English Language & Literature

This guide has links to resources for doing literary research.

Finding Encyclopedias and Background Information

Encyclopedias and reference books can be great resources for background, definitions, or general overviews on a topic. Below are some of our encyclopedia and reference resources. These resources can be best searched by using a general topic you want to know more about (ex. an author, term, theory, or movement).

Gale ebooks (Gale Virtual Reference Library) This link opens in a new window
Coverage: Varies
Provides access to encyclopedias, almanacs, and specialized reference sources for multidisciplinary research.
Oxford Reference
Coverage: Varies
Online reference product, spanning 25 different subject areas, bringing together 2 million digitized entries across Oxford University Press’s Dictionaries, Companions, and Encyclopedias.
Gale Literary Sources
Coverage: Varies
Use for researching authors and their works, literary movements, or trying to find book reviews of bestsellers, they can access full-text literary works, journal articles, literature criticism and analysis, reviews, author biographies, and a rich collection of scholarly overviews.
Oxford English Dictionary
Coverage: Current
A guide to the meaning, history, and pronunciation of 600,000 words— past and present—from across the English-speaking world.