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Tips for Finding Post-Apocalyptic, Dystopian & Alternate Reality Sources

Your best bets for finding inding Ppost-apocalyptic, dystopian & alternate reality sources plus tips to save you time and get the sources you need.

Research Challenges

Find sources for post-apocalyptic, dystopian & alternate reality fiction and film can be challenging. Here are some more things that can be challenging:

There are Generally Fewer Articles on Recent Fiction & Films

It is easier to find criticism on older fiction & films than recent ones. Though you should be able to find reviews, recent fiction & films have not been around as long to study or have had sufficient if any critical articles written about them. There can be exceptions to this. 

Some Fiction & Films Just Don't Have Much

There are some fiction & films about which there is not much written.

Search Tips

TipWhen researching recently published literature or film it can be difficult to find academic articles. Most of what you'll find is a book or movie review, and generally they do not have enough depth to be accepted by your instructor.

Here are a few tips that may help get the articles you can use:

  • Start with multiple search databases. This will allow you to search a lot of databases simultaneously and save you time. We currently have one each for all Gale and ProQuest databases or you can use OneSearch to search them all at once.
  • Search using the title of the work with an additional term like:
    • main character's name
    • author's name
    • theme term like apocalyptic or dystopian
  • If available, try to limit your results to academic or scholarly journals. 

Still Can't Find Enough?

If you still can't find enough there are a few more things you can try:

  • We have some great guides on popular post-apocalyptic, dystopian & alternate reality fiction and film listed on this page with the best available sources.
  • The books & eBooks listed on this page have been collected and curated specifically for this kind of research, so give those a try. 
  • Try Google Scholar, and make sure the sources you find are acceptable to your instructor. When searching, you can use some of the same techniques described in the Search Tips for our databases. Not sure how get started with Google Scholar? Try How to Use Google Scholar

Post-Apocalyptic, Dystopian & Alternate Reality Books & eBooks

""Try these books and eBooks to get started. Must access on campus or login with your COM account for off campus access. for eBooks.

Want more on finding books? Try Books & eBooks.

Post-Apocalyptic, Dystopian & Alternate Reality Guides

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