Research Guide
Sources designated with REF in the call number, unless otherwise noted, are located on the first floor of the Reinsch Library and do not circulate.
Literary Research Guide: An Annotated Listing of Reference Sources in English Literary Studies. REF PR83 .H37 Over a thousand evaluative entries on reference tools including reliable websites for literature in English.
Dictionaries, Companions, and Encyclopedias
Benét's Reader's Encyclopedia. REF PN41 .B4 Brief entries on authors, characters, themes, terms, etc. in world literature.
Brewer's Dictionary of Modern Phrase & Fable. REF PN43 .B65 Brief definitions of news words, phrases, terms, names, and fables.
Columbia Dictionary of Modern European Literature. REF PN771 .C575 Broad selection of topics with relevance to 20th century European literature. Brief articles on individual authors, including biographical and critical discussions.
Cyclopedia of Literary Characters. (5 vol.) REF PN44 .M3 Entries are arranged by the title of work and each entry includes the author’s name, publication date, genre (novel, novella, drama, poetry, and short fiction), locale, time of action, and plot type.
Encyclopedia of World Literature in the 20th Century. (4 vol.) REF PN771 .E5 Entries focus on major and representative writers; articles on world literatures and topical articles on literary movements.
Gothic Literature. (3 vol.) REF PR408 .G68 G675 Entries include biographical information, review of principal works, and critical reception.
Greenwood Encyclopedia of Multiethnic American Literature. (5 vol.) REF PS153 .M56 G74 Includes biographical data on over one thousand authors and articles on specific topics.
The Oxford Companion to American Literature. REF PS21 .H3 Brief entries in American authors with biographical sketches, short bibliographies, and cross-references.
The Oxford Companion to English Literature. REF PR19 .O94. Contains brief entries on authors, terminology, and literary movements.
The Oxford Encyclopedia of British Literature. (5 vol.) REF PR 19 .O95 Entries focus on major authors, themes, movements, genres, or institutions.
Plot Summaries
Critical Survey of Long Fiction. (8 vol.) REF PN3451 .C75 Brief overviews of major novels and other works of long fiction; contains both plot summary and criticism.
Masterplots: 1,801 Plot Stories and Critical Evaluations of the World's Finest Literature. (12 vol.) REF PN44 .M33 Plots, critical evaluations, and bibliographies for major literary works.
Other Masterplot titles include:
- Masterplots II: African American Literature Series. (3 vol.) REF PS153 .N5 M2645
- Masterplots II: American Fiction Series. (6 vol.) REF PS373 .M37
- Masterplots: British Fiction Series. (3 vol.) REF PR825 .M423
- Masterplots II. Women’s Literature Series. (6 vol.) REF PN471 .M37
Critical Excerpts
Contemporary Literary Criticism. Full-text available in the Literature Resource Center database; General information, chronological critical excerpts from first published to the present, and bibliographies on world writers now living or who died after December 31, 1959.
Modern Black Writers. REF PN841 .M58 Contains brief critical essays arranged alphabetically by author with short bibliographies.
Nineteenth-Century Literature Criticism. Selected full-text available in Literature Resource Center database; General information, chronological critical excerpts from first published to the present, and bibliographies on world writers who died between 1800 and 1899.
Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism. Selected full-text available in the Literature Resource Center database; General information, chronological critical excerpts from first published to the present, and bibliographies on world writers who died between 1900 and 1999.
Author Bio-Bibliographies
American Women Writers: A Critical Reference Guide from Colonial Times to the Present. (4 vol.) REF PS147 .A42 Multi-page entries on representative writers, with an emphasis on authors of children’s literature. Biographical data, critical essays on the author’s works, and selected bibliographies.
Contemporary Authors. Full-text available in the Literature Resource Center database. Biographical data, often including interviews, and bibliographies for world writers from 1900 to the present.
Contemporary Novelists. REF PR881 .C69 Biographical information and signed critical essays on living novelists primarily from America or Britain.
Cyclopedia of World Authors. (5 vol.) REF PN451 .M36 Profiles on novelists, short-story writers, playwrights, poets, and screenwriters
Dictionary of Literary Biography. Full-text available in th Literature Resource Center database. Topical volumes include biographical data and lengthy critical essays on major world authors from all eras.
Latin American Writers. REF PQ7081.A1 L37 (3 vol. and 1 suppl.) Entries on 20th century writers from Spain and Portuguese speaking countries. The entries provide biographical information, discussion on the author’s works, and a substantial bibliography.
World Authors. REF PN451 .W672 Broad biographical sketches, often including autobiographical statements, and brief bibliographies on world authors.
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