The tracer's goals are to identify the source of a quotation, to find or to produce detailed citation based on a reliable edition of the work, to find an authoritative text of the passage being traced, and to do all this in the shortest time possible and with the least possible amount of effort.

An outstanding research guide for undergraduate students of American literature, this best-selling book is essential when it comes to researching American authors. Bracken and Hinman identify and describe the best and most current sources, both in print and online, for nearly 300 American writers whose works are included in the most frequently used literary anthologies. Students will know exactly what information is available and where to find it.

In an original and provocative series of readings that range across Melville's career, the contributors consider not only the sources and implications of Melville's aesthetics, but the relationship between aesthetic criticism, historical analysis, and contemporary theory.

This text is an introduction to the full range of standard reference tools in all branches of English studies. More than 10,000 titles are included. The Reference Guide covers all the areas traditionally defined as English studies and all the field of inquiry more recently associated with English studies. British and Irish, American and world literatures written in English are included. Other fields covered are folklore, film, literary theory, general and comparative literature, language and linguistics, rhetoric and composition, bibliography and textual criticism and women's studies.

In 25 separate articles, scholars with a wide variety of perspectives explore Melville's texts, assess the weaknesses and strengths of existing scholarship, and suggest directions for future study. Part I considers what is known of Melville's life, his travels, and his relation to New York literati. Part II summarizes each of Melville's works, surveys reception from early reviews to recent criticism, and indicates current problems. Parts 3 and 4 probe Melville's conceptions of society, language, religion, and psychology as well as his art, comedy, tragedy and aesthetics. Part 5 traces his relation to, and effect on 20th century writers, intellectuals, and popular culture. ISBN 0-313-23874-X : $85.00.