Using AND: yokai AND Japan--will locate resources containing both terms.
Using OR: Gender OR Woman will find at least one of the terms
Using * (shift 8): Examples: wom*n (this will include woman and women) or nation* (which would look up national, nationality, nationhood, and nationalism!).
Quotes when looking for a phrase: "material culture" or "oral traditions"
Criticism or Interpretation are great search terms for literary criticism
For most databases, start with a simple search, using 2 or 3 terms.
Pay attention to reference lists and bibliographies. You may find more sources you can use.
Example of Possible Searches
Author’s name AND (criticism OR interpretation)
(criticism OR interpretation) AND Title of the Story
Ex: (Criticism OR Interpretation) AND "Vampires of El Norte"
(criticism OR interpretation) AND myth, folklore, or entity
Ex: (Criticism OR interpretation) AND (lycanthrope OR werewolf)
Myth or folklore AND country/cultural group
Ex: Vampire AND Vietnam
Ex: Vampire AND Krasue
Theme AND country/cultural group AND myth
Ex: (Women OR Gender) AND Krasue
Most books on American Literature are located in P call number range on the first floor of the library. Here is a general call number range to help you:
PN
Literature (General)--also includes performing arts/film/broadcasting
PS
American Literature
GN1 to GN890
Anthropology
GR 1 to GR 950
Folklore--this includes beliefs, costumes, supernatural/preternatural beings, medicine, symbols, etc.
BL
Covers religion, mythology, rationalism (Note, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, and Christianity have separate sections in the B area.)
