Subject Guides: English

Composition & Literature - Resources for Literature - Getting Started

For information on authors and their works, literary movements, and plot summaries:

Dictionary of Literary Biography (DLB)
Social Sciences/Humanities Reference - PN451 .D487
Information on authors and their works. Cumulative index

Contemporary Literary Criticism (CLC)
Social Sciences/Humanities Reference - PN771 .C59
Information on current writer's works. Cumulative index

Twentieth Century Literary Criticism (TCLC)
Social Sciences/Humanities Reference - PN94 .T84
Information on writer's works - all nationalities. Cumulative index

Nineteenth Century Literary Criticism (NCLC)
Social Sciences/Humanities Reference - PN761 .N5
Nineteenth century authors - all nationalities. Cumulative index

Beacham's Encyclopedia of Popular Fiction
Social Sciences/Humanities Reference - Z6514 .P7 B43 1996
Author biographies and Analyses of popular fiction

Masterplots (World Literature) Social Sciences/Humanities Reference - PN44 .M33
Good for plot summaries of individual works

Masterplots (American Fiction Series) Social Sciences/Humanities Reference - PS373 .M37 2000
Plot summaries of American works

For information about poetry:

Critical Survey of Poetry
Social Sciences/Humanities Reference - PR502 .C85 1992
Overview of the field

Granger's Index to Poetry
Social Sciences/Humanities Reference - PN1022 .G7
Author's and first lines of many poems.

Poetry Criticism
Social Sciences/Humanities Reference - PN1010 .P64

Last Lines: Index to Last Lines of Poetry
Social Sciences/Humanities Reference - PN1022 .K55 1992
Complementary resource to Granger's

For information about children's literature:

Beacham's Guide to Literature for Young Adults
Social Sciences/Humanities Reference - Z1037 .A1 B338
Plot summaries and analysis of young adult books

Children's Book Review Index
Social Sciences/Humanities Reference - Z1037 .A1 C47
Identifies reviews for children's books

Book Review Index
Social Sciences/Humanities Reference - Z1035 .A1 B62

Children's Literature Review
Social Sciences/Humanities Reference - Z1037 .A1 C54
Reviews of children's books

Other resources of interest:

Shakespearean Criticism
Social Sciences/Humanities Reference - PR2965 S43
Multi-volume work essential for Shakespeare studies

Drama Criticism
Social Sciences/Humanities Reference - PN1625 .D72 1991
Information on plays and playwrights

International Dictionary of Theatre
Social Sciences/Humanities Reference - PN2035 .I49 1992
Quick reference for theatre related topics

Encyclopedia of World Literature in the 20^th Century
Social Sciences/Humanities Reference - PN771 .E5 1999

British Writers
Social Sciences/Humanities Reference - PR85 B688

Online Resources

MLA Bibliography - Essential for all serious literary research. Students can email citations

Literature Resource Center LRC - For undergraduate English students needing information on authors and their works, literary movements, publishing, and more. This is produced by the same company that produces DLB, TCLC, CLC, TCLC, and Contemporary Authors, so much of what is in those print resources can be found here. Students can email articles.

Literature Online (LION) - Recommended for undergraduate/graduate students. Provides scholarly articles on authors and their works. This database also includes the ability to search for an author's works and the ABELL database which grad students use for research.

OED Online - The Oxford English Dictionary is now available online. Definitions can be emailed.