Finding Biographical Information about Authors

• Finding Biographical Information about Authors
  • Reference Resources
    •  Reference Books
  • Using the Library Catalog
  • Literature Resource Center
  • Finding Articles
    •   EbscoHost
  • Internet Sites

Reference Resources

There are many reference books in the library that have biographical information about authors. Although reference books do not check out, you can make photocopies in the Copy Room.

Reference Books

 Here is a list of resources available in the reference collection that include information about authors as well as the historical periods in which they lived. As you can see by the numbers in the list below, books about authors from the same geographical area are shelved together.

To find information about significant historical events of an era, use a chronology. Chronologies are organized by year and list important events that occurred during that year. Some chronologies available in the library are:

Using the Library Catalog

The library catalog is used to help you find materials in the library. The catalog can be used to find information about an author or books by an author.

When searching for information about an author, start with a Subject search. An example of a Subject search is given below. Notice that the name should be typed in the order Surname, comma, first name:

When searching for books written by an author, use an Author search. An example of an Author search is given below:

Note: If you are using the "generic" CCRLS catalog, click on the Author or Subject tabs to do the same search:

Literature Resource Center

Literature Resource Center, available to Chemeketa students and staff, consists of criticism, biographies, bibliographies, work overviews and explications, Web sites, periodical articles, compare and contrast pages, full-text author's works, and reading lists

Over 70,000 selected full-text critical essays and reviews from the following sources are included

• Contemporary Literary Criticism,
• Classical and Medieval Literature Criticism,
• Literature Criticism from 1400-1800,
• Nineteenth-Century Literature Criticism,
• Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism,
• Drama Criticism,
• Poetry Criticism,
• Shakespearean Criticism,
• Short Story Criticism,
• Children's Literature Review

Access:  http://newterra.chemeketa.edu/library/information/database.htm. To access databases from off campus you will need your My Chemeketa user name and six-digit password.

Basic Searching

The Author Search is the default search.

• Enter author's name and click on search
• Click on the author's name to display the Tabbed Results (folders) 
• If more than one author displays, click on one that fits your needs.  

The Biographies Tab is the default display when viewing results.

Other Tabs include:

• Literary Criticism, Articles & Work Overviews
• Bibliographies
• Additional resources
• Literary-Historical Timeline

To print or email an article:

Other search paths include:

• Title
• Authors by Type
• Advanced
• Literary-Historical Timeline
• Keyword

Advanced Search

The Advanced Search allows you to construct more powerful searches by combining terms. With the Advanced Search, you can conduct a search using a variety of criteria; this enables you to retrieve very specific document results.

Three search boxes with associated pull-down menus allow you to enter your search terms and select the appropriate fields pertaining to your research. Select from

• Author-name contains
• Author-last name starts
• Author-exactly
• Critic
• Fulltext (searches the full text of a document. This is a good search to use if you are looking for a particular line of text or an unusual phrase)
• Keyword
• Title-any words
• Title-all words
• Title-exact match

You can use boolean operators (commands that combine terms together) from the pull-down at right and establish an "and," "or," or "not" relationship between your search terms.

Finding Articles

The library has many indexes to magazines available in paper or electronically from our catalog page (Click "Article Indexes and Databases" to reach the database page.)

If you are accessing these databases from off campus, you will need a username and password, or you may use the number from your ID card if you are using the appropriate link on the Off-campus database page.

A good database to start with is Academic Search Premier, available on the database page.

To search for information in the database, start Academic Search Premier and click on the Indexes link under More in the EBSCOhost toolbar banner.

1. Choose "People" from the dropdown menu.
2. Type an author's name, last name first, in the space marked "Browse for."
3. Then click the Browse button.
4. Check off the desired items from the list of results.
5. Click the Search button.

When you click the Search button, a list of articles will appear. If you wish, you can click the "Refine Search" tab to limit your search to Chemeketa library periodicals or full electronic text. An option is also available to limit results to scholarly journals. After selecting limits, click the Search button again.

The newest articles will be at the beginning of a list. To see more information about an article, click on the highlighted title. Many articles have links to full text, where you can read or print the article online. If an article has full text, you can also e-mail it to yourself. More information on printing, saving, and e-mailing articles is at the EBSCOhost instructions page.

If the magazine is one the library has ("Chemeketa subscribes..."), you will need the name of the magazine and the date to find it on the shelf.

MasterFile Premier is another EBSCOhost database. Start with a Subjects search. An example of a Subjects search using MasterFile Premier is given below:

Internet Sites

Useful Sites: Biography and Useful Sites: Literature include some Web sites for biographical information.

For further help, ask for assistance at the Reference Desk, or use the contact information below to call or e-mail.