The Search for Landmark Works in English Literary Studies: A Citation Analysis

Abstract

The authors of the current study set out to test for the presence of landmark works in a certain area of English literary scholarship with collection development in mind. By conducting a citation study on a specific niche within English literary studies, the authors hoped to identify core groups of scholarly works that could be used as a tool for collection development and provide a picture of literary scholarship on a more granular level. The data, though representative of a smaller sample size, indicated diversity in the use of sources with no clear core distinguishable, mirroring macroscopic trends in English literary scholarship.