Leland Speed Library > Subject Guides > English & Literature

Electronic Databases
Subject Specific Database
Literature Resource Center (LRC)
A literature reference database with  biographical, bibliographical, and contextual content. Includes full text journal articles as well as essays from Gale’s Contemporary Author’s, Contemporary Literary Criticism, Dictionary of Literary Biography, Shakespeare Criticism, Children’s Literature Review, Classical and Medieval Literature Criticism, Drama Criticism, Drama for Students, Literature from 1400 to 1800, Nineteenth-Century Literature Criticism, Literature of Developing Nations for Students, Literature and Its Times, Novels for Students, Poetry Criticism, Poetry for Students, Shakespearean Criticism, Shakespeare for Students, Short Story Criticism, Short Stories for Students, and Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism.
MLA Bibliography (Modern Language Association)
MLA International Bibliography,  a bibliography of journal articles, books and dissertation, is the main resource for scholarly journal articles in literature and language, although it does not include classical literature.  Produced by the Modern Language Association, the electronic version of the Bibliography dates back to 1963 and contains citations and links to full text  from  journals, series and book publishers.
Oxford Reference Online Premium (Oxford Press)
Provides easily searchable, full text access to reference titles.

General or Related Databases
Academic Search Premier
(Available through Ebscohost)  The world’s largest academic multi-disciplinary database, Academic Search Premier provides full text for more than 4,450 scholarly publications, including full text for more than 3,500 peer-reviewed journals. Coverage spans virtually every area of academic study and offers information dating as far back as 1975. This database is updated on a daily basis via EBSCOhost.
FirstSearch (See Reference Librarian)
Offers access to a number of general and subject-specific databases.  A Reference Librarian can help determine the need to use FirstSearch and provide training and authorization for searches.

JSTOR Language & Literature Collection
Offers access to full text articles from scholarly journals dating from the 19^th century, but does not cover the most current 3-5 years.
Academic Universe (Available through Lexis Nexis)
Multidisciplinary database with full text articles.  Approximately 5.000 publications are indexed.  Sources include newspapers, general magazines and journals, medical information, news transcripts, federal and state legal codes and information, business information, corporate profiles, SEC documents and country profiles.  Dates of coverage vary according to title.
PROJECT MUSE
Offers access to full text articles from scholarly journal and includes  humanities, language, literature, and women’s studies.  Coverage usually includes the most current 5 years of the publication.

[Top of page]

Online Journals
There are many e-journals available through the databases above and from other sources.  Use the Full-Text Journal search tool to search for an individual e-journal title or see a listing of literature E-Journals at MC Library.

• Literature - General
• American Literature
• English Literature

[Top of page]

Internet Resources
Documenting the American South
Provides access to digitized primary materials that offer Southern perspectives on American history and culture created by the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill.
Voice of the Shuttle  /  Literature (in English)  /  Literary Theory
Probably the best place on the internet to start looking for high-quality English literature web sites, maintained by Alan Liu, an English professor at the University of California- Santa Barbara. You can browse the pages listed above or search the whole Voice of the Shuttle site.
Jack Lynch's Literary Resources on the Internet
Created and maintained by Jack Lynch of Rutgers University. Covers all areas of literature from medieval to American.
Women and Gender Studies: Literature and Culture Web Sites
Wonderful page with links to full text (British Women Romantic Poets, African-American Women Writers of the 19th Century, among others), criticism, bibliographies, and electronic magazines. By the Women's Studies Section of the Association of College and Research Libraries.
ORB: The Online Reference Book for Medieval Studies
ORB is sponsored by a large number of medieval scholars and professors from the U.S., Canada, and England. The site includes an encyclopedia, a textbook library, e-texts, and links to other web sites.
English Server
The English Server presents a directory of arts and Web resources, provided by the University of Washington.  Links to online drama collections, student and teacher resources, a bulletin board, and online resources.  In addition to written works,  hypertext, audio and video recordings are produced.   Published by professors and graduate students in literature, creative writing, and media studies.
Mississippi Writers Page
A page from the English Department at the University of Mississippi with an enormous amount of information on Mississippi literature and writers.
Internet Public Library Online Literary Criticism Collection
One of the few general sites devoted to literary criticism. Coverage is most extensive for English language authors but varies from scholarly to personal impressions of laymen. Access by author, title, country and period.
INFOMINE: Scholarly Internet Resource Collections
A multi-disciplined, annotated directory of tens of thousands of links to "university level research and educational tools on the Internet." Includes "databases, electronic journals, electronic books, bulletin boards, mailing lists, online library card catalogs, articles ... [and] other types of information." Tens of thousands of records, some created by librarians, others generated by robot-crawlers. Searchable and browsable. From the University of California, Riverside.

[Top of page]

Links to Selected Print Reference Sources
Allusions and Characters - Biographical Sources - Black Writers - Children’s Literature - Drama Criticism -  Literary Criticism - Poetry Criticism - Shakespeare - Short Fiction - Style Manuals -Subject Encyclopedias & Dictionaries - Women Writers

Allusions and Characters

• Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable
  803 B758d Reference Room (also online version)

• Dictionary of American Literary Characters
  813.009 D561 2002 Reference Room

• Larousse Dictionary of Literary Characters
  809.927 L328 Reference Room

• Oxford Dictionary of Allusions
  422.63 D372o Reference Room

Biographical Sources

• American Writers: A Collection of Literary Biographies
  810.9 Am35u Reference Room

• British Writers
  820.9 B777s Reference Room

• Contemporary Authors
  920 C767 Reference Room

• Dictionary of Literary Biography, 1982-
  920 D561d Reference Room

• World Authors
  920 K962T Reference Room

Black Writers

• Afro-American Fiction Writers after 1955
  920 D561 Reference Room

• Afro-American Poets Since 1955
  920 D561 Reference Room

• Afro-American Writers (series)
  920 D561 Reference

• Black Literature Criticism: Excerpts from Criticism of the Most Significant Works of Black Authors over the Past 200 Years
  809.8896 B561 Reference Room

• Black Writers of America
  810.8 B247b Reference Room

Children’s Literature

Drama - Criticism

• American Drama Criticism: 1890-1977
  016.812 Am35 1979 Bibliography
  (Includes four supplements to the second edition)

• American Women Playwrights, 1900-1950
  812 Sh13a Basement/Stacks

• Black Playwrights, 1823-1977
  016.812 H281B Reference Room

• The Concise Encyclopedia of Modern Drama
  792 M481c Reference Room

• Contemporary Dramatists
  822.914 C767 Reference Room

• Critical Survey of Drama: English Language Series
  792.03 H256o 1983 Reference Room

• Critical Survey of Drama; Foreign Language Series
  809. C869 Reference Room

• Dictionary of Literary Biography v. 58
  920 D561 v. 58 Reference Room

• Dramatic Criticism Index; a Bibliography of Commentaries on Playwrights from Ibvsen to the Avant-Garde
  016.892 B745d Bibliography

• Foreign Drama, 1909-1977
  016.8092 Sa32g Bibliography

• A Guide to Critical Reviews of Plays and Films: a Bibliography of Criticism from the Beginnings to the Present
  016.8092 Sa32g 1984 Bibliography

• How to Locate Reviews of Plays and Films
  016.791 Sa47h Bibliography

• Masterplots: Drama Series

• The Oxford Companion to American Theatre
  792.0973 B644o 1992 Reference Room

• The Oxford Companion to the Theatre
  792.03 H256o 1983 Reference Room

• Theatre U.S.A., 1665 to 1957
  792.0973 H497t Reference Room

• Twentieth-Century American Dramatists
  920 D561 V.7 Reference Room

Literary Criticism
The following books are good places to start looking for literary criticism.

Bibliographies

• American Women Writers; an Annotated Bibliography of Criticism
  016.8109 W582a Reference Room

• Articles on American Literature
  016.81 L479a Bibliography
  Reviews are alphabetical by author. This three-volume set covers articles written in English about American literature between the years 1900-1975.

• Essay and General Literature Index
  040 Es73 Bibliography
  This index covers essays published in collections, mainly in the humanities and social sciences, beginning in 1900. Reviews are listed alphabetically by the author of the book being reviewed. Auburn University Libraries own volumes through 1994.

Gale Literary Criticism Series (also available online)
The following works include a biographical sketch of the author and excerpts of selected criticism with the citation for the complete review. Often the entry will include an additional bibliography. The indexes at the back of the volumes include cross-references to other Gale publications. The series includes:

• Black Literature Criticism
  809.8896 B561 Reference Room
• Classical and Medieval Literature Criticism
  809 C569 Reference Room
• Contemporary Literary Criticism
  809. AC767 Reference Room
• Literature Criticism from 1400-1800
  808 L712c Reference Room

• Nineteenth-Century Literature Criticism
  809 N622 Reference Room

• Shakespearean Criticism
  822.33 Sh15g Reference Room

• Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism
  809 T918 Reference Room

• Magill’s Bibliography of Literary Criticism
  016.8 M272m Bibliography
  Lists critical reviews through 1978.  Entries are alphabetical by the author of the work being reviewed.  An index to the four-volume work is included in volume four.

Poetry - Criticism

• American and British Poetry: a Guide to the Criticisms, 1925-1978
  821.008 Al26a Bibliography

• Cambridge History of English Literature
  820.9 C144 Reference Room

• Critical Survey of Poetry.  English Language Series
  821.09 C869 1992 Reference Room

• Dictionary of Literary Biography series, V. 5, 19, 20, 32, 40, 48, 54, 165, 169 920 D561 Reference Room

• Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics
  809.103 En19 Reference Room

• Guide to American Poetry Explication
  016.811 G941 Bibliography

• Guide to British Poetry Explication
  016.821 M366 Bibliography

• An International Companion to the Poetry of W. B. Yeats
  821.912 Y34b Reference Room

• Masterplots II - Poetry Series
  809.1 M393 Reference Room

• Poetry Explication: a Checklist of Interpretation Since 1925 of British and American Poems Past and Present
  016.821 K963p 1980 Bibliography

Shakespeare - Criticism

• Shakespeare for Students: Critical Interpretation
  822.33 Sh15s Reference Room

• Shakespeare Index: an Annotated Bibliography of Critical Articles on the Plays, 1959-1983
  822.33 Sa28s Reference Room

• Shakespeare the Playwright
  822.33 C119s Reference Room

• Shakespearean Criticism
  822.33 Sh15g Reference Room

Short Fiction - Criticism

• American Short-Fiction Criticism and Scholarship, 1959-1977
  016.813 W439a Bibliography

• Critical Survey of Short Fiction
  809.31 C869 Reference Room

• Twentieth-Century Short Story Explication
  016.80883 W154t Bibliography

Style Manuals
The most recent editions of  MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers 378.242 T84m, Kate L. Turabian's Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations 378.242 T84m, and The Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association 808.02 Am35p are located at the 2nd floor reference desk.

Subject Encyclopedias and Dictionaries

• Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Theory
  803 C893d 1998 Reference Room

• Encyclopedia of Contemporary Literary Theory: Approaches, Scholars, Terms
  801.95 En19 Reference Room

• Encyclopedia of Literary Critics and Criticism
  801.953 En19 Reference Room

• Encyclopedia of the Novel
  809.3003 En19

• Handbook to Literature
  803 H731h 2003 Reference Room
  A helpful tool when dealing with literary criticism which includes definitions and clarifications for many literary terms, outlines of British and American literary history, and lists of winners of the Nobel Prize for literature and the Pulitzer Prize for fiction, poetry, and drama.

• Johns Hopkins Guide to Literary Theory and Criticism
  809.003 J62 Reference Room

• Merriam-Webster’s Encyclopedia of Literature
  803 M551e Reference Room

• Oxford Companion to African-American Literature
  810.8 Ox2 Reference Room

Women Writers

• American Women Writers
  810.9 Am35ma Reference Room

• Masterpieces of Women’s Literature
  809 M393 Reference Room

• Modern Women Writers
  016.813 M72 Bibliography

• Modern Women Writers
  810.9 M72 Reference Room

• Modern American Women Writers
  810.9 M72 Reference Room

[Top of page]

© Copyright 1994 - 2004, Mississippi College. All rights reserved.
Mississippi College | 200 S. Capitol Street | Clinton, MS 39058 | (601)925-3000