Reference Resources for English Courses
On the Web
Please check Internet Resources for English Courses for more information about using the Internet effectively for literary research. Here is a miscellany of recommended sites:
- Author Guides - Maintained by a librarian at Louisiana State University, this is an extensive, current list of sites, mostly for literary authors.
- California Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages - This is the association's homepage. It includes position papers, membership and conference information, a job bank, and an extensive list of links to other Web resources.
- The Cambridge History of English and American Literature: An Encyclopedia in Eighteen Volumes - This edition is from 1921.
- Geoffrey Chaucer - The site includes critical articles, translations and glossed versions of sources that are relevant to Chaucer, and graphics and general information about the Middle Ages.
- History of the English Language Page - This is a comprehensive, scholarly site with links to many aspects of the subject.
- Jane Austen Information Page - This is an outstanding page, with links for both scholars and fans. There are: links to the writings, many in hypertext with informative links; an extensive bibliography of scholarship; illustrations from the novels; much more.
- Professor Cathy Ball's Old English Pages - This site includes links to texts, sound files, images, and more.
- Shakespeare's Sonnets - All the sonnets are provided here, with descriptive commentary attached to each one, giving explanations of difficult and unfamiliar words and phrases, and with a full analysis of any special problems of interpretation which arise. Sonnets by other Elizabethan poets are also included.
- TESOL Online - This is the national association homepage. It has information on membership, conferences, publications, political issues, and standards; news, career services, etc.
- TESOL/ESL/TESL Resources
- Mr. William Shakespeare and the Internet - This site is a rich resource of scholarly Shakespeare sites and information on the Internet. The "Other" sites are good for study breaks.
In the Library
Our Reference collection, on the first floor of the library, is arranged according to the Library of Congress (LC) Classification System. The library's book stacks, on the second and third floors, and our print periodicals, on the second floor, are also arranged according to this system. For more information on how the LC system arranges books by and about literary authors please see Finding Books: Literary Works and Criticism.
In the Reference collection, you will find specialized encyclopedias and handbooks, dictionaries of literary terms, compilations and annotated bibliographies of criticism, and biographical dictionaries. If you are looking for specific information, please ask for assistance at the Reference desk, also on the first floor.
Here are a few recommended reference sources available at the HSU library. NOTE: Only HSU faculty, staff, and currently enrolled students may access electronic subscription resources from off-campus locations. If you are in one of those categories, go to Off Campus Access to Databases for instructions on how to connect to these resources if you are not in the library, a campus computer lab, or campus office.
Electronic Subscription Sources
- Dissertation Abstracts
- Dissertations are comprehensive studies and usually have very thorough bibliographies.
- Gale Literary Databases
- This site includes entries from Contemporary Authors (brief biography & criticism and lists of works for authors active since 1940), the Dictionary of Literary Biography (essays by scholars on authors and their works), and Contemporary Literary Criticism (excerpts of criticism from popular and scholarly sources with citations to the full work). You can search any or all of these at once. Selected volumes of the Dictionary of Literary Biography are in the Reference collection at ref PN 451 D53.
- Johns Hopkins Guide to Literary Theory and Criticism Online
- The 1994 print edition is available in the Reference collection at ref PN 81 J54 1994
- Oxford English Dictionary
- The second edition, in print, is in the Reference collection at ref PE 1625 O87 1989
- Scribner Writers Series
- Biographical and critical essays covering authors from 37 nationalities and ancient to modern times are here. Each essay is about 5 pages long.
- World Shakespeare Bibliography Online
- This is a comprehensive, international listing of "annotated entries for all important books, articles, book reviews, dissertations, theatrical productions, reviews of productions, audiovisual materials, electronic media, and other scholarly and popular materials related to Shakespeare and published or produced between 1964" and the present. It is updated several times each year.
Print Resources. Here is a sample of items from our print Reference collection, to give you a taste of what is there. Use the call numbers to find the print sources in the Reference collection on the first floor of the library, and browse for similar items nearby.
- A Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Theory, 3rd ed (ref PN 41 83 1991)
- A Handbook to Literature ("Harmon & Holman"), 9th ed. (ref PN 41 H355 2003)
- The Continental Novel: A Checklist of Criticism in English (ref PN 86 K43)
- British Writers (ref PR 85 B688 v. 1-8 & suppl.) - Scholarly essays with extensive bibliographies
- The Critical Perspective: Twentieth Century Criticism of British and American Literature to 1904 (ref PR 85 C76 1985 v. 1-10)
- The New Moulton's Pre-twentieth Century Criticism of British and American Literature to 1904 (ref PR 85 N39 1985)
- Asian-American Novelists: A Bio-Bibliographical Critical Sourcebook (ref PS 153 A84 A825 2000)
- African-American Writers: A Dictionary (ref PS 153 N5 A3444 2000)
- American Nature Writers (ref PS 163 A6 1996 v. 1-2)
- The Oxford Companion to . . .
There are dozens of Oxford Companions, on many subjects. The ones below are excellent handbooks, with brief entries for authors, works, literary movements, critical terms, and related subjects. - African American Literature (ref PS 153 N5 O96 1997)
- The English Language (ref PE 31 O82 1992)
- English Literature, 6th ed (ref PR 19 O94 2000)
- American Literature, 6th ed (ref PS 21 H3 1995)
- Shakespeare (ref PR 2892 O94 2001)
- Women's Writing in the United States (ref PS 147 O94 1995)