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Welcome to the research guide for Popular Literature. The resources here will help you make this class a success.
On this page, find course information and a quick list of resources to get you started.
Popular literature includes those writings intended for the masses and those that find favour with large audiences. It can be distinguished from artistic literature in that it is designed primarily to entertain. Popular literature, unlike high literature, generally does not seek a high degree of formal beauty or subtlety and is not intended to endure. The growth of popular literature has paralleled the spread of literacy through education and has been facilitated by technological developments in printing.
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Best Bets
The following can help you start your research.
See the Library Resources tab for more extensive lists of suggested materials.
Databases
- Gale Literature Resource Center
- Why search here? This is the most important database for the English program, and it is also useful for other fields in the humanities.
- What’s included? This database contains full-text author biographies, literary analyses, and reviews for a wide range of literature, conveniently sorted by resource type.
- Humanities International Complete
- Why search here? This database contains full-text scholarly literature for all branches of the humanities including English, foreign languages, literature, rhetoric, religion, the fine arts, sociology, and history.
- What’s included? This database includes the full text of over 1,200 peer-reviewed journals as well as citations and abstracts for over 2,300 journals.
- Contemporary Literature
Essays, interviews, profiles, reviews and literary criticism on all aspects of contemporary literature.
- Studies in Popular Culture
Discusses aspect of American or international, contemporary or historical, popular culture.
- St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture byCall Number: Ref. 973.9 Sa23ISBN: 9781558624009Publication Date:
Aimed at researchers and students, this accessible source on popular culture ranges from fast food and fitness fads to political events and literary genres.
- Twenty-First-Century Popular Fiction byCall Number: eBookISBN: 9781474414869Publication Date:
It provides an accessible, concise and reliable overview of core critical terminology, key theoretical approaches, and the major genres and sub-genres within popular fiction. Because popular fiction is significantly shaped by commercial forces, the book also provides critical and historical contexts for terminology related to e-books, e-publishing, and self-publishing platforms.
English at Northwestern
These links will take you to official NWOSU university pages.
- School of Arts & Sciences
The departments within the school offer a total of fifteen majors and twenty minors at the undergraduate level and a master of arts in American studies at the graduate level.
- English, Foreign Language & Humanities
The Department of English, Foreign Language & Humanities offers a broad range of courses leading to the bachelor of arts degree in English or English education. Students may also pursue a minor in English, writing, or Spanish.
- EnglishThe English Program at Northwestern Oklahoma State University offers a full range of courses in American, British, and world literature in addition to courses in creative writing, film studies, technical writing, and advanced composition in order to prepare students for academic and non-academic professional endeavors.