C103: Heroes, Superheroes, and Antiheroes

COLL-C 103, Critical Approaches to the Arts and Humanities

 

Intensive Freshman Seminar: Heroes, Superheroes, and Antiheroes 

 

FIND BOOKS: IUCAT

IUCAT (Indiana University’s Online Library Catalog) includes books, periodicals (newspapers, magazines, and journals), and dissertations. You cannot use it to find individual articles within journals.

 

Search Tips

When your search words are specific and quite unique, a keyword search may work well enough. However, it is often better to search in a more structured way for items on a particular subject. To browse available subjects, choose “Begins with (Browse)” on the Basic Search page, then type your search terms into the box and hit “subject.” Try this using the following terms:

 

Heroes

Superheroes

Antiheroes

Graphic novels

Comic books, strips, etc.

Motion pictures

Literary form

 

You will see a list of subjects relating to these topics. You can move backwards and forwards through this list. When you click on a particular subject, you will be taken to a list of items (usually books) that are considered most relevant to the subject you have chosen.

 

You might also like to use “Advanced Keyword Search” to search for books on combinations of these topics.

 

Finding the Books 

You will need to keep a record of the Library of Congress “call numbers” that have been assigned to the books you would like to consult. A call number usually looks something like this:

 

PN6714 .V47 2007

 

Many of the books that you are likely to need for this course can be found on the 9th floor of the East Tower of the Wells Library. This floor is home to books that deal with concepts such as genre and theme, and which range over literature, film, and the visual arts.

 

FIND ARTICLES 

To find individual articles in scholarly journals, try searching one or more of the following resources. Some of the databases include books and essays in books as well as articles.

 

It is recommended that you access full-text collections and databases from the “Resource Gateway” section of this page: http://www.libraries.iub.edu/index.php. Your user name and password will always be the ones that you use to access other applications, such as Oncourse and Webmail.

 

Full-Text Collections 

JSTOR

Provides full-text access to the content of many academic journals in the humanities and social sciences. Historical coverage is strong, but current issues of journals are not included.

 

Periodicals Archive Online

Scholarly journals in the humanities and social sciences dating back to the 18th century. Current issues are not included.

 

Project MUSE

Journals in the social sciences and humanities published by university presses and scholarly societies from 1985 to the present

 

Databases 

Modern Language Association International Bibliography

Database covering critical literature in language and literature, linguistics, and folklore published after 1926. Includes journal articles, and also some books, dissertations, web sites, films, and sound recordings. Does not generally provide access to the full text of articles.

 

Annual Bibliography of English Language and Literature

Includes journal articles and also books pertaining to English and American language and literature and related fields. Coverage: 1920-present. Does not provide access to the full text of articles.

 

Film and Television Literature Index

Our most comprehensive database for the film and television industry, indexing articles, book reviews, and film reviews. Coverage: 1976-present. Provides access to full text where available.

 

HOW TO CITE IN MLA STYLE MLA 

(Modern Language Association) style is used in the fields of language and literature to refer to sources used in a research paper. The following are examples of how to cite commonly-used types of sources in MLA style.

 

Books (by one or more authors):

Johnson, Jeffrey K. Super-History: Comic Book Superheroes and American Society, 1938 to the Present. Jefferson: McFarland, 2012. Print.

 

Allison, Scott T., and George R. Goethals. Heroes: What They Do and Why We Need Them. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2011. Web. (and add the date of access, e.g., 6 Sept. 2012.)

 

Edited volumes, anthologies, etc.:

Beaty, Bart H., and Stephen Weiner, eds. Critical Survey of Graphic Novels: Heroes and Superheroes. Ipswich: Salem Press, 2012. Print.

 

Journal articles:

Chute, Hillary. “Comics as Literature? Reading Graphic Narrative.” PMLA 123 (2008): 442-65. Print.

Brown, Jeffrey A. “Comic Book Masculinity and the New Black Superhero.” African American Review 33 (1999): 25-42. JSTOR. Web. (and add the date of access, e.g., 6 Sept. 2012.)

 

Essays in books:

Drennig, Georg. “Otherness and the European as Villain and Antihero in American Comics.” Comics as a Nexus of Cultures: Essays on the Interplay of Media, Disciplines and International Perspectives. Ed. Mark Berninger, Jochen Ecke, and Gideon Haberkorn. London: McFarland, 2010. 127-39. Print.

 

More information on citing in MLA style can be found in this Quick Guide created by the Campus Writing Program and IUB Libraries: http://www.indiana.edu/~citing/MLA.pdf