The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) is the guide to the meaning, history, pronunciation, and variant spellings of words, both present and past.
Need to find the earliest references to a word or phrase like "used up"? Need to understand how a word was defined in a particular time period? Then this source is for you!
The Johns Hopkins Guide to Literary Theory & Criticism contains contextual info on critics and theorists, critical schools and movements, and the critical and theoretical innovations of specific countries and historical periods.
Still trying to wrap your head around Derrida or Postcolonial Theory? Then this source is for you!
Need to look up a name, place, term, or event? The sources below contain many different kinds of encyclopedias and dictionaries and are excellent starting points.
Gale Virtual Reference Library (GVRL)
Trying to identify appropriate reference sources and tools to consult? These guides are useful when planning how to approach a research topic.
Literary Research Guide: An Annotated Listing of Reference Sources in English Literary Studies
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A Research Guide for Undergraduate Students: American and English Literature
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Literary Research and British Modernism: Strategies and Sources
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Focusing on work produced between 1880 and 1945, Literary Research and British Modernism: Strategies and Sources provides scholars with the necessary methods and tools for studying the literature of this period. This reference guide will facilitate research into the works of such major modernist writers as James Joyce, T. S. Eliot, Virginia Woolf, E.M. Forster, Joseph Conrad, and Somerset Maugham, as well as lesser known or forgotten authors of the era. The book discusses research methodology and the best practices for the research process, especially regarding the research challenges unique to works of British modernism. This resource includes commentary on general literary reference materials; library catalogs; print and online bibliographies, indexes, and annual reviews; scholarly journals; contemporary reviews; period journals and newspapers; microform and digital collections; manuscripts and archives; and Web resources. This book is an important and helpful guide for researchers of British Modernism and general interested readers alike.
Literary Research and Irish Literature: Strategies and Sources
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Literary Research and Irish Literature: Strategies & Sources explores primary and secondary research resources relevant to the study of Irish literary authors, works, genres, and history. Sources covered include general literary research guides; union library catalogs; print and online bibliographies; manuscripts and archives; microfilm and digitization projects; scholarly journals; periodicals, newspapers, and reviews; and electronic and Web resources. To ease comparison and evaluation of references, each chapter addresses how to choose and utilize research methods and tools to yield the most relevant information. This guide also examines the strengths and weaknesses of core and specialized electronic and print research tools and standard search techniques and_when appropriate_covers the historical and cultural contexts and usability issues of unique reference sources. This volume, number 5 in the series, raises trenchant issues in Irish literary scholarship, such as the problem of defining what Irish literature is; gaps in criticism and secondary literature devoted to Irish literature; neglected areas of scholarly inquiry, including Irish literature by women and lesser-known writers; and the rewards of interdisciplinary research. It concludes with a brief consideration of a scenario illustrating how a scholar might use strategies and sources covered in the text to solve a research problem.
Literary Research and the British Eighteenth Century: Strategies and Sources
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The 18th century in Britain was a transition period for literature. Patronage, either by a benefactor or through subscription, lingered even as the publishing and bookselling industries developed. The practice of reviewing books became well established during the second half of the century, with the first periodical founded in 1749. For the literary scholar, these gradual changes mean that different search strategies are required to conduct research into primary and secondary source material across the era. Literary Research and the British Eighteenth Century addresses these unique challenges. It examines how the following all contribute to the richness of literary research for this era: book and periodical publishing; a growing literate society; dissemination of literature through salons, private societies, and coffee houses; the growing importance of book reviews; the explosion of publishing; and the burgeoning of primary source material available through new publishing and digital initiatives in the 21st century. This volume explores primary and secondary resources, including general literary research guides; union library catalogs; print and online bibliographies; scholarly journals; manuscripts and archives; 18th-century books, newspapers, and periodicals; contemporary reception; and electronic texts and journals, as well as Web resources. Each chapter addresses the research methods and tools best used to extract relevant information and compares and evaluates sources, making this book an invaluable guide to any literary scholar and student of the British eighteenth century.
Literary Research and British Postmodernism: Strategies and Sources
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Literary Research and British Postmodernism is a guide for scholars that aims to connect the complex relationships between print and multimedia, technological advancements, and the influence of critical theory that converge in postwar British literature. This era is unique in that strict boundaries between fiction, nonfiction, multimedia and print are not useful. Postmodern literature is defined by the breaking down of boundaries as a reaction to modernism and requires an innovative, multifaceted approach to research. In this guide the authors explore these complex relationships and offer strategies for researching this new period of literature. This book takes a holistic approach to postmodern literature that recognizes the way in which digital media, film, critical theory, popular music and more traditional print sources are inextricably linked. Through this approach, the authors present a broad view of "postmodernism" that includes a wide variety of British authors writing in the last half of the twentieth century. The book's definition of "postmodern" includes any British literature following World War II that engages issues central to postmodern theory, including the social construction of gender, sexuality, and power; the subjectivity of truth; technology as a social force; intertextuality; metafiction; post-colonial narrative; and fantasy. This guide aims to aid researchers of postwar British literature by defining best practices for scholars conducting research in a period so broadly varied in the way it defines literature.
Literary Research and the British Romantic Era
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The British Romantic era (ca. 1775-1830) was a time of contradictions, of growth, and of diversity in all aspects of English life. "Romanticism" originally referred to the works of six male poets: Wordsworth, Blake, Shelley, Coleridge, Keats, and Byron. However, current scholarly attempts to demonstrate that the period encompasses a rich and varied range of poets, essayists, and novelists of both genders have caused the definition to come under debate. Not limiting itself to these six figures, Literary Research and the British Romantic Era discusses English, Scottish, Irish, and Welsh resources for both primary and secondary research within the Romantic Era, including general literary research guides; union library catalogs; print and online bibliographies; manuscripts and archives; microfilm and digitization projects; eighteenth and nineteenth century journals and newspapers; contemporary reviews; and electronic texts, journals, and Web resources. Each chapter addresses the best methods to extract relevant information from the research tools employed, enabling scholars to find relevant materials. The strengths and weakness of core and specialized electronic and print research tools and standard search techniques are also examined.
Literary Research and the British Renaissance and Early Modern Period: Strategies and Sources
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Recognizing that every literary era presents scholars with particular challenges, this volume covers the best practices and describes important reference resources, both print and electronic, that can be used in conducting literary research of the British Renaissance and Early Modern period. Although the primary emphasis is on literature produced in England, the guide also covers literature from Scotland, Wales, and Ireland. This book addresses specific research characteristics integral to studying the period, including a more inclusive canon and the predominance of Shakespeare, a dual environment of print and manuscript production, the challenges of reading early modern handwriting, a lack of reviewing media, the role of translations, and researching non-standardized genres, among others. Central to this volume and to literary research of the era are the equally valid approaches to studying this literature through the more traditional Renaissance lens or through the varying theoretical approaches falling under the rubric early modern. Bowers and Keeran explore primary and secondary research resources of this era, including general literary research guides; union library catalogs; print and online bibliographies; scholarly journals; manuscripts and archives; microfilm and digitization projects; 17th-century periodicals; contemporary reception; translations and lexicons; genres; and electronic texts, journals, and Web resources. A final chapter, entitled "Researching a Thorny Problem," demonstrates how many of the research tools and strategies presented in the volume can be employed to explore a question that perhaps has no definitive answer. Each chapter addresses how research methods and tools are best used to extract relevant information and compare and evaluate sources. The strengths and weaknesses of core and specialized electronic and print research tools and standard search techniques are also examined, making this book an invaluable guide to any scholar of the Renaissance and early modern era.
Literary Research and the American Modernist Era: Strategies and Sources
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Characterized by its move away from Romanticism and toward mundane, every day subjects, as well as incorporating such ideas as metanarrative, stream of consciousness, and disjointed timelines, the American Modernist Era was at its heyday during the years 1914-1949. It produced such great authors as Ernest Hemingway, William Faulkner, and F. Scott Fitzgerald, and memorable works like As I Lay Dying and The Great Gatsby. Literary Research and the American Modernist Era offers the scholar and researcher a clear introduction to the best contemporary library resources and practices for researching American modernist writing. Graduate students, advanced undergraduates, researchers, and scholars specializing in American modernist writing will improve their information skills and fluency, whether in the real or the virtual library. Even those lacking access to some of the resources described here can profit from this overview of literary research because it will help them frame questions, indicate where to go for answers, and demonstrate useful connections between many of the secondary scholarly sources. This guide offers a coherent account of how contemporary research skills and resources can complement one another in helping the scholar effectively deal with typical challenges they encounter in their work
