Where and how to engage with scholarly sources in English
I have accumulated ten plus years of professional writing experience (multiple publications, course teaching and creation, etc.). My ultimate career goal is to become an English professor. There’s just one problem: I was never an English major during my undergraduate years; the closest I ever came was a high school English education major, and that was probably my worst semester performance and sickness-wise. By the time I realized this is what I really wanted, I was too sick to continue and had run out of money (I spent a good chunk of my college years fighting chronic illness). Thus, I never learned how to engage with scholarly sources in English.
Most graduate programs in English require a scholarly piece as part of their application. I never wrote any pieces that would qualify, and even if I did, I no longer have access to any of them, as the computer I used for my college career died long ago. I already have my topic: monster as lover in contemporary Gothic fiction and dark romance, both literal monsters (demons, vampires, etc.) and humans who engage in “monstrous” behavior (serial killers, mafia members, etc.). Where could I find scholarly pieces that would be relevant to this topic? What would qualify as a “scholarly source”?
Thank you for your help!