If you're looking specifically for journal articles, start by using one of the indexes listed. Enter some keywords to find out what's been published on your topic. Then use to link from the citations to the articles, when possible. The most extensive database for English Literature is the MLA Bibliography, and you should be sure to check there. If you don't find the results you hoped for, try altering your search terms or look in a different database.

Under "Other Online Resources" find links to some of our more unique databases that might apply to your topic. These include primary documents, images, statistics, and specialized encyclopedias.

To find general books in the library, use TOPCAT (the library catalogue). Find help using TOPCAT in our tutorials. Of special note to English students:

• To find books about authors or their works in TOPCAT:
  • Try searching for the author's last name and a word or two from the title (e.g. "atwood and edible") - use a keyword search.
  • You can search for the author as a subject to find books about him/her (remember it's last name first).
  • If you add the term "criticism" to your keywords it will narrow your results to criticisms or analyses of a work or author; this can be shortened to critic$ in a keyword search.

New Database (Sep 2011): Literature Resource Center. See info. MLA Bibliography is included until January 8, 2012. (Send comment.)
Title	Access	Description	Coverage
Online Indexes
Academic OneFile a general index with many full text articles	Trent	description	C & FT
Academic Search Elite a general index with many full text articles	Trent	description	some FT
Arts & Humanities Citation Index - Web of Science	Trent	description	some FT
CBCA (Canadian Business and Current Affairs)	Trent	description	some FT
CPI-Q (Canadian Periodical Index Online)	Trent	description	some FT
International Medieval Bibliography (IMB)	Trent	description	C
Iter index for Medieval and Renaissance Studies	Trent	description	C
JSTOR (online journal storage for 1100+ journals in a variety of subjects)	Trent	description	FT
Linguistics and Language Behavior Abstracts	Trent	description	C
MLA International Bibliography the most inclusive index for literature	Trent	description	C
Scholars Portal Journals (E-Journals)	Trent	description	FT
Other Online Resources
Burney Collection: 17th-18th Century Newspapers	Trent	description	Primary, News
China: Trade, Politics and Culture, 1793-1980	Trent	description	Primary, Images
Defining Gender, 1450-1910, Online	Trent	description	Primary
Dictionary of American Family Names	Trent	description	Reference
Dictionary of Canadian Biography	Trent	description	Reference
Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford)	Trent	description	Reference
Early Canadiana Online	Trent	description	Primary
Early English Books Online (EEBO)	Trent	description	Primary
Eighteenth Century Collections Online	Trent	description	FT, Primary
Eighteenth Century Journals Online I & II (British)	Trent	description	Primary, FT
Empire Online	Trent	description	Primary, Images
Internet Library of Early Journals	Trent	description	FT, Primary
International Encyclopedia of Linguistics	Trent	description	Reference
The Johns Hopkins Online Guide to Literary Theory and Criticism	Trent	description	Reference
Literature Resource Center (LRC) New - September 2011	Trent	description	Reference
Mass Observation Online	Trent	description	Primary, Images
Medieval Travel Writing	Trent	description	Primary, Images
Oxford Encyclopedia of American Literature	Trent	description	Reference
Oxford Encyclopedia of British Literature	Trent	description	Reference
Oxford Encyclopedia of Children's Literature	Trent	description	Reference
Oxford Encyclopedia of Rhetoric	Trent	description	Reference
Oxford Encyclopedia of Theatre and Performance	Trent	description	Reference
Oxford English Dictionary	Trent	description	Reference
Periodicals Archive Online (historical collection of 500 journals spanning 200 years of publication)	Trent	description	FT, Primary
Slavery, Abolition and Social Justice	Trent	description	Primary, Images
The Times Digital Archive 1785-1985 (London Times newspaper)	Trent	description	Primary, News
Links already have the proxy connection built into them. Click on the red button only if you experience a connection problem. See Proxy Server Help.			LEGEND
Print Indexes
Annual Bibliography of English Language and Literature Z 2011 .M69 REF	in library		C
British Literary Bibliography  Z 2011 .A1 H68	in library		C
Book Review Digest Z 1219 .B66 REF	in library		C
Book Review Index Z 1035 .A1 B6 REF	in library		C

Aesop's Fables

This online collection includes a total of over 655 fables, indexed in table format, with morals listed

Alex Catalogue of Electronic Texts

A collection of digital documents primarily in the areas of English Literature, American Literature, and philosophy. Works by such authors as Aristotle, Lewis Carroll, Emerson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Washington Irving, Jefferson, Milton, Poe, Mark Twain, to Oscar Wilde are included.

 

The Canadian Literature Archive

Information on Canadian authors, playwrights, poets, etc., with links to their home pages. Also includes online texts, bibliographies, links to writers' organizations, etc.

Canadian Poetry Archive (from the National Library of Canada)

Digitized collection of English and French Canadian poetry dating from the 19th and early 20th centuries. It features over 1,500 poems by more than 100 early Canadian poets. Some biographies are also included.

Electronic Beowulf

The online help guide for the Electronic Beowulf CDs, an image-based edition of the Old English poem. This site includes information about the project history, online articles about the project, and some graphic images of it and other medieval manuscripts.

English Online Resources - Electronic Text Center

From the University of Virginia, their Middle English Collection includes Chaucer, Langland, etc, and their Modern English Collection (1500 to the present) includes almost 2,000 titles which can be browsed by author's last name or category of interest.

The English Server

The English Server offers 44 collections on diverse topics. See listings under drama, fiction, poetry, eighteenth century, etc.

 Folklore and Mythology Electronic Texts

Alphabetical access from Abducted by Aliens to Yggdrasil.

Index of Poets in Representative Poetry Online

From the University of Toronto, this index can be searched by poet, title, first line, date or keyword. The Canadian Poetry  link provides access to Canadian Poet sites, poetry journals, representative poetry, and other poetry sites. Very informative.

Internet Library of Early Journals

A digital library project of 18th and 19th century journals including Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Gentleman's Magazine, Notes and Queries, and the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society.

Labyrinth

A World Wide Web Server for Medieval Studies.

 

The On-line Books Page

Access to over 8,000 online books which can be searched by author and title.

Northwest Passages - Canadian Literature Online!

Sites are grouped under such headings as Canadian authors, Canadian e-texts, Canadian literary awards and organizations, General Canadian literature links, as well as selected cultural links.

 

 

The Oxford Text Archive

The Oxford Text Archive holds several thousand electronic texts and linguistic corpora, in a variety of languages. Its holdings include electronic editions of works by individual authors, standard reference works such as the Bible and mono-/bilingual dictionaries, and a range of language corpora. Texts can be searched by title, author, or full-text, and can be limited by genre, period, language, or file format.

Poetry Archives

The archives contain over 5,000 full-text classical poems from over 150 poets, searchable by author, title, and first line.

Poets' Corner

Aims to create the "largest, most diverse, and most user-friendly public library of poetic works ever assembled". This anthology is arranged and indexed by author. Almost 800 authors are included.

The Complete Works of William Shakespeare

Includes Shakepeare's plays and poetry.

Victorian Women Writers Project

Works include anthologies, novels, political pamphlets, religious tracts, children's books, and volumes of poetry and verse drama.

Voice of the Shuttle (VoS) : Literary Theory

VoS provides structured and briefly annotated guides to online resources in the humanities. (from the University of California, Santa Barbara.

The William Blake Archive

Includes Blake's works (searchable by text and image), biographical information, further resources and more.

E-Books
	Oxford English Dictionary online
	CREDO reference An online collection of 100 reference books (formerly called xreferplus).
General Reference Books
	Book of literary terms : the genres of fiction, drama, nonfiction, literary criticism, and scholarship  PN 44.5 .T87 1999 REF
	Cassell guide to related words  PE 1591 .C37 1994 REF
	Compendium of the world's languages  P 371 .C36 1991 REF
	The concise Oxford dictionary of literary terms   PN 41 .C67 1990 REF
	Descriptionary : a thematic dictionary  PE 1591 .M415 1992 REF
	Dictionary of Caribbean English usage  PE 3304 .D54 1996 REF
	Dictionary of Newfoundland English  PE 3245 .N4 D53 1990 REF
	The Encyclopedia of language and linguistics  P 29 .E48 1994 REF
	The Linguistics encyclopedia  P 29 .L52 1991 REF
	Merriam-Webster's dictionary of allusions  PN 43 .W384 1999 REF
	Middle English dictionary  PE 679 .M54 REF
	The Oxford companion to the English language  PE 31 .O94 1992 REF
	The Oxford English dictionary  PE 1625 .O87 1989 REF
	The Penguin Canadian dictionary  PE 1625 .P46 1990 REF

Subject Specific Reference Books : Literature
	The Cambridge guide to literature in English  PR 85 .C29 1993 REF
	Contemporary authors  PN 771 .C6 REF
	Dictionary of concepts in literary criticism and theory  PN 41 .H36 1992 REF
	Dictionary of literary biography  PS 129 .D5 REF
	A dictionary of literary symbols  PN 56 .S9 F47 1999 REF
	A dictionary of literary terms and literary theory  PN 41 .C83 1991 REF
	Dictionary of literary utopias  PN 56 .U8 D54 2000 REF
	Dictionary of real people and places in fiction  PN 56.4 .R56 1993 REF
	Encyclopedia of contemporary literary theory : approaches, scholars, terms  PN 81 .E52 1993 REF
	Encyclopedia of erotic literature  PN 56 .E7 E53 2006 v.1-2 REF
	Encyclopedia of feminist literary theory  PN 98 .W64 E53 1997 REF
	Encyclopedia of literature and criticism  PN 81 .E53 1991 REF
	Encyclopedia of post-colonial literatures in English  PR 19 .E63 1994 REF
	Feminist companion to literature in English : women writers from the Middle Ages to the present  PN 471 .F45 1990 REF
	Historical dictionary of fantasy literature PN 3435 .S82 2005 REF
	Larousse dictionary of literary characters  PR 19 .L37 1994 REF
	The Oxford companion to children's literature  PN 1008.5 .C37 1999 REF
	The Oxford companion to English literature  PR 19 .O94 2000 REF
	The Oxford companion to twentieth-century literature in English  PR 471 .O94 1996 REF
	The Oxford companion to twentieth-century poetry in English  PR 601 .O9 1994 REF
	Oxford reader's companion to Trollope  PR 5686 .A28 1999 REF
Subject Specific Reference Books : Regional, National, Ethnic or Gender Emphasis

	American periodical verse 2005   Z 1231 .P7 I47 2005 REF
	Asian American literature : reviews and criticism of works by American writers of Asian descent  PS 153 .A84 A82 1999 REF
	Canadian fiction : a guide to reading interests  Z 1377 .F4 S65 2005 REF
	Concise encyclopedia of Latin American literature  PQ 7081 .A1 E56 2000 REF
	The concise Oxford companion to Canadian literature   PS 8015 .C65 2001 REF
	Contemporary gay american novelists : a bio-bibliographical critical sourcebook  PS 374 .H63 C66 1993 REF
	Encyclopedia of Post-Colonial literatures in English  PR 19 .E63 1994 REF
	The Feminist companion to literature in English : women writers from the Middle Ages to the present  PN 471 .F45 1990 REF
	Gay & lesbian literature  PN 56 .H57 G36 1994 REF
	The Hispanic literary companion  PS 508 .H57 H566 1996 REF
	Native American literatures : an encyclopedia of works, characters, authors, and themes  PS 153 .I52 W47 1999 REF
	Native North American literature : biographical and critical information on native writers and orators from the United States and Canada from historical times to the present  PS 508 .I5 N38 1994 REF
	The Oxford companion to African American literature  PS 153 .N5 O96 1997 REF
	The Oxford companion to Australian literature  PR 9600.2 .W55 1994 REF
	The Oxford companion to Irish literature  PR 8706 .O88 1996 REF
	The Oxford companion to women's writing in the United States  PS 147 .O94 1995 REF
	Third world women's literatures : a dictionary and guide to materials in English  PN 849 .U43 F58 1995 REF
Bibliographies

	The Annotated bibliography of Canada's major authors  Z 1375 .A55 REF
	Beowulf scholarship : an annotated bibliography, 1979-1990  Z 2012 .H23 1993 REF
	Bibliography of American literature  Z 1225 .B55 REF
	Contemporary African American female playwrights : an annotated bibliography  Z 1229 .N39 W55 1998 REF
	Contemporary critical theory : a selective bibliography  Z 6514 .C97 M37 1993 REF
	Critical analyses in English renaissance drama : a bibliographic guide  Z 2014 .D7 S24 1991 REF
	English-Canadian literary anthologies : an enumerative bibliography  Z 1375 .L43 1997 REF
	Ethnic and native Canadian literature : a bibliography   Z 1376 .E87 M57 1990 REF
	Fantasy literature : a reader's guide  Z 5917 .F3 F36 1990 REF
	Horror literature : a reader's guide  Z 5917 .H65 H67 1990 REF
	Johns Hopkins guide to literary theory and criticism  Z 6514 .C97 J64 1994 REF
	Literary research guide : a guide to reference sources for the study of literatures in English and related topics  Z 2011 .H34 1993 REF
	Medieval English drama : an annotated bibliography of recent criticism  Z 2014 .D7 B43 1990 REF
	Old English prose of secular learning  Z 2012 .H7 1992 REF
	Romantic poetry by women : a bibliography, 1770-1835  Z 2013.5 .W6 J33 1993 REF
	Science fiction and fantasy literature 1975-1991 : a bibliography of science fiction, fantasy, and horror fiction books and nonfiction monographs  Z 5917 .S36 R4212 1992 REF
	Sir Gawain and the Green Knight : an annotated bibliography, 1978-1989  Z 6521 .G38 S73 1992 REF
	Through the eyes of a child : an introduction to children's literature  Z 1037 .A1 N68 2007 REF