Find what you need in our searchable FAQ.
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The following resources are listed to provide quick access to recommended content in creative nonfiction writing. If you find broken links, please contact the library and let them know. This is not an exhaustive list, but a quick list to help provide guidance when doing research in this area.
💡 Make Sure to Review the HJF Research Guides. This will get you started in using the HJF resources, basic research skills, and some more advanced tips & tricks to save you time.
Creative writing falls into the category of Arts & Humanities. A full list of recommended databases in this general area can be found on the HJF A to Z Databases page.
💡 Can't find the full text to an article? See here how to find full text to any article.
Databases specifically useful for nonfiction creative writing include:
💻 JSTOR Collections
“JSTOR includes journal content, primary sources, images, and more across the humanities, social sciences, and sciences” (JSTOR 2011). Although most content found here is full-text, researchers may also find links to articles that are not available online through Morningside. The HJF Library provides access through JSTOR to 15 Arts & Sciences Collections and 1 Life Science Collection.
💻 MLA International Bibliography (EBSCO)
“Produced by the Modern Language Association (MLA), the electronic version of the bibliography dates back to the 1920s and contains millions of citations from journals and series, as well as book publishers. MLA International Bibliography covers literature, language and linguistics, folklore, film, literary theory and criticism, dramatic arts, as well as the historical aspects of printing and publishing. Listings on rhetoric and composition and the history, theory and practice of teaching language and literature are also included. In addition to the bibliography, the database includes the MLA Directory of Periodicals, the association's proprietary thesaurus used to assign descriptors to each record in the bibliography" (EBSCOhost 2019).
You can find a helpful list of books & eBooks the HJF provides access to here. This is not an exhaustive list, but a short one with highly recommended titles to get you started. If you are looking for more options than what is provided in this list, please see the list of searchable subject terms below.
💡 Remember, if you cannot find a book you want, there's always interlibrary loan (ILL). Learn more about interlibrary loan here.
Subject Terms
The following is a list of options for searching by subject term in the HJF Discovery. These linked terms will open a new tab to the search results for books & ebooks with that specific subject term.
If you're looking for some articles to get started on, here are a few to introduce you to the concept of creative nonfiction.
📄 The Place of Creative Nonfiction by Douglas Hesse
📄 Living to Tell the Tale: The Complicated Ethics of Creative Nonfiction by Lynn Z. Bloom
📄 Writing the Real World by David Wright
📄 Naming Nonfiction (a Polyptych) by Robert L. Root, Jr.
📄 Never Let the Truth Stand in the Way of a Good Story: A Work for Three Voices by Bronwyn T. Williams
🌐 Longform
📖 The New York Review of Books
▶️ The Art of the Interview - Marc Pachter (TED Talk)
▶️ How to Interview People for Their Life Stories
💡 Make sure to chat with a writing consultant.
💡 Check out our help guides on MLA Citation Style.
💡 Don't forget to go through the research help guide to get started.