Tip
To analyze the social, political, or historical context of the work, search that time period within one of the library's history databases. To analyze any autobiographical elements in the work, look up the author in the library's biography database.
Search for Articles - Other Subjects
Go to the library databases page for access to more article databases on other subjects.
Find Literary Criticism
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
Background Information (Reference)
Search for encyclopedias, handbooks, dictionaries, and more. Great for background material!
- Credo Reference This link opens in a new window Credo Reference is a general knowledge database providing articles, images, charts, maps and other materials on thousands of topics. With 750+ searchable, full-text titles, Credo Reference places particular emphasis on subject encyclopedias, dictionaries, atlases, and reference handbooks. Also included are more than 1,100 short reference videos, more than 475,000 high-resolution art images, photographs, and maps across all subject areas.
- 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.
Search for Articles - Biography
- In Context: Biography This link opens in a new window Built on a foundation of more than 640,000 biographical entries, Gale In Context: Biography covers international figures from all time periods and areas of study. The database also includes full-text articles from nearly 250 periodicals. Search for people based on one or more personal facts such as birth and death years and places, nationality, ethnicity, occupation or gender, or combine criteria to create highly-targeted custom search results.
- American National Biography This link opens in a new window The American National Biography provides portraits of more than 19,000 men and women who have helped shaped the nation. Specialized collections of related biographies explore the diversity of American history including Black History, Women's History, and Hispanic Heritage. Themed research guides provide editorially curated article lists on subjects such as American Literature and the Civil Rights Movement
- 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.
- Biography Reference Center This link opens in a new window This resource contains many of the top-ranked biographical reference collections and magazines. It offers a comprehensive collection of full-text biographies, as well as thousands of unique narrative biographies. More than 390,000 reliable, full-text biographies and the complete run of Biography Today and Biography Magazine are available to browse. Advanced searching tools include name, date of birth or death, profession, or country of origin, portrait or genre. You may also search by important historical eras, major wars, and historic leaders, Nobel Peace Prize Laureates, Musicians, Inventors, and other important roles.
Search for Articles - History
- African-American History This link opens in a new window This resource offers a fresh way to explore the full spectrum of African-American history and culture for the past 500 years. Hundreds of videos, as well as speeches, timelines, biographies, and countless informative articles are contained in this unique database. View the Topic Centers for specific subjects, such as the Underground Railroad, the Harlem Renaissance, the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which include articles, sharable slideshows, videos and primary sources.
- History Reference Center This link opens in a new window Full text for more than 1,990 reference books, encyclopedias and non-fiction books from leading history publishers. Covering both U.S. and world history topics, History Reference Center is a full-text database featuring historical reference books, magazines, journals and thousands of primary source documents.
- In Context: US History This link opens in a new window Gale in Context: U.S. History is an online experience for those seeking contextual information on hundreds of the most significant people, events and topics in U.S. History. Topics range from the arrival of Vikings in North America all to the way to the first stirrings of the American Revolution and on through the Civil Rights movement, 9/11, and the War on Terror. Content includes reference works, millions of news and periodical articles, and more than 5,000 rare and vital primary source documents that range from slave journals to presidential papers.
- In Context: World History This link opens in a new window A range of topics such as Aztecs, Industrial Revolution, Silk Road, the Buddha, Space Race, and more provide a wide perspective across the globe. Rare primary sources, reliable reference, and multimedia content are aligned to curriculum and put this vast subject into context for students. World History is cross-searchable with Gale In Context: U.S. History for users with access to both resources.
- Historical Hartford Courant (1764-1922) This link opens in a new window This historical newspaper provides genealogists, researchers and scholars with online, easily-searchable first-hand accounts and unparalleled coverage of the politics, society and events of the time. Coverage: 1764 - 1922. This resource includes The Connecticut Courant (1764-1774), Connecticut Courant (1778-1778), Connecticut Courant (1791-1837), The Connecticut Courant and Hartford Weekly Intelligencer (1774-1778), Connecticut Courant and Weekly Intelligencer (1778-1791), Daily Courant (1837-1839), The Hartford Courant (1887-1922), Hartford Daily Courant (1840-1887).
Search for Articles - General
- 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.
Search for Articles - Newspapers
- U.S. Major Dailies This link opens in a new window U.S. Major Dailies provides access to the five most respected U.S. national and regional newspapers: The New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, and the Wall Street Journal. Search all of these newspaper titles conveniently in one search portal.
- Newspaper Source Plus This link opens in a new window Provides cover-to-cover full text for 45 U.S. & international newspapers. The database also contains selective full text for 389 regional (U.S.) newspapers, including the New Haven Register and New London Day. It includes newswires, news magazines, television and radio transcripts, news video clips, and more. It is updated daily with the most recent news. Wire sources include the Associated Press (AP), CNN Wire, PR Wire, UPI (United Press International), and Xinhua (China). Television and radio news transcript sources include ABC News (United States), ABC (Australia), CBC (Canada), CBS News, CNBC, CNN, CNN International, FOX News, MSNBC, NPR, and PBS.
- Hartford Courant (1992-current) This link opens in a new window Daily newspaper from Hartford, Connecticut. Coverage: 1992 - current. The Hartford Courant is the largest daily newspaper in Connecticut. Founded in 1764, it also is the oldest continuously published newspaper in the United States.
- New York Times (1985-present) This link opens in a new window This ProQuest version of full-text articles from The New York Times newspaper (Coverage Dates: 1985 to Present) includes local, regional, national, and international news coverage, including archived articles. Alternately, if you are looking for access to The New York Times Online Edition, please create a free library account at https://library.ctstate.edu/nytimes
- New York Times Online Edition This link opens in a new window Requires creation of free account using campus email address. Use your free account to access popular features, such as Today's Paper, Currently Trending, Wirecutter, The Athletic, Games including The Crossword, Cooking, Recipes, The Learning Network, Opinion, Politics, The Daily (podcast), New York Times Video and TimesMachine, which provides page scans of every issue of The New York Times published between 1851 and 2002 in browsing and searching formats.
- Wall Street Journal (1984-present) This link opens in a new window This ProQuest version of full-text articles from The Wall Street Journal newspaper (Coverage Dates: 1984 to Present) includes local, regional, national, and international news coverage, including archived articles. Alternately, if you are looking for access to The Wall Street Journal Online Edition, please create a free library account at The Wall Street Journal Online Edition. The Wall Street Journal is an American business and economic-focused international daily newspaper based in New York City. The Journal is published six days a week.
- Wall Street Journal Online Edition This link opens in a new window The Wall Street Journal, a national daily newspaper publishing news, information, commentary, and analysis with an emphasis on business and financial news. This online version includes access to Barron's Magazine, MarketWatch and the WSJ puzzles and games. It includes coverage of U.S. and world news, education, politics, technology, real estate, sports, health, and the arts. Requires creation of free account using campus email address.
