Guides: Databases: English Language & Literature

Periodical Article Indexes - Magazines, Journals, Newspapers

MLA International Bibliography (Language & Literature) This link opens in a new window
Indexes critical scholarship on literature, language, linguistics, and folklore. Includes journal articles, series, monographs, dissertations, bibliographies, proceedings and other materials.
- Basic Search: Preform a basic search by entering keywords into the search bar then clicking on the green "SEARCH" button.
- Advanced Search: Click on the blue "Advanced Search" link below the search bar to add filters and multiple keywords before you begin searching.
- Boolean Logic & Filters: All EBCSO hosted databases allow you to narrow and expand your search using Boolean operators and filters. Access them in the advanced search option or on the left side of the results screen.
- Citation Tool: Access the citation tool by clicking on the title of an article or record, click on the file icon labeled "Cite" located in the "Tools" bar, then select the correct citation style from the dropdown menu.
- Saving Records: All saving options can be seen by clicking on the title of an article, viewing the detailed record, then looking at the righthand bar labeled "Tools." EBSCO allows users to print, save PDFs, email articles and create permanent links to the record.
JSTOR This link opens in a new window
Contains a comprehensive backfile (current issues not available) of scholarly journals, current open access articles, and select current scholarly journal subscriptions spanning more than 20 disciplines including business & economics, education, science, history, and language & literature - all in full text
Academic Search Premier This link opens in a new window
This multi-disciplinary database has records for nearly 18,000 periodicals - journals, magazines, and newspapers - of which nearly 16,000 are peer reviewed. It provides full text for more than 5,000 journals, and you can use Journal Finder to locate articles that do not have a PDF readily available.
- Basic Search: Preform a basic search by entering keywords into the search bar then clicking on the green "SEARCH" button.
- Advanced Search: Click on the blue "Advanced Search" link below the search bar to add filters and multiple keywords before you begin searching.
- Boolean Logic & Filters: All EBCSO hosted databases allow you to narrow and expand your search using Boolean operators and filters. Access them in the advanced search option or on the left side of the results screen.
- Citation Tool: Access the citation tool by clicking on the title of an article or record, click on the file icon labeled "Cite" located in the "Tools" bar, then select the correct citation style from the dropdown menu.
- Saving Records: All saving options can be seen by clicking on the title of an article, viewing the detailed record, then looking at the righthand bar labeled "Tools." EBSCO allows users to print, save PDFs, email articles and create permanent links to the record.
Communication Source (formerly Communication and Mass Media Complete) This link opens in a new window
Communication Source offers abstracts and indexing as well as full-text content from publications worldwide pertaining to Communication, Linguistics, Rhetoric and Discourse, Speech-Language Pathology, Media Studies and other fields relevant to the discipline.
- Basic Search: Preform a basic search by entering keywords into the search bar then clicking on the green "SEARCH" button.
- Advanced Search: Click on the blue "Advanced Search" link below the search bar to add filters and multiple keywords before you begin searching.
- Boolean Logic & Filters: All EBCSO hosted databases allow you to narrow and expand your search using Boolean operators and filters. Access them in the advanced search option or on the left side of the results screen.
- Citation Tool: Access the citation tool by clicking on the title of an article or record, click on the file icon labeled "Cite" located in the "Tools" bar, then select the correct citation style from the dropdown menu.
- Saving Records: All saving options can be seen by clicking on the title of an article, viewing the detailed record, then looking at the righthand bar labeled "Tools." EBSCO allows users to print, save PDFs, email articles and create permanent links to the record.
Google Scholar This link opens in a new window
Google Scholar provides a simple way to broadly search for scholarly literature. From one place, you can search across many disciplines and sources: peer-reviewed papers, theses, books, abstracts and articles, from academic publishers, professional societies, preprint repositories, universities and other scholarly organizations. GoogleScholar helps you identify the most relevant research across the world of scholarly research.
English Short Title Catalogue (ESTC) This link opens in a new window
Note: the British Library experienced a cyber attack and many of their systems aren't back up yet. It is unclear when the ESTC will be available. A temporary interface is at https://estc.printprobability.org .
ESTC lists over 460,000 items, mainly but not exclusively in English, published between 1473 and 1800 primarily in Britain, Ireland, and North America, and contained in the collections of the British Library and over 2,000 other libraries.

Trial Databases

Reference Materials - Dictionaries, Encyclopedias

Collins Dictionaries This link opens in a new window
Dictionaries in 5 languages: English, Spanish, French, German, Italian.
Dictionary of Literary Biography This link opens in a new window
Featuring comprehensive literary biographies written by recognized literary scholars and critics, you'll find profiles of more than 143,000 past and present authors, historians, journalists, screenwriters, publishers, and playwrights. The biographies discuss the lives and careers of the literary figures profiled, along with the critical response to their works. Additionally, you can search for essays on publishing houses and literary topics.
Glossary of Poetic Terms This link opens in a new window
This glossary of poetic terms is produced and maintained, with free access, by the Poetry Foundation.
Gale Literature Criticism (formerly Literature Criticism Online) This link opens in a new window
Gale Literature Criticism provides access to popular and scholarly critical commentary on literature from broadsheets, pamphlets, encyclopedias, books and periodicals.
Gale Literary Sources This link opens in a new window
Simultaneously search across Dictionary of Literary Biography Complete Online and Literature Criticism Online for a single results list.
MagillOnLiterature Plus
MagillOnLiterature Plus provides access to literary works, reviewed critical analyses, and brief plot summaries tas well as all the biographies and author essays.
- Basic Search: Preform a basic search by entering keywords into the search bar then clicking on the green "SEARCH" button.
- Advanced Search: Click on the blue "Advanced Search" link below the search bar to add filters and multiple keywords before you begin searching.
- Boolean Logic & Filters: All EBCSO hosted databases allow you to narrow and expand your search using Boolean operators and filters. Access them in the advanced search option or on the left side of the results screen.
- Citation Tool: Access the citation tool by clicking on the title of an article or record, click on the file icon labeled "Cite" located in the "Tools" bar, then select the correct citation style from the dropdown menu.
- Saving Records: All saving options can be seen by clicking on the title of an article, viewing the detailed record, then looking at the righthand bar labeled "Tools." EBSCO allows users to print, save PDFs, email articles and create permanent links to the record.
Oxford English Dictionary (OED) This link opens in a new window
A comprehensive, scholarly English-language dictionary based on historical principles, published by the Oxford University Press.
Writer's Web This link opens in a new window
A free, public-access handbook for writers, designed and maintained by students and faculty at the University of Richmond. Includes a section on documentation.

Manuscript Collections

Emily Dickinson Archive (EDA) This link opens in a new window
A portal providing open access to high-resolution images of Dickinson’s surviving manuscripts in the holdings of libraries and archives at Harvard, Amherst, Yale, Boston Public Library, and other institutions. Includes search and browse options.
Mark Twain Project Online This link opens in a new window
Sponsored by the Bancroft Library at UC Berkeley in collaboration with the University of California Press, this portal provides access to reliable texts, letters, notes, documents, and images. Includes search and browse options.
Willa Cather Archive (WCA) This link opens in a new window
Sponsored by the Center for Digital Research in the Humanities at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, this portal provides access to texts, letters, images, and multimedia. It also provides a geographic chronology of Cather’s life. Includes search and browse options.