research (a paper, a poster, or other project), you are adding to the conversation literary scholars have likely been having about a work (poem, short story, play, or novel) since it was first published. 

So what does that mean?

• You are not reporting.
• You are not simply summarizing; although you may have to summarize a bit in order to make your point.
• You are saying something new about the work, expanding on what others have said...or you are saying something in a new or original way.
• You assert something (make a claim about the work...this is your thesis), and then support it with discussion using evidence from the work itself, evidence from other works, and/or evidence from "the conversation," i.e., what others have said. 
• You very likely will not find "the perfect source" that says everything you need it to say. You'll need to use information from different sources, possibly even from other disciplines (such as history, psychology, anthropology, etc.) along with with evidence from the work itself to make the points that flesh out and support your thesis.
  
  Click on the Finding Sources tab of this guide for a list of suggested databases!