LibGuides: English: Home

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You'll notice this list isn't alphabetical. I've tried to list these databases in order of their usefulness.

MLA International Bibliography
The MLA International Bibliography, from the Modern Language Association of America, indexes international scholarly materials on modern language, literature, linguistics, and folklore, and includes citations from journals and series, monographs, working papers and conference proceedings.
Literature Online
Coverage: 8th century - present

Literature Online is a resource for the study and teaching of English literature. It is a fully integrated service that combines the text of literary works (poetry, prose, and drama) with criticism and reference resources. Content also includes scholarly journals covering aspects of literary studies.
Academic Search Complete
Academic Search Complete is a comprehensive, scholarly, multi-disciplinary full-text database. It includes numerous full-text periodicals, many of which are peer-reviewed. In addition to full text, this database offers indexing and abstracts for a number of journals and other publications including monographs, reports, conference proceedings etc. The database features PDF content going back as far as 1887, with the majority of full text titles in searchable PDF format.
JSTOR
JSTOR is a database of back issues of academic journals, books, and primary sources. With content extending over a century, subject areas include area studies, the arts, business & economics, history, the humanities, law, medicine, science & mathematics, and social sciences.

Additional Databases & Resources

If One Stop Search doesn't produce what you need, try one of the specialized resources below. Ask me if you'd like some suggestions on which ones to use.

Defining Gender
Coverage: 1400-1920

Defining Gender provides access to original source documents related to the study of gender. The material is structured under five key topics: conduct and politeness, domesticity and the family, consumption and leisure, education and sensibility, and the body. This resource provides access to a wide range of original sources.
Dictionary of Literary Biography
Dictionary of Literary Biography Complete Online provides tens of thousands of biographical and critical essays on the lives, works, and careers of the world's most influential literary figures from all eras and genres. It includes the Dictionary of Literary Biography series, which is dedicated to making literature and its creators better understood and more accessible to students and interested readers.
Medieval Travel Writing
This collection presents manuscripts of European travel writing from the later medieval period. The chief focus is on journeys to central Asia and the Far East, including accounts of travel to Mongolia, Persia, India, China and South-East Asia. The collection also includes accounts of travels to or through the Holy Land.
NoveList Plus
NoveList Plus is a comprehensive database of reading recommendations. It is a source of information about fiction and nonfiction books for all ages, including expert recommendations, reviews, articles, lists, book discussion guides, thematic book lists, and reading and book-oriented articles.
Oxford English Dictionary Online
The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) is the accepted authority on the evolution of the English language over the last millennium. It is a guide to the meaning, history, and pronunciation of over half a million words, both present and past, tracing the usage of words through quotations from a wide range of international English language sources, from classic literature to film scripts and cookbooks.
Project Gutenberg
Project Gutenberg is a collection of free ebooks which are not restricted by copyright, allowing for free downloading and printing. They can be read on your PC and various mobile readers.

Project Gutenberg Free Use Policy
Project Gutenberg Mobile Reader How-to
Project MUSE Full Database
Project MUSE offers full-text articles from scholarly journals from major university presses, covering literature and criticism, history, performing arts, cultural studies, education, philosophy, political science, gender studies, and more.
Roman de la Rose
Coverage: 14th-16th Centuries

A joint project of the Sheridan Libraries at Johns Hopkins University and the Bibliothèque nationale de France, the Roman de la Rose Digital Library aims to digitize all known manuscript copies of the Roman de la Rose, which number around 300.

Online Resources

Why a separate list? This list shows free resources that we haven't licensed for use, but still should be useful or interesting.

OED in two minutes
"Modern English includes words from a wide variety of different sources around the world. Patterns of word-borrowing over time reflect the changing demography of its speakers; cultural and economic influences on Britain; the spread of English-speaking explorers, traders, and settlers; and encounters with other cultures. Each data point shown here represents the first recorded use of a word in English, positioned according to the language from which the word was borrowed. The size of the data point indicates the frequency of the word: larger bubbles for higher-frequency words, smaller bubbles for lower-frequency words. The progress bar at the bottom tracks the growth of English, subdivided into the major language groups from which words are derived."
Research Guide for Students
A bare bones guide to literary research.

Open Educational Resources

Open educational resources (OERs) are teaching resources available in a variety of formats that have an open copyright license. This allows anyone to use, adapt and share them as needed.

Open educational resources and open pedagogy have many benefits for both faculty and students.

Allowing faculty to adapt teaching materials to match the content of their courses.
Providing students the opportunity to create, collaborate, and share their learning.
Lowering the cost of education making it more accessible and affordable for all.

See our UML Open Educational Resources Guide to find out how UM Libraries can support you in your use of these materials.

Librarians at the University of Manitoba have compiled this list of relevant OER materials which may be of use in teaching English. These materials are linked here.

Reference Resources

Dictionary of Literary Biography
Dictionary of Literary Biography Complete Online provides tens of thousands of biographical and critical essays on the lives, works, and careers of the world's most influential literary figures from all eras and genres. It includes the Dictionary of Literary Biography series, which is dedicated to making literature and its creators better understood and more accessible to students and interested readers.
Credo Reference
Credo Reference is an online reference service that aggregates authoritative reference works for desktop delivery. There are approximately 180 reference titles in Credo Reference, giving a total of 1.7 million entries, fully integrated and cross-linked.
Contemporary Literary Criticism (via Literature Criticism Online)
Contemporary Literary Criticism is an extensive collection of critical essays on contemporary authors.

Subject Guide

Emma Popowich

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204-914-9379
Emma.Popowich@umanitoba.ca

Subjects: Asian Studies, English, French, Spanish & Italian, Philosophy, Psychology