Reed College Library: English

There are many handbooks, dictionaries, and encyclopedias that provide basic information for literary studies. If you are not clear about your topic, try establishing its limits with a good definition and some introductory information. The following sources can give you a quick overview or summary of a topic.

A Handbook to Literature
Ref PN41 .H355 2003
Definitions of literary terms. Includes an "Outline of Literary History: British and American."

The Johns Hopkins Guide to Literary Theory and Criticism
Ref PN81 .J554 2005
A guide to the intellectual traditions of literary theory that includes articles on individual critics and theorists, critical and theoretical schools and movements, and the critical and theoretical innovations of specific countries and historical periods.

New Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics
Ref PN1021 .N39 1993
"Provides surveys of 106 national poetries; descriptions of poetic forms and genres...detailed explanations of the devices of prosody and rhetoric; and overviews of all major schools of poetry ancient and modern, Western and Eastern...provides balanced and comprehensive accounts of the major movements and issues in criticism and literary theory."

Reader's Guide to Literature in English
Ref PR85 .R42 1996
Provides descriptions and evaluation of critical writing on a range of topics and writers of the British Isles, the United States, and other major English-speaking traditions.

Guides to the Literature

A Research Guide for Undergraduate Students: English and American Literature
Ref PR56 .B34 2000

Guide to English and American Literature
Ref PR83 .B285
Published in 1976, this general research guide is arranged by literary period.

Literary Research Guide: An Annotated Listing of Reference Sources in English Literary Studies
Ref PR83 .H34 2002
A selective, annotated guide to sources essential to the study of literatures in English.

Locating Books

To locate books, look in the library catalog. If you know the author or editor, search Author, last name first. To search by Title, you must know the first few words of the title, but you do not have to know the complete title. If you are looking for books on a particular topic, try a Keyword search first. Type some keywords and see if you locate any appropriate book titles. To look for additional titles click on the subject headings assigned to them to find additional books on you topic.

If you fail to find books on your topic in the Reed catalog, try searching in the Summit catalog. The Summit catalog contains the books owned by over 25 academic libraries in Oregon and Washington. Click on "Search in Summit" and the system will automatically perform your search in the Summit catalog. If you find a title you want you can request it by clicking the "Request this item" link and following the prompts. You will receive an email when the book arrives at Reed, usually 2 to 3 working days after you request it.

WorldCat
An online catalog containing more than 50 million records for items owned by Reed and other libraries around the world. The database includes books, journals and newspapers (but NOT references to individual articles), sound recordings, musical scores, films and manuscripts.

Finding Journal Articles and Critical Essays

Indexes (sometimes called databases) allow you to search the contents of periodicals to identify articles on your topic. Some indexes are inter-disciplinary, and some focus on a particular subject area. Some contain fulltext or links to fulltext from other sources. Many include citations for books, dissertations, and conference papers as well as journal articles.

After you find a citation for an article, you will need to check the Print & Electronic Journal page to see if Reed subscribes to the journal and if we have the particular issue.

If the article you are looking for is not available at Reed, you can request it from Interlibrary loan (periodicals cannot be borrowed from Summit).

Academic Search Premier (1975 - present)
A multi-disciplinary database containing fulltext for more than 4,600 scholarly publications. In addition to the fulltext, the database offers indexing and abstracts for more than 8,000 journals.

American Literary Scholarship (1998 - present)
Annual selective and evaluative survey of the year's important scholarship. Also available in print 1963 - present (Ref PS3 .A47, last ten years in Reference, earlier years in Stacks).

Arts & Humanities Citation Index (1975 - present)
Multi-disciplinary index covering the journal literature of the arts and humanities. (Available through Web of Science.)

Essay and General Literature Index (1900 - 1998) and Essay and General Literature Index (1985 - )
Subject, author index to books of collected essays with emphasis in humanities and social sciences.

JSTOR
This electronic archive of essential academic journals includes several major journals from the field of English literary studies.

MLA (1921 - present)
Index of literary, linguistic and folklore scholarship. MLA covers all languages and literatures except classical Greek and Latin.

Periodicals Index Online (1665 - varies by title)
Formerly PCI - Periodicals Contents Index. An index to millions of articles in more than 4,600 scholarly journals in the humanities and social sciences. International in scope, PCI covers journals going back over 300 years.

Project Muse
Online access to more than 200 scholarly journals in the arts and humanities, social sciences and mathematics.

The Year's Work in English Studies
Ref PE58 .E6
Annual selective and evaluative survey of the year's scholarship in English, American and other literatures in English. Library has 1919 - present. Last ten years in Reference, earlier years in Stacks.

World Shakespeare Bibliography Online
Provides annotated entries to scholarly and popular materials related to Shakespeare. The scope is international, with coverage extending to more than eighty languages.

Bibliographies

New Cambridge Bibliography of English Literature (NCBEL)
Ref PR19 .B32 1969
An extensive bibliography of works by and about literary authors native or mainly resident in the British Isles from the Old English period through those established by 1950. Because of its comprehensive coverage of both primary and secondary works, it is a good starting point for research.

Guide to British Poetry Explication
Ref PR311 .M34 1991
Vol. 1: Old English - Medieval; Vol. 2: Renaissance; Vol. 3: Restoration - Romantic; Vol. 4: Victorian - Contemporary. Criticism from 1925 through the early 1990's.

Guide to American Poetry Explication
Ref PS201 .G85 1989
Vol. 1: Colonial and nineteenth century; Vol. 2.: Modern and contemporary.

Handbooks, Dictionaries, Encyclopedias

An Encyclopedia of British Women Writers
Ref PR111 .E54 1998
"...600 biographical-critical reviews on a wide range of women writers, from the early centuries of writing identified with England up to the present day, who have a claim to being 'British'".

The Oxford Encyclopedia of American Literature
Ref PS21 .E537 2004
Covers literary practices in the United States from colonial times to the present. Its essays cover authors, texts, and literary movements

The Oxford Companion to Women's Writing in the United States
Ref PS147 .O94 1995

Oxford Reference Online
A collection of Oxford's Companions and encyclopedias. Useful for quick searches and concise answers.

American Writers
Ref PS129 .A55
African American Writers
Ref PS153 .N5 A344 2001
British Writers
Ref PR85 .B688 1979
Modern American Women Writers
Ref PS151 .M54 1990
These works, issued by the same publisher, follow a similar format of providing articles of about 20 pages on an author's time, life and works. Bibliographies follow each article.

Library

Research Guide for English & American Literature

Contact: Jack Levine , Acquisitions Librarian

Getting Started

Guides to the Literature

Locating Books

Finding Journal Articles and Critical Essays

Bibliographies

Handbooks, Dictionaries, Encyclopedias

Style Manual