Research Guides: English Studies Databases: Home

Databases for English Studies

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MLA International Bibliography This link opens in a new window
Provides access to scholarly research pertaining to literature, language, linguistics, and folklore.
Gale Literature Resource Center This link opens in a new window
Biographical, critical and bibliographical information on authors.
JSTOR This link opens in a new window
Provides access to academic journals and books covering a wide range of disciplines; it also includes some limited primary source collections.

Additional Databases

ABC-CLIO E-book Collection This link opens in a new window
E-book collection emphasizing history and literature.
Academic Search Complete This link opens in a new window
A great database to get started with for your research on any topic. Use it to search for articles from scholarly (peer-reviewed) journals, newspapers, and magazines.
African-American Poetry (1750-1900) This link opens in a new window
Text of poems written between 1750-1900 written by African-American poets.
American Periodicals This link opens in a new window
Full text periodicals published between 1740 and 1940.
American Poetry (1600-1900) This link opens in a new window
Poetry by more than 200 American poets.
AM Explorer (AM Digital) This link opens in a new window
Access millions of pages of primary source collections across the entire portfolio of Adam Matthew Digital, spanning content from the 15th-21st centuries.
Arts and Humanities Citation Index This link opens in a new window
An index covering the journal literature of the arts and humanities, part of the Web of Science Core Collection. (Indexing: 1975+)
Arts and Humanities Database This link opens in a new window
This database features hundreds of titles covering Art, Architecture, Design, History, Philosophy, Music, Literature, Theatre and Cultural Studies.
BBC Shakespeare Plays This link opens in a new window
Videos featuring some of Britain's most distinguished theatrical talent in the production of Shakespeare's plays
Black Drama: 1850 to Present This link opens in a new window
The full text of plays written from the mid-1800s to the present by more than 100 playwrights from North America, English-speaking Africa, the Caribbean, and other African diaspora countries.

CompPile
Focuses on resources in writing education.

19th Century British Library Newspapers This link opens in a new window
Contains full runs of 48 newspapers specially selected by the British Library to best represent nineteenth century Britain.
19th Century UK Periodicals This link opens in a new window
A major multi-part series of periodicals which covers the events, lives, values and themes that shaped the 19th century world.
African American Communities (Adam Matthew) This link opens in a new window
Focusing predominantly on Atlanta, Chicago, St. Louis, New York, and towns and cities in North Carolina this resource presents multiple aspects of the African American community through pamphlets, newspapers and periodicals, correspondence, official records, reports and in-depth oral histories.
Early American Imprints, Series I: Evans, 1639-1800 This link opens in a new window
Provides full-text and full-page-image access to books, pamphlets and broadsides printed in America from 1639-1800.
Early English Books Online (EEBO) This link opens in a new window
Digital facsimile page images of historical works from 1473 to 1700.
Eight Centuries (formerly 19th Century Masterfile) This link opens in a new window
Eight Centuries (formerly 19th Century Masterfile) is a database covering primary source materials from 1106 until 1960. Provides access to articles, newspapers, books, U.S. patents, government documents, and images.
Eighteenth Century Collection Online (ECCO) This link opens in a new window
Works published in the UK during the 18th century.
Eighteenth Century Drama (Adam Matthew) This link opens in a new window
A unique archive of almost every play submitted for licence between 1737 and 1824, includes hundreds of documents that provide social context for the plays.
English Poetry (600-1900) This link opens in a new window
Essentially the complete English poetic canon from the 8th century to the early 20th. Over 160,000 poems by more than 1,250 poets drawn from nearly 4,500 printed sources.
Faber Poetry Library This link opens in a new window
Poems by some of the most influential poets of the 20th century.
Film and Television Literature Index This link opens in a new window
Database covering the entire spectrum of television and film writing.
Gale Literature This link opens in a new window
Comprehensive search of Gale's all literature archive resources, including Dictionary of Literary Biography Complete Online, Literature Criticism Online, and Something About the Author Online.
Gale Literature Criticism (LCO) This link opens in a new window
An extensive compilation of centuries of analysis; includes scholarly and popular commentary from broadsheets, pamphlets, encyclopedias, books and periodicals. Resources include Short Story Criticism, Poetry Criticism, Children's LIterature Criticism and other similar sources of literary criticism.
Harper's Weekly: 1857-1912 This link opens in a new window
A 19th century illustrated newspaper from 1857-1912. Includes news stories, illustrations, cartoons, editorials, biographies, literature and advertisements.
Linguistics and Language Behavior Abstracts (LLBA) This link opens in a new window
This database provides international scholarship in linguistics and related disciplines in the language sciences.
Literary Manuscripts Berg (Adam Matthew) This link opens in a new window
Contains unpublished poems, working notebooks, and early annotated editions from the Victorian period's most famous authors. Also showcases the business of Victorian publishing through documenting the relationship between writers and their publishers through correspondence and financial and legal documents.
Literary Manuscripts Leeds (Adam Matthew) This link opens in a new window
Offers scans of 190 manuscripts from the 17th and 18th century. Collection includes poetry, household accounts, medicinal recipes, and draft letters through printed and handwritten works.
Literary Print Culture (Adam Matthew) This link opens in a new window
Uncovers the workings of the early book trade, the printing and publishing community, the establishment of legal requirements for copyright provisions and the history of bookbinding c. 1554-2007.
Literary Reference Plus This link opens in a new window
Articles and other information about authors and their works. Previously titled Literary Reference Center.
Literature, Culture and Society in Depression Era America: Archives of the Federal Writers' Project This link opens in a new window
The Federal Writers' Project (FWP) publications (1933-1943).
Medieval Travel Writing (Adam Matthew) This link opens in a new window
Explores travel writing from the later medieval period chiefly focusing on journeys through central Asia and the Far East. Maps, individual manuscript illuminations, and and some modern translations of key travel texts also included.
MLA Directory of Periodicals This link opens in a new window
Information on the journals included in MLA International Bibliography.
The MLA Directory of Periodicals contains information about the journals and series included in the MLA International Bibliography. The entries list editorial addresses, phone numbers, fax numbers, e-mail addresses, frequency of publication, descriptions of the periodicals' scopes, circulation figures, subscription prices and addresses, advertising information, and submission guidelines. The directory also provides statistics on how many articles and book reviews the periodicals publish each year, as well as how many are submitted.
NoveList Plus This link opens in a new window
NoveList Plus uses appeal factors and expert reviews to offer read-alike and listen-alike recommendations for fiction, nonfiction, and audiobooks. Readers can look for books about particular subjects, relationships, geographic areas, or periods of time. Access to this resource provided by NC Live.
Perdita Manuscripts (Adam Matthew) This link opens in a new window
Explores women authors who were "lost" due to their writing only existing in an unpublished manuscript form. The manuscripts in this database were all written by women in the British Isles during the 16th and 17th centuries.
Project Muse This link opens in a new window
Scholarly journals and ebooks in the arts and humanities, social sciences and mathematics.
ProQuest Learning: Literature This link opens in a new window
Full-text works of poetry, prose and drama, and secondary sources such as author biographies, literary criticisms, essays, reviews and interviews. Designed with schools and public libraries in mind.
Romanticism (Adam Matthew) This link opens in a new window
Uncovers some of the best known literature and fine art of the Romantic era. All documents are digitized in color and include verse and printed manuscripts, diaries, travel journals, guidebooks, fine art, and maps.
Shakespeare in Performance (Adam Matthew) This link opens in a new window
Showcases rare and unique prompt books that tell the story of Shakespeare's plays as they were performed throughout Great Britain, the United States, and internationally between the seventeenth and twentieth centuries.
Shakespeares Globe Archive (Adam Matthew) This link opens in a new window
Offers insights into the performance practices in the reconstructed Globe Theatre through prompt books, wardrobe notes, programs, publicity material, annual reports, show reports, photographs and architectural plans.
Travel Writing, Spectacle and World History (Adam Matthew) This link opens in a new window
Explores travel accounts by women using diaries, correspondence, drawings, guidebooks, and postcards. Sources cover a variety of topics including customs, exploration, the British Empire, family life, diplomacy and more. Primary sources range from 1818- the 1970s.
Twayne's Author Series This link opens in a new window
Twayne World, US, and English Authors each contains the full text of 200 frequently used Twayne Literary Masters books on individual World, US, or English authors, for a total of 600 individual full-text titles.
Twentieth Century African-American Poetry This link opens in a new window
Texts of modern and contemporary African-American poetry from the early twentieth century to the present.
Twentieth Century American Poetry This link opens in a new window
More than 50,000 poems by important contemporary American poets.
This unparalleled collection includes 52,000 poems drawn from 750 volumes by over 300 poets, including Adrienne Rich, Andrei Codrescu, Ezra Pound, William Carlos Williams, Denise Levertov, Wallace Stevens, Langston Hughes, Lucille Clifton, and Cathy Song.
Twentieth Century English Poetry This link opens in a new window
Text of hundreds of 20th Century British poems by major poets.
A collection of 598 volumes of poetry by 283 poets from 1900 to the present day, including W. B. Yeats, Rudyard Kipling, Robert Graves, A. E. Housman, John Betjeman, Fleur Adcock, Tony Harrison, Benjamin Zephaniah and Carol Ann Duffy, and incorporating the poets in The Faber Poetry Library.
Victorian Popular Culture (Adam Matthew) This link opens in a new window
Explores Victorian social history through the growth of entertainment and leisure activities ranging from freak shows and seances to music halls and the first moving pictures.

Online Dictionaries and Encyclopedias

Johns Hopkins Guide to Literary Theory and Criticism This link opens in a new window
A historical survey of literary theory and criticism. It includes more than 240 alphabetically arranged entries on critics and theorists, critical schools and movements. Also the critical and theoretical innovations of specific countries and historical periods.
Encyclopedia of Semiotics This link opens in a new window
The study of language, symbols and the transmission of information.
Oxford English Dictionary This link opens in a new window
Comprehensive online dictionary of the English language.
The most comprehensive dictionary of the English language. It traces the development of English from approximately 1150 AD up to the present day. It covers the full spectrum of English language usage, from formal to slang, as it has evolved over time. Contains the complete text of the 20-volume Second Edition, first published in 1989, together with its 3-volume Additions Series.
Oxford Encyclopedia of Children's Literature This link opens in a new window
Written by an international roster of more than 300 authors, the Encyclopedia comprehensively documents and interprets the books read by children throughout the world.
Dictionary of Literary Biography This link opens in a new window
Provides more than 16,000 biographical and critical essays on the lives, works, and careers of the world's most influential literary figures from all eras and genres.
Encyclopedia of Rhetoric This link opens in a new window
Covers all aspects of rhetorical study from classical studies to philosophy.
Credo Reference This link opens in a new window
A virtual reference collection including encyclopedias, dictionaries, atlases, images, audio files, and videos in a wide expanse of subject areas.
International Encyclopedia of Linguistics This link opens in a new window
This encyclopedia encompasses the full range of topics in linguistic, including such areas as historical, comparative, formal, mathematical, functional, philosophical, and sociolinguistics. Special attention is given to interrelations within these branches of the field and to relations of linguistics with other disciplines.
Dictionary of American Regional English (DARE) This link opens in a new window
A dictionary representing the full panoply of American regional vocabulary, from Adam’s housecat to Zydeco.
Oxford Encyclopedia of American Literature This link opens in a new window
This resource surveys American literature, covering literary history from the 1600s to present day. Content includes essays on poets, playwrights, essayists, and novelists, as well as major works and essays on literary movements, periods, and themes.
Oxford Encyclopedia of Children's Literature This link opens in a new window
Written by an international roster of more than 300 authors, the Encyclopedia comprehensively documents and interprets the books read by children throughout the world.

English Studies Databases

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Databases for English Studies

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Additional Databases

Online Dictionaries and Encyclopedias