Research Guides: Literature and Literary Criticism Research Guide: Reference &amp; Primary Sources

Librarian

Hannah Menendez

she/her/hers

Contact:

hmenendez@shsu.edu
936-294-3195
NGL 223J (Library)

Reference & Primary Sources

Reference Databases
Primary Source Databases

Literary Reference Center This link opens in a new window
Information on thousands of authors and their works across literary disciplines and timeframes. Contains thousands of plot summaries, synopses, work overviews, literary criticism articles/essays, author biographies and interviews, literary journals, book reviews, classic and contemporary poems and short stories, classic texts, and much more. Also includes a wide range of leading encyclopedias and other works in literary studies.
Literature Criticism Online This link opens in a new window
Centuries of literary analysis, including scholarly and popular commentary from broadsheets, pamphlets, encyclopedias, books and periodicals.
Johns Hopkins Online Guide to Literary Theory and Criticism This link opens in a new window
Comprehensive historical survey of the most important figures, schools, and movements in literary theory and criticism, including the critical and theoretical innovations of specific countries and historical periods.
Oxford Reference This link opens in a new window
(number of simultaneous users is limited)
Combines quick reference coverage of the full subject spectrum with the rich resources of the Oxford Companions from ready-reference to comprehensive scholarly articles. See the titles in Oxford Reference.
Dictionary of Literary Biography Complete Online This link opens in a new window
Complete online access to all volumes of the Dictionary of Literary Biography, the main series, as well as the Dictionary of Literary Biography Documentary Series and the Dictionary of Literary Biography Yearbook Series. Provides comprehensive literary biographies of past and present authors, historians, journalists, screenwriters, publishers, and playwrights, with coverage of lives and careers as well as the critical response to their works.
Poetry & Short Story Reference Center This link opens in a new window
Selected works of major and minor American and English poets, along with international poetry from each continent (with English translations, when available). Also includes audio, video, interviews, lesson plans, assignments, and much more.
Includes Plays and Speeches; Short Stories and Classic Books; Biographies; Critical Analyses; Contextual Essays and Explications for important works; Essays on Poetic Forms, Terms, Techniques and Movements; Multimedia / Audio & Video of poets reading their works; and interviews from reputable sources. Also offers supplemental teaching and learning guides featuring specific lesson plans and tips for assignments.
Dictionary of American Regional English (DARE) This link opens in a new window
Focuses on the regional aspects of our language, documenting words, phrases, and pronunciations that vary from one place to another. Widely viewed as the American equivalent of the Oxford English Dictionary.

Primary sources (not to be confused with your primary text, or the book/story/poem you are principally analyzing) can be helpful when studying a text from an earlier time period to provide context for your analysis. This could include other literary texts, pamphlets, newspapers, maps, and advertisements. Refer to our Guide to Understanding Primary Sources for more information.

Here are a few databases that might be useful for finding primary sources:

Early English Books Online (EEBO) This link opens in a new window
Virtually every work printed in England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, and British North America, as well as works in English printed elsewhere, from 1473-1700.
British Periodicals I & II This link opens in a new window British periodicals, late 17th to early 20th centuries. History of Britain and its colonies, as well as a British view of events in America and the world.
America's Historical Newspapers 1690-1998 This link opens in a new window American and U.S. local newspapers from all 50 states, ranging from 1690 to 1998.
African American Newspapers 1827-1998 This link opens in a new window
Approximately 270 U.S. newspapers, 1827-1998, document African American experiences.

Eighteenth Century Primary Sources:

Eighteenth (18th) Century Collections Online (ECCO) This link opens in a new window
English-language and foreign-language titles printed in the United Kingdom, 1701-1800, and thousands of important works from the Americas. Books, pamphlets, broadsides, and ephemera.
Burney Collection: 17th- & 18th-Century Newspapers & More This link opens in a new window
Early English newspapers, pamphlets, and books, 17th and 18th centuries.
China, America, and the Pacific - 18th-20th centuries This link opens in a new window
Archival material connected to the trading and cultural relationships that emerged between China, America and the Pacific region between the 18th and early 20th centuries. Includes manuscript sources, rare printed texts, visual images, objects and maps.

Nineteenth Century Primary Sources:

C19: The Nineteenth Century Index This link opens in a new window
Citations for millions of books, official publications, archival collections, and journal, magazine, and newspaper articles. Links out to full text when available (including many items in British Periodicals).
JSTOR 19th Century British Pamphlets This link opens in a new window
Primary source collection of pamphlets (mostly 19th century, but with some extension into the 17th and 18th centuries), primarily produced in Britain, but pertaining to many countries and peoples.
Nineteenth (19th) Century Collections Online This link opens in a new window Monographs, newspapers, pamphlets, manuscripts, ephemera, maps, photographs, statistics, and other documents in both Western and non-Western languages. Primary collection themes are: - Asia and the West: Diplomacy and Cultural Exchange - British Politics and Society - British Theatre, Music, and Literature: High and Popular Culture - European Literature 1790-1840: The Corvey Collection
Nineteenth (19th) Century U.S. Newspapers Digital Archive This link opens in a new window
19th-century newspapers from various urban and rural regions throughout the U.S. Strong in topics such as Civil War, African-American history, Western migration, etc.
African American Newspapers (History Commons) This link opens in a new window
19th century and early 20th century African American newspapers, including The Christian Recorder, The Freedman’s Record, Frederick Douglass’ Paper and Frederick Douglass’ Monthly, The North Star, The Negro Business League Herald, The Canadian Observer (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), and MANY more.
Formerly known as Accessible Archives

Reference Books

The Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms
Click to access online
A Dictionary of Literary and Thematic Terms by Edward Quinn
Call Number: PN44.5 .Q56 2006
ISBN: 0816062439
Publication Date: 2006
The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Daily Life This is a great place to start your research. This covers multiple time periods and countries. It is a REFERENCE book and on the 2nd floor. The six volumes cover the following time periods: ancient world through the Roman Empire in 400 C.E., 400 to 1400 C.E., 15th and 16th centuries, 17th and 18th centuries, 19th century, 20th century.
Call Number: REF GT31 .G74 2004
ISBN: 0313325413
American History Through Literature, 1820-1870 by Janet Gabler-Hover; Robert Sattelmeyer This A-Z, cross-referenced and illustrated title provides a unique overview of the critical period that spans the early national era through the Civil War, and which witnessed the birth of a truly American literature. The set features more than 250 survey entries. Subjects include: political topics (Manifest Destiny, Underground Railroad); ideas in context (Transcendentalism); values (Sentimentalism, Mourning); genres (Dime Novels, Oratory); popular entertainment (Theatre); publishing (Harper's Monthly, Editors); works of literature and nonfiction ("Hiawatha," "Life in the Iron Mills"); and much more.
ISBN: 9780684314921
Publication Date: 2005-12-01
Major 21st Century Writers by Tracey L. Matthews (Editor) A comprehensive, five-volume set, Concise Major 21st-Century Writers profiles today’s most outstanding and widely known writers. Clearly written in an easy-to-use format, it collects detailed biographical and bibliographical information on approximately 700 authors who are most often studied in college and high school.
ISBN: 9781414410487
Publication Date: 2007-11-01
Oxford companion to modern poetry
Call Number: PR601 2013 (eBook)
ISBN: 9780191744525