Research Guides: English: A Guide to Research

Rebecca's Recommendations for Getting Started

Cambridge Companions Complete Collection
Full-text of Cambridge Companion books, with extensive, chapter-length essays.
JSTOR
Full-text of articles for the full-runs of many seminal journals. See all JSTOR's Language and Literature titles.
Library Catalog
A subset of Library Search that finds only materials owned by SMU Libraries, such as books, journals, movies, etc.
MLA International Bibliography
The Modern Language Association's index to literature. Search MLA to find literary criticism, book reviews, and just about anything relating to communication.
Project MUSE
Full-text of many University Press journals.
ProQuest One Literature
Literary criticism, authors' biographies, reference resources with citations. PQ1L provides useful information for researching literature. Includes the Annual Bibliography of English Language and Literature (ABELL), which has scholarly book reviews.
WorldCat
Find books, journals, and archival collections from libraries around the world. Request items through interlibrary loan. Great for English majors because many records include a book's table of contents.

Literary Periods
Research by era: Ancient, Medieval, Early Modern, Age of Revolutions, Modern to Contemporary
Literature & Geographical Regions
American, British, Postcolonial, Southern, and Western lit
Literary Genres: Form
Novels, Plays & Drama, Poetry, Short Stories
Literary Genres: Theme
Crime & Mystery Fiction, Folk & Fairy Tales, Gothic & Horror Stories, Graphic Novels, Science Fiction & Fantasy Lit, and Environment & Ecology in Fiction
Literature: Multiculturalism
Literatures of different people: African & African American, Asian American & Pacific Islander, Hispanic & Latin American, Jewish, and Native American
Literature: Diversity
Literatures of various groups: Women & Gender, LBGTQIA+, Disability, and Children
Literature & Creative Writing
Of particular use to those with creative writing specialization
Literature: Graduate & Advanced Studies
Additional resources, including digital humanities info, for advanced researchers, graduate students, & faculty members
Literature: Reference and More
Contains the odd database that may be of use, book reviews, dictionaries, finding biographical info, LC Call #s for literature, and MLA citation style help.

Reference Universe
Search thousands of reference books, such as subject encyclopedias. Learn the fundamentals of your topic.

Oxford Bibliographies
Suggests the best scholarship across a wide variety of subjects. Includes: American Literature, British and Irish Literature, Medieval Studies, Renaissance and Reformation, and Victorian Literature.

Literary Research Guide
Call Number: Fondren Library, Centennial Reading Room, Reference, Non-circulating PR83 .H37 2008
Evaluates reference materials in English studies

Oxford English Dictionary
The best English language dictionary, with historical usage & etymologies.

Johns Hopkins Guide to Literary Theory & Criticism
Fulltext articles on critical and theoretical schools and movements, with historical context.
Routledge Dictionary of Literary Terms
Terms and concepts encountered in 21st century literary studies debates.