Read the literary work carefully and take notes. You might want to brainstorm ideas using Professor John Lye's excellent page on critical reading of poetry and prose: Critical Reading: A Guide.

Read background information on the writer and his or her works. In particular, I'd read the information in Twayne Authors Series (this includes both critical discussions of major works and detailed biographical information) and The Scribner Writers Series. For theoretical and critical issues go to the Johns Hopkins Guide to Literary Theory and Criticism, an excellent full-text reference book.

Go to Gale Literary Index, and type in writer/works to find appropriate volume and page numbers in the Gale series. Then go to the reference room in the Arkansas Tech library and look up the brown and sky-blue volumes and page numbers. For major works, you will find excerpted criticism going back to the original date of publication. This provides some of the major critical articles on a writer, though be aware that the newer criticism may be absent.

Check out Literary Criticism Pathfinder, an excellent site that describes where to look on the internet for literary criticism. Also, look at Tech's Literature page.

For the deeper and more analytical insight necessary for graduate students, you should search the MLA Bibliography (click on EBSCO Host), and especially Project Muse (on campus), which contains a number of full-text articles on literary writers and their works.

You should also check Arkansas Tech's On-Line Catalog for books on a particular writer, as well as NetLibrary, which contains 17,000 e-texts on a variety of subjects. Browsing the library selves is still an excellent way to find information.

I would also look at these sites that provide some basic critical information and brainstorming questions for major writers and their works.

BookRags, "comprehensive guides to classic literature"

Reading Group Guides.com, "the on-line guide for reading groups"--good for discussion questions

NovelGuides, information on major novels' themes, characters, metaphors, etc.

Sparknotes, information and some commentary on various literary works.

 The Oxford English Dictionary (on campus) is now on-line for word questions.