Research by Subject: English
ENCYCLOPEDIAS, HANDBOOKS, DICTIONARIES
Dictionary of Old English Corpus 
Full text database of 3,047 Old English texts.
OED Online (Oxford English Dictionary)
Full text of the 20 volumes of the OED, the 3 volume Additions Series, as well as at least 1,000 new and revised entries added quarterly. The OED is the leading authority on the evolution of the English language over the last millenium, providing information on the meaning, history, and pronunciation of over half a million words.
Dictionary of National Biography
The monumental multi-volume work with biographies of English men and women from "the earliest times to 1900," with supplements through 1990.
Ref. DA 28 .D4
MLA International Bibliography 
Indexes critical scholarship on literature, language, linguistics and folklore, including journal articles, series, monographs, dissertations, bibliographies, and proceedings; via ProQuest; can also be searched within the LION database; 1926 - present.
MLA within LION
MLA direct.
LION (Literature Online)
A collection of indexes, bibliographies, and full text literary and reference databases. Primary texts include English and American poetry, English fiction, and English and American drama, ranging from 600 to the early 20th century. Secondary sources include MLA International Bibliography, LIFT (a literary journal index with some full text), ABELL (the Annual Bibliography of English Language and Literature), the King James Bible, biographical information for over 1,000 of the most studied authors, and over 200 full text literary journals.
Literature Resource Center
Biographical information, overviews, full text literary criticism and reviews on nearly 130,000 writers in all disciplines, from all time periods and from around the world. Includes the Gale series Contemporary Authors and the Dictionary of Literary Biography.
Literary Reference Center
Full text literary information from over 1,000 books and monographs, major literary encyclopedias and reference works, hundreds of literary journals, and unique sources. Access provided by the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners.
Literature Criticism Online
Includes criticism on authors and literary works from 3 Gale series: Contemporary Literary Criticism (writers now living or who died after December 31, 1999), Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism (writers from 1900 to 1999), and Nineteenth-Century Literature Criticism (writers who died between 1800 and 1899).
Book Review Digest Plus
Indexes reviews of current fiction and non-fiction, and provides review excerpts and over 100,000 full text reviews. 1983 - present.
Book Review Digest Retrospective
Indexes reviews of adult and juvenile fiction and non-fiction. 1905 - 1982.
Sociological Abstracts
Indexes journals, dissertations, conference papers, and selected books in sociology and related disciplines. A CSA database; 1952 - present.
Wilson Humanities Abstracts
Indexes journals in the disciplines of archaeology and classical studies, art, folklore, history, language and literature, literary criticism, music and performing arts, philosophy, and religion; one of the Ovid databases; 1984 - present.
World Shakespeare Bibliography Online
Annotated entries for all important books, articles, book reviews, dissertations, theatrical productions, reviews of productions, AV materials, electronic media, and other materials related to Shakespeare published between 1961 - 2009. International coverage (118+ languages).
MULTI-DISCIPLINARY - ARTICLE INDEXES
Ethnic NewsWatch
Full text database of articles from newspapers, magazines and journals of the ethnic, minority and native press; 1990 - present.
Expanded Academic ASAP
Indexes and abstracts articles on subjects such as astronomy, religion, law, history, psychology, current events, sociology, and the general sciences. Many articles are in full text; via InfoTrac; 1980 - present. Access provided by the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners.
Gender Studies Database
Indexes gender-engaged scholarship from professional journals, conference papers, books, book chapters, government reports, discussion and working papers, theses & dissertations and other sources. 1972 - present.
Iter: Gateway to the Middle Ages and the Renaissance
Indexes scholarly journal articles on the Middle Ages and Renaissance (400 - 1700 A.D.).
JSTOR
Full text backfiles of over 900 core scholarly journals in humanities, social sciences, and sciences. By design, JSTOR does not contain the most recent 2-7 years of journals. Many of these titles are continued in Project Muse or in the Library's print and/or electronic subscriptions. Check Journal Finder for complete holdings information.
Project Muse
Full text collection of over 420 scholarly journals from the Johns Hopkins University Press and other university presses. Earlier years may be in JSTOR. Check Journal Finder for complete holdings information.
Scopus
Indexes and abstracts scientific, technical, medical and social sciences literature and web resources. Includes citation tracking and links to full text articles. Early 1900's - present for some abstracts; 1996 - present for citation tracking.
Poetry Foundation 
A useful source of poems, organized by category (subject), occasion, title or first line, plus criticism, news and biographies. Start with "Poetry Tool" to find a poem using any of the above categories. Searching by poet allows one to select geographic region, school, period, and more.
Women Writers Online
Full text collection of pre-Victorian (1400-1850) literature by women. From Brown University.
HISTORICAL NEWSPAPERS & PERIODICALS
American Periodicals Series Online
APS Online features over 1,500 periodicals ... from colonial times to the advent of American involvement in World War II. Titles range from America's first scientific journal, Medical Repository, to popular magazines like Vanity Fair and Ladies' Home Journal.
New York Times on the Web - historical file
Historical (1851-2006) file includes indexing and full text articles and full page images. Full text is not available for any articles affected by the Supreme Court ruling on the Tasini case (freelance writers and copyright).
Times Digital Archive
Indexing and full-image of every page published by The Times (London) from 1785 - 1985. For current indexing, use Academic OneFile or LexisNexis Academic.
CITATION GUIDES & STYLE MANUALS
MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, 7th ed.
Call Number: On Reserve
Authoritative guide to writing papers, and citing sources. Also available in Reference Room, Ref LB2369 .G53 2009
Online Writing Lab at Purdue - MLA Formatting and Style Guide
From Purdue University's Online Writing Lab (OWL). Highly recommended.
