Subject guide: English

articles | books | websites | reference

Find articles

• JSTOR
  Includes the full-text of about eighty scholarly journals in literature, usually from the first issue through from two to five years ago. Does not include current issues.
• Literature Resource Center
  Full-text of the articles from over 250 journals dealing with literary criticism. Also, an excellent source for detailed literary biographies.
• MLA International Bibliography
  Comprehensive index of journal articles and books related to literature. This is the primary tool for finding literary criticism. Links to full-text when available, but expect to use ILLiad to request many of these articles or Summit to request books.

Off-campus access to these databases is easy. When prompted, sign in with your SMU network/email user name and password. For problems, call 360.486.8803 or email us.

articles | books | websites | reference

Find books

• Use the O'Grady Library catalog to find books.
• Use Summit to find books that the O'Grady Library doesn't own.
• Use ILLiad to request books that neither O'Grady Library or Summit owns.

Browse by general subjects in the Online Catalog. For example, American Literature or English Literature.

To find books on a particular author, do a subject search of the author’s name. You will often find studies of specific works by that author or more general studies under the subheading "Criticism and Interpretation." For example, Jane Austen.

articles | books | websites | reference

Websites

Citation guides and writing resources

• MLA Style Citation Guide (PDF)
• The Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL)
• Writer’s Handbook

Electronic texts

• American Verse Project
• British Women Romantic Poets
• Early Manuscripts at Oxford University
• Eighteenth Century E-Texts
• Internet Library of Early Journals
• Library of Congress American Memory: Literature
• Luminarium: Anthology of English Literature
• Middle English Compendium
• Online Medieval and Classical Library
• Oxford Text Archive
• Project Gutenberg
• Representative Poetry Online
• Spenser and the Tradition: English Poetry 1579-1830
• Victorian Women Writers Project

Graduate schools and GRE test preparation

• Testing & Education Reference Center

Other resources

• Voice of the Shuttle: Literature (in English)
• Modern Language Association (MLA)
• National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE)
• English Department at Saint Martin's University
• Writing Center at Saint Martin's University

articles | books | websites | reference

Reference

Online reference

• Literature Resource Center
• Oxford Reference Premium Online: Literature
• Oxford English Dictionary
• English Dictionaries and Thesauruses

The following titles are located in Reference on the 1st floor of O'Grady Library.

Biographies

• Find African Writers
• Find African American Writers
• Find American Writers: A Collection of Literary Biographies
• Find British Writers
• Find European Writers: Selected Authors
• Find Latin American Writers

Companions, encyclopedias, guides, and handbooks

• Find The Bloomsbury Guide to Women’s Literature
• Find The Cambridge Guide to Literature in English
• Find The Columbia Companion to the Twentieth-Century American Short Story
• Find The Columbia Granger’s Index to Poetry in Anthologies
• Find Encyclopedia of American Poetry: The Nineteenth Century
• Find Encyclopedia of American Poetry: The Twentieth Century
• Find Encyclopedia of Catholic Literature
• Find Encyclopedia of Medieval Literature
• Find Encyclopedia of the Novel
• Find Encyclopedia of World Literature in the 20th Century
• Find A Handbook to Literature
• Find The Johns Hopkins Guide to Literary Theory and Criticism
• Find The New Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics
• Find A Reader’s Companion to the Short Story in English
• Find Short Story Index

Research and writing handbooks and guides

• Find The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language
• Find Literary Research Guide: an Annotated Listing of Reference Sources in English Literary Studies
• Find MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers
• Find A Research Guide for Undergraduate Students: English and American Literature
• Find The St. Martin’s Handbook
• Find A Writer’s Refererence