Research Methods for English and Comparative Literature: Database Guide

A major index for literary criticism, linguistics, folklore & cultural studies. Includes articles from several thousand journals and series published worldwide. Also covers relevant monographs, working papers, proceedings, dissertations and bibliographies. Also searchable under "Criticism" within Literature Online.

Includes and expands upon resources from ProQuest Literature Online (LION). Includes literary criticism as well as primary texts and reference works. Contains 3 million literature citations from a wide range of sources such as scholarly journals, monographs, and dissertations, along with more than 500,000 primary works – including rare and obscure texts, multiple versions, and non-traditional sources like comics, theatre performances, and author readings. Features notable collections from Chadwyck-Healey, such as African American Poetry, American Drama, and English Poetry. Provides access to the ABELL (Annual Bibliography of English Language and Literature) index of bibliographic citations for literary criticism.

Provides sophisticated online recommendations to the core scholarship on a subject as determined by experts in the field. Each module constitutes a convenient and comprehensive introduction to the essential body of literature that has shaped research on a topic. At the click of a mouse, you therefore have 24/7 access to expert recommendations that have been rigorously peer-reviewed and vetted to ensure scholarly accuracy and objectivity.

Each OBO subject database allows you to identify the core authors, works, ideas, and debates that have shaped the scholarly conversation so you can find the key literature. All the bibliographic essays have been peer-reviewed, and the specific entries are linked to full-text content available through the web or the UNC Library. The "My OBO" feature also allows you to create a personalized list of citations.

Offers a wealth of critical and biographical information about more than 120,000 authors from the Classical period to the present. It provides several hundred thousand full text journal articles and other critical essays, thousands of plot summaries and links to authoritative Web sites, over 100,000 author biographies, several thousand author portraits, and the Merriam-Webster's Encyclopedia of Literature.

Widely regarded as the accepted authority on the English language, a comprehensive dictionary of the English Language that stresses the historical origins of words, the OED is the world's leading authority on the history and development of the English language since 1150.

A major index for English language literatures, linguistics, folklore & cultural studies. ABELL aims to list monographs, periodical articles, critical editions of literary works, reviews of scholarly books, collections of essays and doctoral dissertations published anywhere in the world.

This resource for scholars and students of literary theory and discourse has been revised extensively to reflect rapidly changing scholarship. The Guide presents a historical survey of the field's most important figures, schools, and movements.

Provides full-text access to hundreds of editions, showcasing their authoritative editorial notes directly alongside the text and enabling advanced searches within and between editions.

Search hundreds of thousands of pages of full-text and full-image newspaper articles. Includes news, editorials, letters to the editor, obituaries, and birth and marriage announcements; historical photos, graphics, and advertisements are also included; display the complete image of any page in any issue or browse the database to scan individual issues page by page.

Search hundreds of thousands of pages of full-text and full-image newspaper articles. Includes news, editorials, letters to the editor, obituaries, and birth and marriage announcements; historical photos, graphics, and advertisements are also included; display the complete image of any page in any issue or browse the database to scan individual issues page by page.

Features more than 170 wide-ranging periodicals by and about African Americans. Published in 26 states, the publications include academic and political journals, commercial magazines, institutional newsletters, organizations' bulletins, annual reports and other genres. Similar to African American Newspapers, 1827-1998, this new collection is based upon James P. Danky's monumental African-American Newspapers and Periodicals: A National Bibliography (Harvard, 1998).

Partnering with the American Antiquarian Society (AAS), the premier library documenting the life of America's people from the Colonial Era through the Civil War and Reconstruction, EBSCO provides digital access to this comprehensive collection of American periodicals published between 1684 and 1912.

Contains over 1,000 journals published between 1740 and 1900.  American Periodicals From the Center for Research Libraries provides full text to nearly 400 journals.  The collection contains special interest and general magazines, labor and trade publications, scientific and literary journals, and photographic periodicals,. See "About" within the database for a fuller description.

British Periodicals I and II includes the searchable full text and facsimile page images of 500 periodicals published between 1681 and 1921, a significant time not only for British history, but, given the growth and dominance of the British Empire for most of that period, world history. British Periodicals III extends the scope of British Periodicals by focusing on the first half of the twentieth century. All of this content is available in full page images with searchable full text.

Contains articles, illustrations, cartoons, and maps drawn from rare periodicals and campaign newspapers representing Union, Confederate, Abolitionist, and British viewpoints. Published between 1860 and 1865, the titles enable users to browse issues week by week to follow the election of Lincoln in 1860; the subsequent course of the Civil War from Fort Sumter through Appomattox; Lincoln's re-election in 1864; his assassination in 1865; and the beginning of Reconstruction under President Andrew Johnson. In addition Illustrated Civil War Newspapers and Magazines contains dozens of scholarly contributions, including an introduction by the Pulitzer Prize-winning scholar, James McPherson, making the database the definitive online Civil War media resource.

An online collection of British magazines, journals and specialty newspapers, 19th Century UK Periodicals provides an in-depth view of British life in the Romantic & Victorian age.  Series I: New Readerships: Women's, Children's, Humor and Leisure/Sport. Series II: Empire: Travel and Anthropology, Economics, Missionary and Colonial.

Provides access to millions of articles in the humanities and social sciences disciplines from 1802 to 2000, many of which are not in English.

The ARTFL Project is a consortium-based service that provides its members with access to North America's largest collection of digitized French resources. Along with ARTFL's flagship database ARTFL-FRANTEXT, ARTFL members are also given access to a large variety of other Subscriber Databases.

Provides the full text of three print Brill encyclopedias - Encyclopedia of Medieval Pilgrimage (2009) , Encyclopedia of the Medieval Chronicle (2010), Encyclopaedia of Medieval Dress and Textiles of the British Isles c. 450-1450 (2012).

Defines the vocabulary of the first six centuries (C.E. 600-1150) of the English language. The DOE complements the Middle English Dictionary (which covers the period C.E. 1100-1500) and the Oxford English Dictionary, the three together providing a full description of the vocabulary of English.

"Digitized copies of approximately 128,000 titles included in the two Short-Title Catalogues [see below], in the Thomason Collection ... Although most of the images are captured from the microfilms that make up Early English Books, 1475–1640 and Early English Books, 1641–1700 ... and thus are not searchable, an increasing number of titles (approximately 44,000 of a planned 69,000) can be searched by keyword in a rekeyed full text." (James Harner, Literary Research Guide) Consult About EEBO in the database to check the status.

"An archive of rekeyed texts of more than 183,000 English-language poems by writers of the British Isles, Commonwealth, and former colonial countries from the Anglo-Saxon era to the early twentieth century."  (James Harner, Literary Research Guide) These texts are also searchable from within Literature Online.

Lists over 480,000 items published between 1473 and 1800: mainly but not exclusively in English; published mainly in the British Isles and North America.  The full text of most of the items indexed in ESTC may be available in: Early English Books Online, Eighteenth Century Collections Online or Early American Imprints I & II & Supplements.  The ESTC does include items that have not or will not be digitized so it is the most complete Index for the period.

The International Medieval Bibliography covers the European Middle Ages (c 450-1500) and indexes periodicals, books, essay collections, etc. 

Note: Please click on the 'Enter Databases' link. Then select 'International Medieval Bibliography - Online'.

Iter, meaning a journey or a path in Latin, is a not-for-profit partnership dedicated to the advancement of learning in the study and teaching of the Middle Ages and Renaissance (400-1700) through the development and distribution of online resources. (Vendor Website)

Provides direct access to a widely scattered collection of original medieval manuscripts that describe travel - real and imaginary - in the Middle Ages.  Included are translations and supporting materials (all of which are fully searchable); maps showing the routes of the travelers; introductory essays by leading scholars.

Covers 'three major Middle English electronic resources: the Middle English Dictionary, a HyperBibliography of Middle English prose and verse, based on the MED bibliographies, and an associated network of electronic resources, including a large collection of Middle English texts.

Streaming video of full length classic dramatic performances of 37 Shakespeare plays produced by BBC and Time-Life films.

"Digitized copies of approximately 128,000 titles included in the two Short-Title Catalogues [see below], in the Thomason Collection ... Although most of the images are captured from the microfilms that make up Early English Books, 1475–1640 and Early English Books, 1641–1700 ... and thus are not searchable, an increasing number of titles (approximately 44,000 of a planned 69,000) can be searched by keyword in a rekeyed full text." (James Harner, Literary Research Guide) Consult About EEBO in the database to check the status.

Contains 211 works in English prose by writers from the British Isles from the period 1500-1700. These texts are also searchable from with Literature Online.

Primary sources materials documenting the lived experience in England from 1500-1700. The material is sourced from the following libraries and archives: the British Library, Canterbury Cathedral Archives, Lambeth Palace Library, London Metropolitan Archives, the National Archives UK, the Newberry Library and the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust. Materials range from legal records, to family correspondence, administrative records, wills, inventories, and commonplace books, and also include images of everyday objects used in early modern households.

Editions and Adaptations of Shakespeare contains eleven major editions from the First Folio of 1623 to the Cambridge edition of 1863-6, twenty-eight separate contemporary printings of individual plays and poems, selected apocrypha and related works. In addition it contains more than one hundred adaptations, sequels and burlesques from the seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

Lists over 480,000 items published between 1473 and 1800: mainly but not exclusively in English; published mainly in the British Isles and North America.  The full text of most of the items indexed in ESTC may be available in: Early English Books Online, Eighteenth Century Collections Online or Early American Imprints I & II & Supplements.  The ESTC does include items that have not or will not be digitized so it is the most complete Index for the period.

Iter, meaning a journey or a path in Latin, is a not-for-profit partnership dedicated to the advancement of learning in the study and teaching of the Middle Ages and Renaissance (400-1700) through the development and distribution of online resources. (Vendor Website)

The Global Shakespeares Video & Performance Archive is a collaborative project providing online access to performances of Shakespeare from many parts of the world as well as essays and metadata provided by scholars and educators in the field.

Complete facsimile images of over 230 manuscripts written or compiled by women living in the British Isles from 1500-1700. Contents include account books, advice, meditations, receipts, travel writing, and verse. Perdita manuscripts can be searched by name, genre, and first lines of both poetry and prose.

An online collection of books, pamphlets, serials and other works about the Americas, from the time of their discovery to the early 1900s.

Part of the Archive of Americana, this database includes broadsides printed between 1820 and 1900 and pieces of ephemera printed between 1760 and 1900. Based on the American Antiquarian Society's collection of broadsides and ephemera.

"A bibliographical database and digital archive based on Evans, American Bibliography, and Bristol’s Supplement ... that reproduces the c. 37,000 works in the original microprint and microform version of Early American Imprints along with 1,080 additional titles; the Supplements add nearly 2,000 titles." (James harner, Literary Research Guide)  EAP I is a subset of America's Historical Imprints, in turn a subset of the Archive of Americana.

Provides access to 40 million full-text images and text-searchable pages of nearly 180,000 English-language titles and editions (200,000 volumes) published between 1701-1800.

Comprises primary source documents from the collection of John Larpent, the English Inspector of Plays from 1778-1824, including more than 2,500 plays. Also includes the diaries of Anna Larpent, his professional collaborator and wife, recording her criticisms of the plays and insights into the theatrical culture of the time. The companion text The London Stage, 1660-1800, listing every traceable performance, is included as a searchable database, as is A Biographical Dictionary of Actors etc. 1660-1800. Useful for researching such topics as censorship and politics; satire and social commentary; celebrity culture; fashion; the rise of opera in Britain; women and theatre; staging, technology, and performance practice; and the business of theatre.

A collection of 96 complete works of English prose from the period 1700–1780 by writers from the British Isles. These text are also searchable from within Literature Online.

Lists over 480,000 items published between 1473 and 1800: mainly but not exclusively in English; published mainly in the British Isles and North America.  The full text of most of the items indexed in ESTC may be available in: Early English Books Online, Eighteenth Century Collections Online or Early American Imprints I & II & Supplements.  The ESTC does include items that have not or will not be digitized so it is the most complete Index for the period.

Documents 200 years of cultural, political, social and historical events. This database is also searchable via British Newspapers, 1600 - 1950, and also via Gale Artemis: Primary Sources.

Contains over 1,000 journals published between 1740 and 1900.  American Periodicals From the Center for Research Libraries provides full text to nearly 400 journals.  The collection contains special interest and general magazines, labor and trade publications, scientific and literary journals, and photographic periodicals,. See "About" within the database for a fuller description.

Contains the full text of over 1400 plays written from the mid-1800s to the present by more than 200 playwrights from North America, English-speaking Africa, the Caribbean, and other African diaspora countries. Many of the works are rare, hard to find, or out of print. James Vernon Hatch, the playwright, historian, and curator of the landmark Hatch-Billops Collection, is the project's editorial advisor. Nearly a quarter of the collection will consist of previously unpublished plays by writers such as Langston Hughes, Ed Bullins, Willis Richardson, Femi Euba, Amiri Baraka, Randolph Edmonds, Zora Neale Hurston, and many others.

A collection of national, regional, and local newspapers from Britain (1732-1950) and Ireland (1797-1950), sourced from the British Library.

"A bibliographical database and digital archive based on Shaw and Shoemaker, American Bibliography, that reproduces the c. 36,000 works in the original microprint and microform version of Early American Imprints, Series II: Shaw-Shoemaker (New Canaan: Readex) along with about 975 additional titles (however, the microprint and microform collection omits serial publications listed in Shaw-Shoemaker); the Supplement adds nearly 2,000 titles. " (James Harner, Literary Reseearch Guide)  EAP II is a subset of America's Historical Imprints, in turn a subset of the Archive of Americana.

19th century manuscripts from the Henry W. and Albert A. Berg Collection of English and American Literature, New York Public Library.

A large, deep, and rich collection of primary sources documenting the 'long 19th Century.' Materials include books, newspapers, periodicals, diaries, photographs, pamphlets, maps, and more. See "About" within the database for fuller description. Also searchable from within: Gale Artemis: Primary Sources.

Primary source materials from the archive of the John Murray publishing company, held at the National Library of Scotland, from its inception in 1786 through the long nineteenth century. A highlight of the collection are the manuscripts and personal papers of Lord Byron.

Provides access to about 500 newspapers from localities all across the United States during the 19th Century. Also searchable from within Gale Artemis: Primary Sources.

An online collection of British magazines, journals and specialty newspapers, 19th Century UK Periodicals provides an in-depth view of British life in the Romantic & Victorian age.  Series I: New Readerships: Women's, Children's, Humor and Leisure/Sport. Series II: Empire: Travel and Anthropology, Economics, Missionary and Colonial.

A collection of 250 British and Irish novels from the period 1782 to 1903. Major novelists of the period such as Austen, Scott, Mary Shelley, Dickens, Eliot, Hardy and the Brontës feature alongside popular romances, sensation fiction, colonial adventure novels and children's literature. (Vendor website) Nineteenth Century Fiction is also searchable from within Literature Online.

Primary source materials exploring the interactions between government policy and public philanthropy in Victorian and early twentieth-century British society, and demonstrating a shift in welfare reform, and the social tensions surrounding poverty and public welfare. Materials are sourced from the National Archives at Kew, the British Library and Senate House Library.

Manuscript collection of William Wordsworth and other Romantic poets, writers and artists. Includes notebooks, diaries, correspondence, travel journals and autograph books.

This is a collection of 19th century American fiction, as listed in Lyle Wright's bibliography American Fiction, 1851-1875. The Wright American Fiction online collection attempts to include every novel published in the United States from 1851 to 1875.

The full text of 12,000 poems by more than 100 poets. The Database of Twentieth-Century African-American Poetry documents the unique voices of this century's critically acclaimed African-American poets. The collection opens the door to literary scholarship by providing access to the full text of 12,000 poems by more than 100 poets.

Works by poets like Audre Lorde, Langston Hughes and Rita Dove enrich the collection, as well as emerging poets who will shape a new era of poetry. Biographical profiles accompany each poet's work, and the complete database can be searched by a number of fields, including keyword, first line or title keyword, and poet name. (Source: vendor website.)

This collection includes 50,000 poems drawn from 750 volumes by over 300 American poets. (Source: vendor website.) This database is also searchable from within Literature Online.

A collection of more than 600 volumes of poetry by 283 poets from 1900 to the present day, including W.B. Yeats, Rudyard Kipling, Thomas Hardy, Wilfred Owen, Thom Gunn, Fleur Adcock, Paul Muldoon, Tony Harrison, Benjamin Zephaniah and Carol Ann Duffy, and incorporating the poets in The Faber Poetry Library.(Source: vendor website.)  This database is also searchable within Literature Online.