ENGL 2506: Introduction to Poetry

This guide was created for students in Fall 2024 ENGL 2506 Introduction to Poetry taught by Hodges Adams. This page includes resources to help get you started with your research on your chosen poetic movement and poet/poem for your research paper assignment. It includes encyclopedias where you can find articles defining your chosen movement and databases where you can find articles about the movement and your chosen poem/poetNeed more help? Contact Cecelia or Sherri.

See the Books and Ebooks tab for examples of ebooks and print books that talk about some 20th century poetic movements and related poets and poetry. 

See the grammar, style, and citation tab for general grammar and style guides and resources for help creating citations and bibliographies.

The Tools for Access tab includes several tools to help you access library content from anywhere in the world. 

In preparation for your research paper, you've hopefully begun thinking about possible questions/topics of interest related to the movement and poem you have chosen. 

You will also want to spend some time thinking about how you will conduct your research. 

• Fine-tune your searches.
  Think broadly when brainstorming search terms. What synonyms or related terms could stand in for your key search terms?
  You can combine search terms using AND ("Harlem Renaissance" AND poetry ) and look for synonyms using OR (poetry OR poems OR verse). Place terms you want to be searched as a phrase in quotation marks " ". 
  In many databases, the asterisk (*) is a truncation or "wildcard" symbol  that will match all possible endings for a word stem.  For example, ethic* will match ethics, ethical, ethically, ethicist, etc. 
  Most databases have filters or facets that allow you to narrow your results by subject, date range, etc. Limit your searches to help you find the sources you need. 
   
• Think about where you might find the type of information you are seeking.​
  Will you find the research you need in an e-book? An article? A newspaper? A documentary? An interview? For this assignment, you will likely be mostly looking for journal articles and/or essays/chapters from books. In general, though, when conducting research, cast a wide net when looking for the types of resources that could help answer your research question or support an argument you are making. 
   
• Know the difference between academic and non-academic sources, and when it's appropriate to use them.
  Most databases allow you to limit results to academic/scholarly/peer-reviewed sources. Be mindful of your assignment and what you're being asked to provide. Need a refresher? Watch the short video Peer Review in 3 Minutes.
   
• When you find a good source, use it to find other good sources. 
  Use the subject terms and keywords associated with an item to find other items on similar topics. Scholarly books and articles will have works cited, bibliographies, or footnotes you can mine for additional resources. 

Need help? Ask a librarian.  

Some encyclopedia entries give a very general, basic overview of a topic while others can be more in-depth and scholarly in nature. For your assignment, look for encyclopedias or reference materials that focus on poetry and use them to find more information on the poetic movement you've chosen. Often, they will include citations or recommended reading for where to find more information. Take a look at a few poetry-related encyclopedias and handbooks we have at the library. 

The UVA Library has access to over 1000 databases. Below are a few that might be useful for researching your poet and poem and their relationship to the poetic movement of choice. 

MLA International Bibliography (MLAIB) indexes the broadest range of resources about literature in all languages, as well as film, television, and popular culture, including over 4,000 journals as well as books and dissertations. For articles not available full-text in MLA, click on “Find article @ UVa Libraries,” or look up the journal title in Virgo, the library catalog.

ProQuest One Literature  is for scholars who want to engage with an exhaustive and diverse set of scholarly resources around a given literary topic for research. It contains 3 million literature citations from thousands of journals, monographs, dissertations, and more than 500,000 primary works – including rare and obscure texts, multiple versions, and non-traditional sources like comics, theater performances, and author readings.

Humanities International Complete Indexes over 2000 journals with full text for over 700 and for books and other publications. Topics covered include archaeology, art, dance, drama, ethnic and women's studies, history, literature, music, philosophy, poetry, religion.

JSTOR provides access to millions of journal articles, books, images, and primary sources in 75 disciplines. Good for content that is more than 3-5 years old. 

Virgo, the UVA Library’s primary search tool, contains catalog records for books, print journals, DVDs, maps, and digitized materials, as well as links to online articles from our rich array of subscription journals. You can search catalog materials and articles together - a regular search will provide tabs for books, articles, and other materials. You can also use the Filter tools on the left  to limit your results by author, format, publication date, and more. 

Example subject terms related to poetry & poetic movements: 

• American poetry - 20th century - History and criticism 
• American poetry -- New York (State) -- New York -- 20th century -- History and criticism
• Beat literature -- History and criticism 
• Beat poetry 
• Confession -- History -- 20th century
• Confession in literature 
• Confessional poetry 
• .Experimental poetry, American -- History and criticism
• Harlem Renaissance
• Imagist poetry -- History and criticism 
• Poetics -- History -- 20th century