Guide to Literary Research
Literary Reference Sources

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The following reference sources provide information relevant to literary topics.  They are available in the Hilton M. Briggs Library collection or via the web if indicated.

Reference Books

African American Dramatists (Reference PS338.N4 A69 2004)

American Ethnic Literatures: Native American, African American, Chicano/Latino, and Asian American Writers and Their Backgrounds. (Reference PS153.M56 P42 1992)

American Literature and Language: A Guide to Information Sources. (Reference PS88.B1 1982)
Part 1, A-5, lists material about individual authors.

American Prose and Criticism, 1900-1950. (Reference PS362.B1 1981)
Part II lists the principal works of and critical studies on individual authors.

American Women Writers: A Critical Reference Guide from Colonial Times to the Present. (Reference PS147.A4 2004, v. 1-4)

American Women's Fiction, 1790-1870. (Reference PS149.W54 1990)

American Writers: A Collection of Literary Biographies. (Reference PS129.A55)
Biographical/critical essays with appended bibliographies.

British Writers. (Reference PR85.B688)
Covers English literary figures to the mid-twentieth century.

The Cambridge Guide to Children's Books in English. (Reference PR990.C36 2001)

Columbia Granger's Index to Poetry in Collected and Selected Works (Reference PN1022.C63 2004)

Columbia Granger's Index to Poetry in Anthologies (Reference PN1022.H39 2002)

A Companion to Shakespeare's Works. (Reference PR2976.C572 2003 v. 1-4)

A Companion to Twentieth-Century American Drama (Reference PS350.C655 2005)

Concise Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms. (Reference PN41.C67 1990)

Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature. (Reference PR19.D732 1996)
Includes over 5,000 alphabetically arranged entries on individual novels and novelists, plays and playwrights, poems and poets, essayists, songs, fictional characters, literary movements, and more.

Contemporary Literary Criticism. (Reference PN771.C59)
The electronic version, Contemporary Literary Criticism Select, is more user friendly and provides the most up-to-date information. The older paper volumes contain excerpts from criticism of the works of novelists, poets, playwrights, and other creative writers. Cumulative indexes to all volumes are provided. Includes contemporary writers who are either now living or have died since 1960.

Critical Survey of Long Fiction. (Reference PN3451.C75 2000)
This eight-volume set provides in-depth overviews of 463 world authors and their works of fiction.

Cyclopedia of World Authors. (Reference PN451.M36 1997)
"Provides introductions to the lives and works of 2,057 authors from around the world and from antiquity to the present."

Dictionary of American Regional English. (Reference PE2843.D52 1985 v. 1+)
A dictionary of words and phrases of folk usage or whose form or meaning is confined to a region or regions of the United States or to a social group.

Dictionary of Midwestern Literature (Reference PS273.D53 2001)

The Elements of Style. (Reference PE1408.S772 2000)
See also the web version of Strunk's The Elements of Style.  1st ed. at
www.bartleby.com/141/index.html

Encyclopedia of Feminist Literature (Reference PN471.W455 2004)

A Glossary of Contemporary Literary Theory. (Reference PN44.5.H37 1994)

A Glossary of Literary Terms. (Reference PN44.5.A2 1999)
Defines and discusses terms, critical theories, and points of view that are commonly used to classify, analyze, interpret, and write the history of works of literature.

Handbook of Literary Research. (Reference PR56.M54 1995)

International Encyclopedia of Linguistics. (Reference P29 .I58 2003 v. 1-4)

The Johns Hopkins Guide to Literary Theory & Criticism. (Reference PN81.J53 1994)
A standard reference work for literary theory.

Latino and Latina Writers. (Reference PS153.H56 L39 2004 v. 1-2)

Literary Market Place with Names and Numbers. (Information Desk PN161.L5)
A selective list of U.S. and Canadian publishers, literary agents, literary and writers' associations, literary awards, contests, and grants, and book review and index journals.

Literary Research Guide: An Annotated Listing of Reference Sources in English Literary Studies. (Reference PR83.B1 2002)
Annotated guide to selected sources in literature.

Magill's Bibliography of Literary Criticism. (Reference Z6511.M25)
Critical citations are given for over 600 authors from 2,000 B.C. to A.D. 1979.

Masterplots: 1,801 Plot Stories and Critical Evaluations of the World's Finest Literature. (Reference PN44.M33 1996, v. 1-12)

Masterplots II: American Fiction Series (Reference PS373.M37 2000 v. 1-6)

Masterplots II: Women's Literature (Reference PN471.M37 1995 v. 1-6)

MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers. (Info Desk and Reference LB2369.G53 2003)

MLA Style Manual and Guide to Scholarly Publishing. (Info. Desk PN147.G444 1998)
The style recommended by the Modern Language Association for preparing scholarly manuscripts and student research papers.

Modern American Women Writers. (Reference PS151.M54 1990)
Contains critical and biographical essays about forty-one women authors published in America since the 1870s.

Multicultural Writers Since 1945 (Reference PN452.M88 2004)

Native North American Literature. (Reference PS508.I5 N38 1994)
"Biographical and critical information on native writers and orators from the United States and Canada from historical times to the present."

Nineteenth-Century Literature Criticism. (Reference PN761.N5)
"Excerpts from criticism of the works of novelists, poets, playwrights, short story writers, and other creative writers, 1800-1900, from the first published critical appraisals to current evaluations." Includes authors who died between 1800 and 1900.

Oxford Companion to Twentieth-Century Literature in English. (Reference PR471.O94 1996)
Offers an overview of literature written in English from around the world. Author entries are composed of biographical details, descriptions of selected works, literary achievements, and general critical comments; also included are essays on individual works, genres, critical concepts, periodicals, literary groups, and movements.

The Oxford Encyclopedia of American Literature. (Reference PS21 .E537 2004 v. 1-4)

Oxford English Dictionary. (Reference PE1625.O87 1989)
A 20-volume historical dictionary that attempts to record and define English words used since c.1150.

A Reference Guide for English Studies. (Reference PR56.M37 1990)
Annotated guide to reference sources in English studies.

Research Guide to Biography and Criticism. (Reference PR85.B1)
Provides biographical and bibliographical information about selected British and American poets, novelists, and prose writers.

Shakespearean Criticism. (Reference PR2965.S43 1984 v. 1+)
"Excerpts from the criticism of William Shakespeare's plays and poetry from the first published appraisals to current evaluations."

Short Story Criticism. (Reference PN3373.S386)
Provides both critical and biographical overviews of major short story writers.

Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism. (Reference PN771.G27)
"Excerpts from criticism of the works of novelists, poets, playwrights, short story writers, and other creative writers, 1900-1960." Includes authors who died between 1900 and 1960.

Twentieth-Century Short Story Explication: Interpretations, 1900-1975, of Short Fiction since 1800. (Reference Z5917.S5 W33 1977) (New Series Reference Z5917.S5 W35 1993)
Lists criticisms for short stories by writers of many nationalities.

Twentieth-Century Western Writers. (Reference PS271.T84 1991)

Writers Market.  (Information Desk PN161.W7, Latest ed. only kept)

Year's Work in English Studies. 1920+ (Reference PE58.E55y)
"A narrative bibliography that records and evaluates scholarly writing on English language and on literatures written in English."

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Updated: 14 February 2008 by me