Research Guide for ENG102: Truth and Memoir
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Prepared by Elinor Appel This workshop will help you to:
To get help: Email me, come to the library reference desk, or chat online with a reference librarian. NSCC Library (this will open in a new window) Allison Bechdel, author Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic [PN6727.B3757Z46 2006]. Image source, Paper Cuts, NYT.com. All rights reserved. Read a NYT book review of Fun Home here. |
When you are searching the Internet, consider adding terms like lie, hoax, fiction, truth, fraud, literature, or lawsuit to tweak your searches for more successful results:
Selected Online Links
- Augustin Burroughs interview on NPR's "Fresh Air"(2004) - Burroughs discusses his book and adoptive family
(Q: "Do you ever embelish?" A:"I didn't embelish, but I cut a lot out.") - "Ruthless With Scissors" (2007) - Vanity Fair article re. lawsuit filed against Burroughs by his adoptive family
- "A Son Peers at His Father and Reveals a Sociopath" (2008) - New York Times review of Burroughs's most recent memoir
- "Just the Facts, Ma' am" (2008) - recent article in the New Yorker about truth, memoir, and the nature of fiction
- "With Apologies to Oprah: Holocaust Memoirist Confesses to Fabrication" - New York Magazine
- More links to articles about memoirs
To find more full-text secondary sources online, search ProQuest for newspaper, magazine, and journal articles. You'll find ProQuest under "Search for Articles" on the library website:
When you search the periodical databases, you will need to enter your search terms in separate search boxes, for instance:
Other periodical databases:
- Academic Search Premier - another general database with a range of articles (news to academic)
- eLibrary Academic - includes images, transcripts
- Ethnic NewsWatch - articles from ethnic and minority publications
- Literature Resource Center - articles about writers and their work
- PsycArticles - full-text psychology articles (from academic publications only)
To access these databases from off campus, log in with your Student ID Number and last name.
The easiest way to browse for a memoir (primary source) in the NSCC library is to click on the library catalog link under "Search for Books" and to do a Keyword Relevance search for "memoir." You can also limit your search to North Campus Library.
If you wish, sort your results by Publish Date Descending to pull up the most recent memoirs first.
To search the North Seattle Library for a particular memoir, search by title.
To find the memoir in other libraries in Seattle, and to search them all at once, try WorldCat. (This link is also on the main library web page, under SSearch for Books." )
Annotated Bibliographies and Noodlebib
Noodlebib will help you cite your sources correctly and will save all your citations for you formatted for a Works Cited page. Click here for an example of a Noodlebib record.
Additional resources:
- MLA Citation Style (Cornell University Library)
- MLA Formatting and Style Guide (Owl Writing Center at Purdue University)
- Annotated Bibliographies, Owl Writing Center at Purdue University
- How to Prepare an Annotated Bibliography, Cornell University