Using Databases for Literature
The below online databases are excellent resources for finding biographical information about your author and criticism of short stories, as well as plays, novels, essays, poems etc.
For critical analysis articles about your chosen work you want to search by the title (Of Mice and Men for example). Often you will want to include the name of the author in your search unless the title is very distinctive. Most of the critical articles will come from literary journals, a preferred source.
Biographical information is generally culled from reference books and occasionally from journal articles. For contemporary authors, a published interview with the author can be very useful.
In some cases you will not be able to find literary criticism of a particular work. If your professor allows it, you can pursue an emotion, mood, or behavior that is evident in a character or generally a theme in your short story, drama, or poem. In this case you might want to search in the field of psychology or philosophy. For this course of action, Academic Search Complete, or Psychological & Behavioral Sciences are good choices.
Databases for Literature
- Bloom's Literature This link opens in a new window Bloom's Literature contains a wide range of reference essays and scholarly criticism examining great authors and their works throughout history, as well as full-length videos of classic plays and films. Bloom's Literature includes a Literary Classics eBook shelf containing the full contents of more than 1,000 classic works of literature, and also includes a Shakespeare Center which houses in one convenient location a treasure trove of content on all things Shakespeare.
- Literature Resource Center This link opens in a new window Find up-to-date biographies, overviews, full-text criticisms, audio interviews, and reviews on writers from all eras. Includes Dictionary of Literary Biography, Something About the Author.
- Literature Criticism This link opens in a new window Explore the most extensive compilation of literary commentary available. Includes analysis from book excerpts, periodicals, and more. Includes Contemporary Literary Criticism, Children's Literature Review, Classical and Medieval Literature Criticism, Drama Criticism, Literature Criticism (1400-1800), 19th Century Literature Criticism, Poetry Criticism, Shakespearean Criticism, Short Story Criticism, 20th Century Literary Criticism.
- Biography Reference Bank (H.W. Wilson) This link opens in a new window This resource includes almost 1 million original biographical profiles, 700,000 full-text articles, including the following collections: Current Biography, New Grove Music, New Grove Artists, and H.W. Wilson Biographical series (Junior Authors, Composers, World Authors), Library of North American Bio Series. Search result limiters include occupation/activity, gender, place of origin, birth day or month, and lifespan. View the EBSCO Search Tutorial Video
- Academic Search Complete This link opens in a new window Academic Search Complete is the world's most valuable and comprehensive scholarly, multi-disciplinary full-text database, with more than 8,500 full-text periodicals, including more than 7,300 peer-reviewed journals. Indexing and abstracts for more than 12,500 journals and more than 13,200 publications including monographs, reports, conference proceedings. The database features PDF content going back as far as 1887, with the majority of full text titles in native (searchable) PDF format. Searchable cited references are provided for more than 1,400 journals. View the EBSCO Search Tutorial Video
- Psychology & Behavioral Sciences Collection This link opens in a new window Psychology & Behavioral Sciences Collection is a comprehensive database covering information concerning topics in emotional and behavioral characteristics, psychiatry & psychology, mental processes, anthropology, and observational & experimental methods. This is the world's largest full text psychology database offering full text coverage for nearly 400 journals.
Dictionary
- Oxford English Dictionary This link opens in a new window The Oxford English Dictionary is the world's leading authority on the history and development of the English language since 1150. As a historical dictionary, the OED is very different from dictionaries of current English, in which the focus is on present-day meanings. You’ll still find present-day meanings in the OED, but you’ll also find the history of individual words, sometimes from as far back as the 11th century, and of the language—traced through 3.5 million quotations, from classic literature and specialist periodicals to film scripts, song lyrics, and social media posts.
Learn more about specific authors, works of literature and even tips on writing with Bloom's Literature.
