The Exploratory Search: A Model

Below is an search created by a student in one of my ENGL 4887 (British Romantics) courses. As a Senior, she’s doing advanced work, but her Exploratory Search provides an excellent example of what this assignment should look like—and how this assignment helps get a researcher off to a good start.

Notice how she has observed the various niceties of the MLA style manual. Her list is alphabetized, uses hanging indents (so the authors’ names are prominent against the left margin), and puts the punctuation marks in all the right places. More importantly, her list is narrowly focused on her research question and includes a nice balance between books, websites, and professional periodicals. This is a list that will assist this student in digging deeply into the scholarship on her area of interest.

Mary Wollstonecraft

Exploratory Search 2

15 Feb. 2005

Abrams, M.H., and Jack Stillinger, Ed. The Norton Anthology of English Literature: The Romantic

Period. 7th Ed. New York: W.W. Norton, 2000.

Byron, Lord. “Manfred.” The Literary Gothic. 13 July 2005.

http://www.litgothic.com/Texts/manfred.html. 1 Nov. 2005.

Cooper, Andrew M. “Who’s Afraid of the Mastiff Bitch? Gothic Parody and Original Sin in

Christabel.” Critical Essays on Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Ed. Leonard Orr. New York,

NY: Hall, 1994.

Davis, G. Todd. “Bloodsucking Byron.” Prism(s): Essays in Romanticism 12 (2004): 7-38.

Dramin, Edward. “‘Amid the Jagged Shadows’: Christabel and the Gothic Tradition.” Wordsworth

Circle 13.4 (1982): 221-8.

Ehrstine, John W. “Byron and the Metaphysic of Self-Destruction.” The Gothic Imagination: Essays

in Dark Romanticism. Ed. G.R. Thompson. Pullman, WA: Washington SUP, 1974: 94-

108.

Franklin, Caroline. “Prelude: Byron’s Gothic Heritage.” Byron: A Literary Life. New York: St.

Martin’s Press, 2000.

Gamer, Michael. Romanticism and the Gothic: Genre, Reception, and Canon Formation. Cambridge,

UK: Cambridge UP, 2000.

“Gothic Bodies: The Politics of Pain in Romantic Fiction.” Keats-Shelley Journal: Keats, Shelley,

Byron, Hunt, and their Circles 45 (1996): 216-18.

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Wollstonecraft—2

Hall, Spencer. “‘Beyond the Realms of Dream’: Gothic, Romantic, and Poetic Identity in Shelley’s

Alastor.” Gothic Studies 3:1 (2001): 8-14.

Halliburton, David G. “Shelley’s ‘Gothic’ Novels.” Keats-Shelley Journal: Keats, Shelley, Byron,

Hunt, and Their Circles 16 (1967): 39-49.

Hogle, Jerrold E. “Shelley’s Fiction: The Stream of Fate.” Keats-Shelley Journal: Keats, Shelley,

Byron, Hunt, and Their Circles 30 (1981): 78-99.

Hogle, Jerrold E. “Romanticism and the ‘New Gothic’: An Introduction.” Gothic Studies 3:1 (2001):

1-7.

---. “The Gothic Ghost as Counterfeit and Its Haunting of Romanticism: The Case of ‘Frost at

Midnight.’” European Romantic Review 9.2 (1998): 283-92.

Letellier, Robert Ignatius. “Shelley and the Gothic Tradition.” Shelley 1792-1992. Ed. James Hogg.

Salzburg, Austria: Mellen, 1993: 83-96.

Lloyd, Thomas. “The Gothic Coleridge.” The Fountain of Light: Studies in Romanticism and Religion

in Honor of John. L. Mahoney. Ed. J. Robert Barth. New York: Fordham UP, 2002.

Longueil, A.E. “Gothic Romance, Its Influence on the Romantic Poets Wordsworth, Keats, Coleridge,

Byron and Shelley.” “The Sickly Taper.”

http://www.pagedepot.com/thesicklytaper/romantic%poets-GGIII.htm. Seen on: 15 Jan.

2006.

MacDonald, D.L. “Incest, Narcissism, and Demonality in Byron’s Manfred.” Mosaic: A Journal for

the Interdisciplinary Study of Literature 25.2 (1992): 25-38.

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Wollstonecraft—3

Martin, Sara. “Gothic Scholars Don’t Wear Black: Gothic Studies and Gothic Subcultures.” Gothic

Studies 4:1 (2002): 28-43.

Michasiw, Kim Ian. “Haunting the Unremembered World: Shelley’s Gothic Practice.” Gothic

Fictions: Prohibition/Transgression. Ed. Graham, Kenneth. New York, NY: AMS, 1989:

199-225.

Miles, Robert. Gothic Writing 1750-1820: A Genealogy. 2nd ed. Manchester: Manchester UP, 2002.

Mishra, Vijay. The Gothic Sublime. Albany, NY: SU New York P, 1994.

Mudge, Bradford K. “‘Excited by Trick’: Coleridge and the Gothic Imagination.” Wordsworth Circle

22.3 (1991):179-84.

Murphy, John V. The Dark Angel: Gothic Elements in Shelley’s Works. London: Associated UP, 1975.

Roberts, Adam. “Coleridge’s Ancient Mariner and Mrs. Radcliffe’s Mariner.” Notes and Queries 42.2

(1995): 177-78.

Shelley , Percy Bysshe. Zastrozzi: A Romance; St. Irvyne, or The Rosicrucian: A Romance. Ed.

Stephen C. Behrendt. New York: Oxford UP, 1986.

Spector, Robert D. The English Gothic: A Bibliographic Guide to Writers from Horace Walpole to

Mary Shelley. Westport: Greenwood Press, 1984.

Thomson, Douglass. “Gothic Literature: What the Romantic Writers Read.”

http://www.georgiasouthern.edu/~dougt/gothic.htm (29 Oct. 2005).

Voller, Jack G. and Douglass Thomson. Gothic Writers: A Critical and Bibliographical Guide.

Westport, CT: Greenwood, 2002.

Whatley, John. “Romantic and Enlightened Eyes in the Gothic Novels of Percy Bysshe Shelley.”

Gothic Studies 1:2 (1999): 201-221.

The Literature Search: A Model

Mary Wollstonecraft

Exploratory Search 2

15 Feb. 2005

Abrams, M.H., and Jack Stillinger, Ed. The Norton Anthology of English Literature: The Romantic

Period. 7th Ed. New York: W.W. Norton, 2000.

Byron, Lord. “Manfred.” The Literary Gothic. 13 July 2005.

http://www.litgothic.com/Texts/manfred.html. 1 Nov. 2005.

Cooper, Andrew M. “Who’s Afraid of the Mastiff Bitch? Gothic Parody and Original Sin in

Christabel.” Critical Essays on Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Ed. Leonard Orr. New York,

NY: Hall, 1994.

Davis, G. Todd. “Bloodsucking Byron.” Prism(s): Essays in Romanticism 12 (2004): 7-38.

Dramin, Edward. “‘Amid the Jagged Shadows’: Christabel and the Gothic Tradition.” Wordsworth

Circle 13.4 (1982): 221-8.

Ehrstine, John W. “Byron and the Metaphysic of Self-Destruction.” The Gothic Imagination: Essays

in Dark Romanticism. Ed. G.R. Thompson. Pullman, WA: Washington SUP, 1974: 94-

108.

Franklin, Caroline. “Prelude: Byron’s Gothic Heritage.” Byron: A Literary Life. New York: St.

Martin’s Press, 2000.

Gamer, Michael. Romanticism and the Gothic: Genre, Reception, and Canon Formation. Cambridge,

UK: Cambridge UP, 2000.

“Gothic Bodies: The Politics of Pain in Romantic Fiction.” Keats-Shelley Journal: Keats, Shelley,

Byron, Hunt, and their Circles 45 (1996): 216-18.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Wollstonecraft—2

Hall, Spencer. “‘Beyond the Realms of Dream’: Gothic, Romantic, and Poetic Identity in Shelley’s

Alastor.” Gothic Studies 3:1 (2001): 8-14.

Halliburton, David G. “Shelley’s ‘Gothic’ Novels.” Keats-Shelley Journal: Keats, Shelley, Byron,

Hunt, and Their Circles 16 (1967): 39-49.

Hogle, Jerrold E. “Shelley’s Fiction: The Stream of Fate.” Keats-Shelley Journal: Keats, Shelley,

Byron, Hunt, and Their Circles 30 (1981): 78-99.

Hogle, Jerrold E. “Romanticism and the ‘New Gothic’: An Introduction.” Gothic Studies 3:1 (2001):

1-7.

---. “The Gothic Ghost as Counterfeit and Its Haunting of Romanticism: The Case of ‘Frost at

Midnight.’” European Romantic Review 9.2 (1998): 283-92.

Letellier, Robert Ignatius. “Shelley and the Gothic Tradition.” Shelley 1792-1992. Ed. James Hogg.

Salzburg, Austria: Mellen, 1993: 83-96.

Lloyd, Thomas. “The Gothic Coleridge.” The Fountain of Light: Studies in Romanticism and Religion

in Honor of John. L. Mahoney. Ed. J. Robert Barth. New York: Fordham UP, 2002.

Longueil, A.E. “Gothic Romance, Its Influence on the Romantic Poets Wordsworth, Keats, Coleridge,

Byron and Shelley.” “The Sickly Taper.”

http://www.pagedepot.com/thesicklytaper/romantic%poets-GGIII.htm. Seen on: 15 Jan.

2006.

MacDonald, D.L. “Incest, Narcissism, and Demonality in Byron’s Manfred.” Mosaic: A Journal for

the Interdisciplinary Study of Literature 25.2 (1992): 25-38.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Wollstonecraft—3

Martin, Sara. “Gothic Scholars Don’t Wear Black: Gothic Studies and Gothic Subcultures.” Gothic

Studies 4:1 (2002): 28-43.

Michasiw, Kim Ian. “Haunting the Unremembered World: Shelley’s Gothic Practice.” Gothic

Fictions: Prohibition/Transgression. Ed. Graham, Kenneth. New York, NY: AMS, 1989:

199-225.

Miles, Robert. Gothic Writing 1750-1820: A Genealogy. 2nd ed. Manchester: Manchester UP, 2002.

Mishra, Vijay. The Gothic Sublime. Albany, NY: SU New York P, 1994.

Mudge, Bradford K. “‘Excited by Trick’: Coleridge and the Gothic Imagination.” Wordsworth Circle

22.3 (1991):179-84.

Murphy, John V. The Dark Angel: Gothic Elements in Shelley’s Works. London: Associated UP, 1975.

Roberts, Adam. “Coleridge’s Ancient Mariner and Mrs. Radcliffe’s Mariner.” Notes and Queries 42.2

(1995): 177-78.

Shelley , Percy Bysshe. Zastrozzi: A Romance; St. Irvyne, or The Rosicrucian: A Romance. Ed.

Stephen C. Behrendt. New York: Oxford UP, 1986.

Spector, Robert D. The English Gothic: A Bibliographic Guide to Writers from Horace Walpole to

Mary Shelley. Westport: Greenwood Press, 1984.

Thomson, Douglass. “Gothic Literature: What the Romantic Writers Read.”

http://www.georgiasouthern.edu/~dougt/gothic.htm (29 Oct. 2005).

Voller, Jack G. and Douglass Thomson. Gothic Writers: A Critical and Bibliographical Guide.

Westport, CT: Greenwood, 2002.

Whatley, John. “Romantic and Enlightened Eyes in the Gothic Novels of Percy Bysshe Shelley.”

Gothic Studies 1:2 (1999): 201-221.