Johns Hopkins Online Guide to Literary Theory

An Overview

From your Rabelais to your Derrida, this guide offers encyclopedic entries on the top minds working in literary theory. Traditional philosophers, like Jean Jacques Rosseau, are also covered. You can search by name or by school of thought (ex., Derrida or deconstruction). Each entry includes a comprehensive bibliography.

Start at Steely Library's homepage: http://library.nku.edu.
Click the Library Quick Links box.
Choose Articles & Databases. Then Click Go.

Using quick links to go to articles and databases

Click the letter J.

Choosing the letter J from the alphabetical list of databases

Select Johns Hopkins Online Guide to Literary Theory.

Selecting Johns Hopkins Online Guide to Literary Theory

**If you are working from off-campus, you will be asked to enter your NKU username and password.

Once you enter the database, here are some key features:

Key features of Johns Hopkins Online Guide to Literary Theory - User Guide and Search the Guide

  • Want more in-depth use? Download the User Guide.
  • Search the guide by entering the name of the person or the school or thought
  • The table of contents allows you to browse by country, entry, or by name.

Once you hit search, you can narrow your results:

Narrowing your results in the Johns Hopkins Online Guide to Literary Theory

Narrow your search by searching for your term anywhere in the document, only in the body, or in the bibliographies of entries.

Once you click an entry you like. . .

Entry example in the Johns Hopkins Online Guide to Literary Theory

Each entry has clickable related terms, such as structuralism in this entry. You can also click on other authors who are arguing along the same lines. All relevant entries are cross-referenced when relevant and when it first appears. (Example: Foucault may be but not queer theory.)

If you scroll down in the entry, you will discover. . .

Bibliography in the Johns Hopkins Online Guide to Literary Theory

Many relevant terms are listed in the bibliography.

Below the bibliography are:

Secondary sources in the Johns Hopkins Online Guide to Literary Theory

If you are having trouble, there are two resources for you!

One is located on the database page and one is located on the library home page.

Back on the databases page. . .

Databases and Indexes page showing Johns Hopkins Online Guide to Literary Theory

Use the tutorial!

Johns Hopkins Online Guide to Literary Theory tutorial link

Click the tutorial link to be taken to an outside tutorial.

On the library home page, at http://library.nku.edu, located at the bottom left. . .

Ask Steely Library button

Click the ASK Steely Library button to go to this page. . .

Ask Steely Library web page

While the library is open you can ask for help in so many ways!

Choose a method of help!