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ENGL 601: Literary Research and Critical Contexts

Instructor: Dr. Gerard Passannnate

Resources compiled and web page developed by Patricia Herron, UM Libraries

This guide will assist you in locating resources for English 601. Due to licensing agreements, many of the electronic resources available by remote search are restricted to current students, faculty, and staff at the University of Maryland, College Park. For more information contact one of the literature subject speicalists: Patricia Herron (herron@umd.edu; 301-405-9280), or Tim Hackman (thackman@umd.edu; 301-314-8521).

Contents

Research Port: Access to Databases and Electronic Journals

Locating Books

  1. Library Catalogs
  2. World Catalog
Locating Journal Articles, Essays and Dissertations
  1. Databases
  2. Electronic Journal Collections
  3. Journals in Paper and Microform

Locating Current and Early Editions of your Text

  1. Author Bibliographies
  2. Library Catalogs
  3. World Catalogs
  4. Electronic Texts
  5. Microform Collections
Evaluating the Scholarship
  1. Annual Reviews
  2. Book Review Sources
  3. Collections of Critical Articles and Essays

Web Resources

  1. Search Engines and Directories
  2. Subject Gateways
  3. Scholarly Web Sites
  4. Evaluating Web Sites
Further Research - UM Library Guides

Style Manuals

Interlibrary Loan

Questions?

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Research Port: Access to Databases and Electronic Journals

    Research Port
    This Web-based interface allows for both on and off-campus searching of databases and electronic journals licensed for use by University of Maryland students and faculty.

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Locating Books

1. Library Catalogs

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2. World Catalog

    Worldcat
    Contains millions of records of all types of materials (books, serials, nonprint media, dissertations, masters theses, archival materials, etc.) cataloged by OCLC member libraries.

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Locating Journal Articles, Essays, and Dissertations

Use the following databases to locate journal articles. Be sure to follow the link. This will direct you to one of three sources: 1. the full text of the article, online, 2. the catalog entry for the print version of the journal, or 3. Interlibrary Loan where you can order the article if the online and print versions are not available from the UM Libraries.

If the database does not have the link you will need to check both the Catalog and E-Journals in Research Port to determine if the journal is available through the Libraries. Check the Journals subset of the Catalog and search under the title of the journal, to see if a paper or microform version of the journal is available. Check the E-Journals link in Research Port to determine if an electronic version of the journal is available. If the UM Libraries do not own the journal you can request it through Interlibrary Loan

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1. Databases

    c18 Bibliographies On-Line
    "A series of selective, annotated bibliographies on figures from the long eighteenth century, available freely over the World Wide Web... commissioned from dozens of scholars of eighteenth-century literature, history, and culture, ... more will be added as the project grows. A typical bibliography gives standard scholarly editions, bibliographies, reference works, biographies, and the major works of criticism. They range from nearly comprehensive for the most minor authors to extremely selective for the big names."

    America: History and Life 1964- .
    Indexes articles, books, and dissertations on U.S. and Canadian history published since 1964.

    Annual Bibliography of English Language and Literature (ABELL-Plus). 1920-.
    Indexes books, articles, essays, dissertations and book reviews pertaining to English, American and Common-wealth languages, literatures, and folklore. Includes some full text articles. The Annual Bibliography of English Language and Literature - Full-Text (ABELL-FT) and the MLA International Bibliography (see below) used together will lead researchers to the bulk of scholarship, published since 1921, on the English language and literature.

    Arts and Humanities Search 1980- .
    Indexes articles from over 1,100 of the world's leading arts and humanities journals, plus relevant articles from an additional 5,000 social science and science journals. Includes links to some full text articles.

    Digital Dissertations Full-Text
    Access to more than 90 percent of the doctoral dissertations accepted each year in North America. The database also covers thousands of dissertations and theses from around the world.

    Feminae: Medieval Women and Gender Index 1994- .
    "Covers journal articles, book reviews, and essays in books about women, sexuality and gender during the Middle Ages."

    Film Literature Index. 1976-2001.
    Print version is more current and is located in McKeldin Reference Stacks Z5784.M9F45 (1973-present)
    Indexes approximately 300 film journals.

    Historical Abstracts 1954- .
    Indexes articles, books, and dissertations about World history, excluding U.S. and Canadian history.

    Humanities International Complete
    Information about articles in arts and humanities journals.

    International Bibliography of Theatre and Dance. 1984- .
    Covers all aspects of theatre, performance and dance. Indexes articles, books, book articles, dissertations, and newspapers published worldwide.

    International Medieval Bibliography. 1967- . Click on the blue Go button to enter the database.
    Indexes articles, conference proceedings, and other materials on all aspects of medieval studies in the period of 450 to 1500 for Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa.

    Iter: Gateway to the Middle Ages and Renaissance 1859- .
    Indexes over 400 medieval and renaissance journals.

    L'Annee Philologique 1959- .
    Index to journal articles, books, articles in collections, and conference papers on multiple aspects of ancient Greek and Roman civilization.

    Literature Resource Center
    "Provides access to biographies, bibliographies, and critical analysis of authors from every age and literary discipline."

    MLA International Bibliography
    ELECTRONIC VERSION 1926 - .; Print version: McKeldin Reference Stacks Z7006.M64 1919-1962, McKeldin Stacks Z7006.M64 1963-
    An international bibliography of literary, linguistic, and folklore scholarship. Indexes articles, essays, books and book chapters, conference papers, and dissertations. Book reviews are not included. The MLA International Bibliography and the Annual Bibliography of English Language and Literature - Full-Text (ABELL-FT) (see above) used together will lead researchers to the bulk of scholarship, published since 1921, on the English language and literature. Includes links to some full text articles.

    Periodicals Index Online
    Indexes the tables of contents of thousands of periodicals, both U.S. and international, in the humanities and social sciences from their first issues (coverage extends as far back as 1770 for some periodicals). It provides excellent coverage of scholarly book reviews.

    World Shakespeare Bibliography 1974 - .
    Provides annotated entries for important books, articles, book reviews, dissertations, theatrical productions, reviews of productions, audiovisual materials, electronic media, and other scholarly and popular materials related to Shakespeare.

    Research Port
    Use Research Port to identify and search databases in subject areas related to your research topic that are not listed above

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2. Electronic Journal Collections

    Use the E-journals page in Research Port to locate electronic journals available through the University of Maryland Libraries.

    JSTOR
    Full-text, searchable database of core scholarly journals in the humanities, sciences and social sciences. The complete back files of these journals have been digitized and made searchable, starting with the very first issues, many of which date from the 1800s. Current issues of these journals (last 3 to 5 years) are not available through JSTOR.

    Project Muse
    Full-text, searchable database of current scholarly journals (earliest volumes date back to 1993) in the fields of literature and criticism, history, the visual and performing arts, cultural studies, education, political science, gender studies, and many others.

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3. Journals in Paper and Microform

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Locating Current and Early Editions of your Text

1. Author Bibliographies


Use the following sources to help you identify the significant editions of an author's work.

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2. Library Catalogs

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3. World Catalogs

Use these databases to identify materials not owned by the University of Maryland Libraries. Then use the "interlibrary loan" feature to borrow these materials from other libraries.

    WorldCat
    Contains millions of records of all types of materials (books, serials, nonprint media, dissertations, masters theses, archival materials, etc.) cataloged by OCLC member libraries.

    English Short Title Catalogue
    Catalog of most imprints (books, pamphlets, and broadsides) published from 1473 to 1800 in English or published in any language in English-speaking countries. Many titles are available on microform in the UM Libraries; most pre-1700 titles are available online in Early English Books Online.

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4. Electronic Texts

    Early English Books Online (EEBO)
    EEBO contains full-text of books, broadsides, pamphlets, prayer books, proclamations, music, almanacs, etc. printed between 1473 and 1700. Includes most of the over 125,000 titles listed in Pollard & Redgrave's Short-Title Catalogue (1475-1640), Wing's Short-Title Catalogue (1641-1700), and the Thomason Tracts (1640-1661). This collections is also available on microfilm: Early English Books 1475-1640 M-Film PR1101.E5 and Early English Books 1640-1700 M-Film PR1101.E51.

    Early English Books Online - Text Creation Partnership (TCP)
    A searchable database of accurately keyboarded and tagged editions of the full text of a significant portion of works in the EEBO database. The Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership has proposed to create 25,000 searchable and readable editions that link immediately to the corresponding image files in EEBO. The UM Libraries are members of the Text Creation Partnership (TCP). The TCP database can be searched separately or as part of the larger Early English Books Online (EEBO) database.

    LION: Literature Online
    LION features an ever-growing collection of over 350,000 works of poetry, drama and prose with complementary reference resources. The primary texts in Literature Online include:

  • Twenty different versions of the English Bible from the tenth to the twentieth century
  • Eleven major editions of Shakespeare from the First Folio to the Cambridge edition of 1863-6, twenty-four separate contemporary printings of individual plays, selected apocrypha and related works
  • English poetry from 600 to the present
  • English fiction from the 16th through the 20th century
  • English drama from 1280 to 1915
  • American and African-American poetry from the colonial period through the 20th century
  • American drama from 1714 to 1914
  • Early American fiction from before 1875
  • The Faber Poetry Library
  • Canadian Poetry

    Early American Imprints, Series I. Evans (1639-1800):
    Digitized images of the microform set Early American Imprints, Series I (1639-1800) which is based on Charles Evans' American Bibliography, plus more than 1,200 additional works located, catalogued and digitized since completion of the earlier effort. Upon completion, it will consist of more than 37,000 books, pamphlets, and broadsides.

    Eighteenth Century Collections Online: History & Geography Subset:
    One of seven subsets of the Eighteenth Century Collections Online, a digital archive, which when completed will comprise more than 150,000 multi-disciplinary works published in the United Kingdom and the Americas between 1701 and 1800. The History & Geography Subset includes a vast amount of primary source materials including biographies, memoirs, genealogical collections, gazetteers, chronologies, military information, maps, church documents and more. The database allows for full-text searching of these publications.

    Black Drama: 1850 to Present.
    Database of full-text African-American plays written from the mid-1800s to the present by playwrights from North America, English-speaking Africa, the Caribbean, and other African diaspora countries.

    Women Writers Online:
    A database of electronic texts by women covering a period from 1400 to 1850.

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5. Microform Collections

For fuller descriptions of these microform collections, as well as references to additional sets not included in this guide, consult the Microforms Collection Descriptions.

    British Literary Manuscripts from the Bodleian Library, Oxford, Series I: The English Renaissance c. 1500- c.1700. Located in McKeldin Periodicals/Microform Room, call number PR418.M34 B7 1988. Guide to the set is located in McKeldin Reference Stacks, call number PR418.M34B7 1988 Guide.

    British Literary Manuscripts from the Cambridge University Library. Located in McKeldin Periodicals/Microform Room, call number PR1120.B75 1984. Guide to the set is located in McKeldin Reference Stacks, call number PR1120.B75 1984 Guide.

    British Literary Manuscripts from the Folger Shakespeare Library. Selected reels: 3, 4, 9, 10, 14, 21. Located in McKeldin Periodicals/Microform Room, call number PR1121.B75. Guide to the set is located in McKeldin Reference Stacks, call number PR1121.B75 Guide.

    Eighteenth Century. This collection will eventually reproduce approximately 200,000 books, pamphlets, and broadsides selected from the 500,000 titles printed in Great Britain and its colonies or printed in English anywhere from 1701 through 1799. UM Libraries has reels 1-5355, later reels are available through Interlibrary Loan. Located in McKeldin Periodicals Microform Room, call number M-Film PR1134.E3. Portions of this microfilm set have been digitized in the Eighteenth Century Collections Online: History & Geography Subset database. The entire microfilm set is indexed in the English Short Title Catalogue.

    Medieval and Early Modern Women, Part 1: Manuscripts from the British Library. Located in McKeldin Periodicals/Microform Room, call number HQ1143.M42 2000. Guide to the set is located in McKeldin Reference Stacks, call numberHQ1143.M42 Guide.

    Nineteenth Century Literary Manuscripts, Part 1. The British Library's key holdings on: Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806-1861), Robert Browning (1812-1889), George Eliot (1819-1880), William Makepeace Thackeray (1811-1863) and Anthony Trollope (1815-1882). There are also literary manuscripts by Wilkie Collins, Benjamin Disraeli, and George Henry Lewes. Located in McKeldin Periodicals/Microform Room, call number PR1301.N56 1996. Guide to the set is located in McKeldin Reference Stacks, call number PR1301.N56 1996 pt. 1 Guide.

    Renaissance Commonplace Books from the British Library, London. Located in McKeldin Periodicals/Microform Room, call number PN6245.R462 2002.

    Renaissance Commonplace Books from the Huntington Library.. Located in McKeldin Periodicals/Microform Room, call number PN6245.R46 1994. Guide to the set is located in McKeldin Reference Stacks, call number PN6245.R46 1994 Guide.

    Women Writers: Specialist Collection. Collection of 19th century women writers' novels, poems short stories, songs and plays. Located in McKeldin Periodicals/Microform Room, call number: M-Fiche PR1143.W65 1988. Guide to the set Women Writers: Specialist Collection: Guide to Contents is located in McKeldin Reference Stacks PR1143.W651.

    Wright American Fiction. Collection of American fiction from 1774 through the early 20th century. Sections I-V located in McKeldin Periodicals/Microform Room, call numbers: M-Film PS536.A37, M-Film PS536.A38, M-Film PS536.A39, M-Film PS536.A4, M-Film PS536.A5). Indexed in: American Prose Fiction 1774-1900: Cumulative Author Index to the Microfilm Collection Parts I-III located in McKeldin Reference Stacks, call number PS536.A37 Index and American Prose Fiction 1901-1910: Cumulative Author Index to the Microfilm Collection Parts IV - V located in McKeldin Reference Stacks, call number PS536.A4 Folio. Portions of this microfilm set have been digitized in the Wright American Fiction 1851-1875 database.

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Evaluating the Scholarship

Sometimes there is such a vast amount of scholarship on a given topic, author, and/or text that one needs a way to determine, in a timely manner, what is considered to be the "best" or the most "significant" of the published literature. The sources listed below can assist a researcher with this task.

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1. Annual Reviews


Annual reviews attempt to summarize and critically evaluate, on a yearly basis, the most significant published research in a given subject area. Book reviews provide detailed critical evaluations of works and help one determine how a scholar's work has been judged by his or her peers

    American Literary Scholarship. Electronic version: 1998- . ; Print version: 1963 - . McKeldin Reference Stacks Z1005.A4.
    An annual collection of bibliographic essays about studies of major American authors, periods, and genres.

    The Eighteenth Century. 1975- .
    LOCATION: McKeldin Reference Stacks
    CALL NUMBER: Z6519.E5
    An annual evaluative bibliography with selective coverage of books, articles, and reviews covering the period of the 18th century in Europe and the New World. The scope of the bibliography has changed over the years.

    Year's Work in Critical and Cultural Theory Electronic version 2002- .; Print version: McKeldin Reference Stacks PN80.Y43, 1991 - .
    A companion volume to Year's Work in English Studies (see below). An annual, selective survey of studies in critical theory from a broad international perspective.

    Year's Work in English Studies Electronic version 2001- .; Print version: Last 10 years in McKeldin Reference Stacks PE58.E6, earlier years in McKeldin Stacks PE58.E6
    Annual, selective, critical survey of studies in English and American language and literature.

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2. Book Review Sources


Book reviews provide detailed critical evaluations of works and help one determine how a scholar's work has been judged by his or her peers.

Below are listed both print and electronic sources for locating book reviews. Because most print book review indexes are arranged by date, the first step in finding a review is determining the book's date of publication. This can be done by looking at the back of the title page or by checking the Catalog or Books in Print, or WorldCat. Begin with indexes published around the time the book was published and work a number of years forward.

    Annual Bibliography of English Language and Literature (ABELL-Plus). 1920-.
    Annual bibliography of books, articles, essays, dissertations, and book reviews pertaining to English, American and Commonwealth languages, literature, and folklore.

    Arts and Humanities Search 1980 -.
    Indexes articles from over 1,100 of the world's leading arts and humanities journals, plus relevant articles from an additional 5,000 social science and science journals. Includes book reviews published in these periodicals.

    Book Review Digest. 1905 - .
    LOCATION: McKeldin Reference Stacks
    CALL NUMBER: Z1219.C96
    Indexes book reviews from over 100 English language popular periodicals.

    Book Review Index Plus 1965 -.
    Indexes book reviews appearing in general and scholarly periodicals.

    Farber, Evan Ira, ed. Combined Retrospective Index to Book Reviews in Scholarly Journals, 1886-1974. Arlington, VA: Carrollton Press, 1979.
    LOCATION: McKeldin Reference Stacks
    CALL NUMBER: Z1035.A1C6
    Indexes book reviews appearing in 459 older scholarly journals in History, Political Science, and Sociology.

    Index to Book Reviews in the Humanities. 1960-1990.
    LOCATION: McKeldin Reference Stacks
    CALL NUMBER: Z1035.A1I63
    Indexes book reviews in approximately 440 scholarly journals in the following areas: literature, language, philosophy, the arts, travel biography, dance and folklore.

    Periodicals Index Online
    Indexes the tables of contents of thousands of periodicals, both U.S. and international, in the humanities and social sciences from their first issues (coverage extends as far back as 1770 for some periodicals) to 1990/91. It provides excellent coverage of scholarly book reviews.

    Romantic Circles Reviews
    This online book reviewing site, is a feature of Romantic Circles, a major website devoted to the literature and culture of the romantic period.

    For additional book review sources see the Book Reviews guide.

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3. Collections of Critical Articles and Essays


The collections of critical articles and essays listed below provide excerpts and abstracts of what are considered to be some of the more significant scholarship.

    Black Literature Criticism
    LOCATION: McKeldin Reference Stacks
    CALL NUMBER: PS153.N5B556

    Classical and Medieval Literature Criticism
    LOCATION: McKeldin Reference Stacks
    CALL NUMBER: PA1.C38

    Contemporary Literary Criticism
    LOCATION:McKeldin Reference Stacks
    CALL NUMBER: PN94.C6

    Literature Criticism from 1400 to 1800
    LOCATION: McKeldin Reference Stacks
    CALL NUMBER: PN86.L56

    Nineteenth-Century Literature Criticism
    LOCATION: McKeldin Reference Stacks
    CALL NUMBER: PN761.N5

    Short Story Criticism
    LOCATION: McKeldin Reference Stacks
    CALL NUMBER: PN3373.S386

    Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism
    LOCATION: McKeldin Reference Stacks
    CALL NUMBER: PN94.T93

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Web Resources

Once you have exhausted the traditional print and electronic resources listed above, your next step is to search the Internet for important scholarly websites. One approach is to make use of the myriad of web search engines and directories such as Google and Yahoo. Another is to consult the more selective literature gateways such as the Voice of the Shuttle. Finally, more and more scholarly Web sites are being created that focus on specific literary periods and topics.

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1. Search Engines and Directories

Use Web search engines and directories such as Google, Google Scholar, Google Book Search and Yahoo to do extensive searching of the Internet.

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2. Subject Gateways

The following literature gateways are excellent starting points for Internet research on literary topics:

    American Authors on the Web
    This site links to hundreds of Internet sites on American authors and is arranged chronologically by author's birth date.

    English Literature on the Web
    This site links to hundreds of Internet sites related to English literature and is arranged by literary time period, from medieval times through the 20th century.

    The eserver.org
    This site links to Internet resources in the humanities, including many full text documents, in the following areas: art, architecture, drama, fiction, poetry, cultural theory, feminism, film & television, gender & sexuality, history, music, and philosophy.

    Literary Resources on the Net
    Links to sites dealing with literature. The following areas are covered: classical & biblical, medieval, renaissance, restoration & eighteenth century, romantic, Victorian British, 20th-century British & Irish, American, and other national literatures, theater and drama, and literary theory.

    The Voice of the Shuttle
    This page links to Web sites in the humanities including American Studies, cultural studies, history, literature, literary theory, linguistics, media studies, and more.

    WWW-VL History Central Catalogue
    This is an extensive history site covering all geographical regions and eras.

    Yahoo is a subject directory of thousands of Web sites. The following are useful sub-menus: History, Literature, Society and Culture, and Performing Arts.

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3. Scholarly Web Sites

The following are examples of some important scholarly web sites that focus on specific literary periods and topics.

    Early Americas Digital Archives
    "The Early Americas Digital Archive (EADA) is a collection of electronic texts and links to texts originally written in or about the Americas from 1492 to approximately 1820."

    Early Modern Women Database
    This gateway provides links to web resources and databases useful for the study of women in early modern Europe and the Americas. It focuses on the period ca. 1500 to ca. 1800 but also includes some medieval and nineteenth-century resources.

    English Literature and Religion
    "The main feature of this Web site is a large bibliographical database about religious aspects and backgrounds of English literature, from the Middle Ages to the present century, with primary (though not exclusive) emphasis upon writers within the Anglican tradition. The database ... covers a large number of persons and subjects. It is also an experiment in electronic publishing as (the author) adds new material, ..., so that this site will be, in effect, a continuing work in progress."

    Romantic Circles
    A major website devoted to the literature and culture of the romantic period. Includes electronic texts, bibliographies, lists of current works in the field, links to related sites, and much more.

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4. Evaluating Web Sites

    Evaluating Web Sites? is a page designed to teach one how to evaluate the reliability of the information found on the Web.

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Further Research - UM Library Guides

To expand your search for materials beyond the resources listed above, try the following UM Library Guides.

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Style Manuals

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Interlibrary Loan

Request materials the UM Libraries do not own through the Interlibrary Loan Office.

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Questions?

If you have any questions about these or other library resources, contact Patricia Herron (herron@umd.edu or 301-405-9280), or Tim Hackman (thackman@umd.edu or 301-314-8521).

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Last modified: September 24, 2007

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