Guides: English Literature Research Guide: Sources

Overview Sources

Oxford Bibliographies Online
- This link opens in a new window
A good place to begin your research with lists of books, essays, articles on your topic.
This source offers peer-reviewed annotated bibliographical essays with commentary and qualitative lists of current books, articles, primary and multi-media sources covering all disciplines and specific works or topics within disciplines.
Cambridge Histories
- This link opens in a new window
Get a thorough survey of historical and literary periods/movements. This source covers historical eras and literary periods, genres and movements.. Each chapter, covering various aspects of the subject or topic, is written by an authority in the field. Examples: History of the Gothic, Science Fiction, Modernism, Post-modernism, LGBT literature, Graphic Novel.

Reference Books for Background Information

These reference books (biography, encyclopedias, companions, handbooks) will provide brief or extended essays on people, historical events/ periods, literary concepts/theories, and cultural/political ideas/ideologies.

BIOGRAPHICAL SOURCES

The entries for the biographical sources below are all commissioned and written by authorities on the subject.

American National Biography Online (Oxford University Press)
- This link opens in a new window
Pre-colonial era to current. Lengthy biographies on deceased US citizens and others who have shaped the history of the United States. Bibliographies often include links to supplementary information.
Dictionary of Canadian Biography / Dictionnaire biographique du Canada
1000AD to 1940. Detailed bio profiles with extensive bibliographies including info on location of the papers and manuscripts. .
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
- This link opens in a new window
Antiquity (Roman Period) to current. Extensive bio profiles of those who shaped UK history. Bibliographies include manuscript locations.

Dictionary of Irish Biography
- This link opens in a new window
A project of the Royal Irish Academy. Detailed bios from early history of Ireland to current.

Dictionary of Literary Biography Complete Online (Gale)
- This link opens in a new window
Extensive essays on the life and works of authors worldwide.

SPECIALIZED ENCYCLOPEDIAS, DICTIONARIES, HANDBOOKS and Style Manuals

Canadian Theatre Encyclopedia
Information on plays, playwrights, performers, directors, set designers
Literary Encyclopedia
- This link opens in a new window
The title says it all

Routledge Encyclopedia of Modernism
- This link opens in a new window
Interdisciplinary in scope containing essays, articles and images. covering Literature, Architecture, Visual Arts, Music, Dance, Theatre, Film, and Intellectual Currents.. Updated every 9 months.

The Johns Hopkins guide to literary theory & criticism
The focus is on contemporary critical and theoretical works while offering a comprehensive historical survey of ideas and individuals ranging from Plato and Aristotle to twentieth-century scholars.

Oxford Handbooks Online
- This link opens in a new window
Essays on authors, individual works, themes, movements, by scholars in the field
Oxford Reference
- This link opens in a new window
Brief info on all aspects of a subject from Art to Zoology. Also Bilingual Language Dictionaries and Quotations Dictionaries.
Blackwell Reference Online (Wiley Online Library)
- This link opens in a new window
Reference works including encyclopedias and companions incorporated into Wiley Online Library.

Oxford English Dictionary
- This link opens in a new window
The most comprehensive and authoritative dictionary in the English language. Gives definitions of words in historical context with earliest use/citations

Dictionary of Old English A to I
- This link opens in a new window
Dictionary of Old English defines the vocabulary of the first six centuries (C.E. 600-1150) of the English language. It complements the Middle English Dictionary (1100-1500) and the Oxford English Dictionary. The three together offer a full description of the vocabulary of the English Language..
Middle English Compendium
- This link opens in a new window
A lexicon and usage for period 1175-1500 including a description and bibliography of the authors, works, manuscripts, and editions cited in the Dictionary

Chicago Manual of Style
- This link opens in a new window
OWL Purdue (Online Writing Lab)
Has online versions of latest editions of MLA, APA, Chicago manuals of style.

* Core and Interdisciplinary Databases

Core Database - Theses

ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Global
- This link opens in a new window
dissertations/theses from 1861 to date

Core Databases - Literature Criticism

Literature Online (ProQuest)
- This link opens in a new window
contains the Annual Bibliography of English Language and Literature, can be searched for criticism, audios/videos of poets reading their work(s); and over 350,000 full text poetry, drama, prose from 8th century to present.
MLA International Bibliography (EBSCO)
- This link opens in a new window
critical material (no book reviews) on the literature of most nations, with particular emphasis on literature published in the English language.
Annual Bibliography of English Language and Literature (ABELL) 1920- (ProQuest)
- This link opens in a new window
critical material on literature published in the English language; also covers linguistics, cultural and film studies; includes reviews
Literature Resource Center (Gale)
- This link opens in a new window
Full-text database of literary criticism all time periods.

Literature Criticism Online
- This link opens in a new window
Full-text database of literary criticism all time periods.

Academic Search Complete (EBSCO)
- This link opens in a new window
multidisciplinary database providing indexing and abstracts for over 10,000 publications, including monographs, reports, conference proceedings
Humanities Index (ProQuest)
- This link opens in a new window
literary topics published 1962 - current
Humanities and Social Sciences Index Retrospective: 1907-1984 (H.W. Wilson) (EBSCO)
- This link opens in a new window
Periodicals Archive Online (ProQuest)
- This link opens in a new window
coverage 1850-2005

Year's Work in English Studies
- This link opens in a new window
critical and evaluative annual review of the most interesting essays/articles on major authors and all
literary periods.
Year's Work in Critical and Cultural Theory
- This link opens in a new window
critical and evaluative annual review of the most interesting essays/articles in Critical Theory: e.g. Digital Humanities; Visual Culture; Postcolonial Theory, etc.
American Literary Scholarship
- This link opens in a new window
critical and evaluative annual review of major authors and movements in American literature

Core - Shakespeare

World Shakespeare Bibliography
- This link opens in a new window
* books, articles, essays, reviews from 1960 to the present
Shakespeare Collection (Archives Unbound)
- This link opens in a new window
* includes critical essays and articles; prompt books (17th -20th Cs); editions and adaptations
Oxford Scholarly Editions Online
- This link opens in a new window
Modern Critical Editions of Shakespeare's plays, searchable full-text

Performing Arts Periodicals Database
- This link opens in a new window
drama, theater, film, dance, music and performance; coverage: 1864 - current

Core- Medieval and Renaissance

International Medieval Bibliography (Brepols)
- This link opens in a new window
Covers the periods Late Antiquity to the Late Middle Ages (300-1500). Books, articles, essays, reviews in English, French ,German, Spanish and Italian published 1958 onward.
Bibliographie internationale de l'humanisme et de la Renaissance (Brepols)
- This link opens in a new window
Covers European history and culture of the 16th and 17th centuries. Material in English, French, German, Spanish and Italian published from 1965 onward.

ITER: gateway to the Middle Ages and the Renaissance
- This link opens in a new window
This is not a full-text database, It is a bibliography of material on the Middle Ages and Renaissance (400-1700). Citations must be searched in our catalogue to access needed articles, books, etc.

Core- Performing Arts

North American Theatre Online
- This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
contains details of New York stage productions 1798-1894; American Theater Company productions 1749-1986; manuscript brochures, playbills, programs, advertisements.
Eighteenth Century Drama : Censorship, Society and the Stage (Adam Matthew)
- This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
Drama Online (Bloomsbury)
- This link opens in a new window

Wellesley Index to Victorian Periodicals
index and full-text retrieval of material covering 1802-1900
C19, the Nineteenth Century Index
- This link opens in a new window

Eight Centuries (Paratext)
- This link opens in a new window
Canadian Literary Centre (EBSCO)
- This link opens in a new window
Canadian Reference Centre (EBSCO)
- This link opens in a new window

Book and Journal Collections Full-text

Past Masters
- This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
Oxford Scholarly Editions Online
- This link opens in a new window
Early English Books Online (ProQuest)
- This link opens in a new window
Contains page images of virtually every work printed in England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales and British North America, as well as works in English printed elsewhere between 1473 and 1700.
Eighteenth Century Collections Online (Gale)
- This link opens in a new window
Early European Books (ProQuest)
- This link opens in a new window
Works printed in Europe before 1701, regardless of language, fall within the scope of the project, as do all pre-1701 works in European languages printed elsewhere.
Includes content from the following libraries:
- The Royal Danish Library - Kongelige Bibliotek (Copenhagen, Denmark)
- The National Central Library of Florence - Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Firenze (Florence, Italy)
- The National Library of the Netherlands - Koninklijke Bibliotheek (The Hague, The Netherlands)
- The Wellcome Library - The Wellcome Library (London, United Kingdom)
- The National Library of France - Bibliothèque nationale de France (Paris, France)
Nineteenth Century Collections Online (Gale Primary Sources)
- This link opens in a new window
The content of this database is available for text-mining through Gale Digital Scholar Lab

DEEP: database of Early English Playbooks
Sabin Americana 1500-1926
- This link opens in a new window

Early American imprints. Series 1, Evans (1639-1800) (Readex)
- This link opens in a new window

Early American Imprints: Series II (1801-1819)
- This link opens in a new window
Gerritsen Collection of Women's History
- This link opens in a new window
Orlando: women's writing in the British Isles from the beginning to the present
- This link opens in a new window
Hathi Trust Digital Library
- This link opens in a new window
Eighteenth Century Journals, a portal to newspapers and periodicals, 1685-1835
- This link opens in a new window
American Periodicals 1740 - 1940
- This link opens in a new window

Manuscripts

British Literary Manuscripts Online
- This link opens in a new window
Literary Manuscripts: Victorian Manuscripts from the Berg Collection, New York Public Library
- This link opens in a new window
Literary Manuscripts: 17th and 18 th Century Poetry, Brotherton Library, Leeds
- This link opens in a new window
Perdita manuscripts : women writers, 1500-1700
- This link opens in a new window

Streamed Video

Academic Video Online (Alexander Street)
- This link opens in a new window
Video platform with more than 62,000 titles spanning a range of subject areas including anthropology, business, counseling, film, health, history, and music.
Unlimited simultaneous users.
Theatre in Video (Alexander Street)
- This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
Music Online: Opera in Video (Alexander Street)
- This link opens in a new window
Provides access to more than 200 videos of canonical operas, from the Baroque era to the 21st century, in addition to interviews and documentaries.
LGBT Studies in Video (Alexander Street)
- This link opens in a new window
Cinematic survey of the lives, as well as the cultural and political evolution ,of the LGBT community.
Films on Demand
- This link opens in a new window
Access to documentaries, educational films and instructional videos.
Unlimited simultaneous users.
NFB (National Film Board of Canada)
- This link opens in a new window
Kanopy
- This link opens in a new window
Video streaming platform with documentary and art-film content aimed at universities and libraries.
Criterion On Demand
- This link opens in a new window
Not to be confused with "The Criterion Collection" of re-mastered films.
Docuseek Canadian Collection
- This link opens in a new window
Please note that McGill has access to the Docuseek Canadian Collection only. Docuseek streams independent, social-issue and environmental films to colleges and universities, with over 1400 films from distributors such as Bullfrog Films, Icarus Films, MediaStorm, and others.

Newspapers

Gale Newsvault (Gale)
- This link opens in a new window
Includes 17th-18th Century Burney Collection Newspapers; 19th Century British Library Newspapers, Parts I and II; 19th Century U.S. Newspapers; 19th Century UK Periodicals: New Readerships; 19th Century UK Periodicals: Empire; British Newspapers, Part 3; Daily Mail Historical Archive; Economist Historical Archive; Financial Times Historical Archive; Illustrated London News Historical Archive; Liberty Magazine Historical Archive; Listener Historical Archive; Picture Post Historical Archive; Sunday Times Digital Archive; Times Digital Archive; and Times Literary Supplement Historical Archive.
American Periodicals (ProQuest)
- This link opens in a new window
Times Digital Archive (Gale Primary Sources)
- This link opens in a new window
Times Literary Supplement Historical Archive (Gale Primary Sources)
- This link opens in a new window
The content of this database is available for text-mining through Gale Digital Scholar Lab

New York Times 1851-2013
- This link opens in a new window
Washinton Post 1877-2000
- This link opens in a new window
Globe and Mail 1933-2013
- This link opens in a new window
Toronto Star 1894-2014
- This link opens in a new window
Paper of Record (Canada, USA, UK, Europe, Latin America)<
- This link opens in a new window

Canadian Newsstream (ProQuest)
- This link opens in a new window
Eureka
- This link opens in a new window

Paper Copy Book Review Indexes

Locating Book Reviews

Reviews 18^th and 19^th Centuries.

Forster, Antonia. Index to book reviews in England, 1749-1774. Southern Illinois University Press, 1990. Z1035 A1 F67 1990 Reference Collection (paper copy)

Forster, Antonia. Index to book reviews in England, 1775-1800. British Library, 1997. Z1035 A1 F672 1997 Reference Collection (paper copy)

Combined retrospective index to book reviews in humanities journals, 1802-1974. Research Publications, 1982. 10 volumes Z1035 A1 C63 1982 Reference Collection (paper copy)

Combined retrospective index to book reviews in scholarly journals, 1886-1974. Carrollton Press, 1979. 15 volumes Z1035 A1 C64 1979 Reference Collection (paper copy)

Reviews 20^th Century

An Index to book reviews in the humanities, 1960-1990. 31 volumes Z1035 A1 I63 Reference Collection (paper copy)

English Literature Librarian

Lonnie Weatherby

Email me

Contact:

Humanities & Social Sciences Library-
Bibliothèque des sciences humaines et sociales
3459 McTavish
Montreal, Quebec
H3A 0C9

514-398-5031

Subjects: Canadian studies, Comparative literature and translations, English language and literature, Film studies, Translation studies

English Literature Research Guide