Literary Research:

An Introduction
Research in Principle
Literary studies is not fundamentally a fact-
finding discipline.

It is a hermeneutic discipline.

Literary criticism does not prove its conclusions.

It persuades people of its conclusions.

This does not mean that
anything goes, or that
everyone is entitled to
their opinions and
nobody can arbitrate
between them!
In a scholarly context, persuasion
depends on:
 having a strong and clearly demonstrated grasp
of the facts, including the details of the text

 presenting a well-structured and supported

argument

 using a style and approach suited to audience

and purpose

 citing sources appropriately and accurately

Why Do Research?
 to learn more about your subject

 to
discover what others have said about your
subject

 to
enter into the ongoing conversation about
your subject

 to
find evidence and arguments to support
your claims about your subject
Literary Research…

 is not (just) about finding facts to report

 is not (just) about reporting what other

people have said

 is not (just) about citing people whose

arguments are the same as yours
Literary Research…
 is about getting your facts right

 is about learning what other people have said

 is about participating in ongoing critical

arguments

 is about contextualizing and supporting your

arguments using related material
Research is a Process

topic

source idea

improved
source
idea
The Research Process
 identify a topic (yours is assigned)

 generate an idea about your topic

 find relevant sources

 read, evaluate, and incorporate

repeat as
sources
necessary

 return to and revise your idea

Hard Times and
Industrialism education
• training workers

• education and politics

• parallels between
women and workers
women
Hard
• love or domesticity as
solution

Times
• circus as contrast to
factory
fact and
fancy • imagination as antidote
to oppression
factory
workers
 Dickens and
Industrialism

idea:
improved sympathizes
idea with factory
workers
Hard
Times

thinking and
reading research
 Focusing Your Topic
Dickens and Industrialism

Dickens is concerned about factory workers

Stephen Blackpool is a particularly sympathetic

character. What is his role in Dickens’s critique of
industrialism?

Time for some research!

 Critical debate over Stephen Blackpool

Is he a focus for sympathy? Does he put a human

face on suffering?
OR
Is Dickens’s treatment of him sentimental?
Patronizing? Paternalistic?

My interpretation of Stephen Blackpool’s role

(with reference to critical debate)
 Possible Thesis:

The depiction of Stephen Blackpool in Hard Times

epitomizes Dickens’s paternalistic solution to the
problems of industrialism.
 What might your sources do?

• Support general claims about Dickens’s views of

industrialism, factories, urban poverty

• Compare Dickens’s approach to other writers’

• Establish main lines of argument about Dickens’s

solutions to problems

• Make arguments about the specific role of Stephen

Blackpool in the novel or in Dickens’s reformist agenda
more generally

• Make arguments about other characters that help

illuminate Stephen Blackpool’s role
 Context on
Dickens

Arguments
Arguments
about
related thesis about Hard
Times
material

Arguments
about
Stephen
How do I actually
do this?
Research in Practice:
You are looking for scholarly sources, that is,

◦ works of literary research

◦ written by authors with appropriate academic credentials

◦ published by reputable presses or in peer-reviewed

journals

The best place to find such sources is the Iibrary.

Research in Practice
FINDING SOURCES IN THE LIBRARY

Catalogue: NOVANET

Databases: MLA Bibliography

Literature Online

Electronic Journals

all accessible from http://library.dal.ca

Research in Practice
Library’s English Subject Guide

http://guides.library.dal.ca/
Arts and Humanities
English

includes
• quick links to some major journals, databases,

websites
• guide to MLA formatting
Research on the Internet
Learn to evaluate the authority of websites

1. host / domain (look for scholarly affiliation, such as

.edu or name of university or library in URL)

2. authorship (who wrote the material? what are their

credentials or affiliations?)

3. purpose / audience (is it a scholarly source? a study

source? a reference source? a class website? a fan or
enthusiast site? only scholarly research sources are
acceptable for this assignment)
Google Is of Limited Use
Research in Practice
Start big—for example,

 Novanet search
◦ Subject: Dickens, Charles – Criticism and Interpretation

 MLA search
◦ Subject: Dickens, Charles

 Literature Online search

◦ Author/Subject: Dickens, Charles
That’s a
lot!
EEK!

 experiment with different strategies

to narrow or focus your search
Zero in on the sources that sound the most
promising:

looks
relevant!
Johnson’s argument
 the factory stands as central metaphor of
Hard Times
 the various systems the novel describes (law,

economy, education, etc.) function

(metaphorically) as ‘factory walls’ around the
characters’ lives
 the novel itself is similarly structured
 Stephen & Louisa are the ‘fuel’ (and waste),

destroyed by system . . .
 relevant!
Yay! I found a relevant article.

Now I can:

1.Use the essay as a source.

2.Use the essay to find more sources

(follow the chain)
Lather, rinse, repeat!