Bibliographic resources for guiding research on J.R.R. Tolkien

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to recommend print and electronic resources that will be useful in helping the student, scholar or thesis writer who wants to begin an in-depth literature search for criticism of the works of J.R.R. Tolkien. Listings are geared toward the English-speaking, North American user, but include some European sources as well.

Design/methodology/approach

Recommendations are based on the author’s experience as a scholar, editor and thesis advisor in the field of Tolkien studies.

Findings

While the use of general literature reference sources will satisfy most needs, a serious scholar will need to look beyond the Modern Language Association (MLA) and similar resources to do a comprehensive search of the literature.

Originality/value

This is not a topic covered in reference reviews, previously.

Citation

Croft, J.B. (2017), "Bibliographic resources for guiding research on J.R.R. Tolkien", Reference Reviews, Vol. 31 No. 4, pp. 1-4. https://doi.org/10.1108/RR-07-2016-0193