Xavier University: Library: Database Guides: English & Literature

John Hopkins Guide to Literary Theory (1990-present; all full-text) includes more than 240 entries on critics and theorists, critical schools and movements, and critical and theoretical innovations of specific countries and historical periods. Users can search by keywords or browse specific entries (sources), topics, or names through the table of contents. It is published by and the user interface is provided by Johns Hopkins University Press.

Literary Reference Center (all full-text; Tutorials; RefWorks help; XLinks) is a comprehensive literary reference database that provides a broad spectrum of reference information from antiquity to the present day. It combines information from over 1,000 books and monographs, major literary encyclopedias and reference works, and hundreds of literary journals. Search results can be limited to literary criticism or Masterplots. Users can browse most studied authors and works and view book highlights and the author in focus. Features include a glossary and historical timeline. It is produced by and the user interface is provided by EBSCO Publishing.

Literature Criticism Online (all full-text) provides access to ten multi-volume compilations of literary criticism including: Contemporary Literary Criticism, 2008-present; Twentieth-century Literary Criticism, 1978-present; Nineteenth-century Literature Criticism, 2008-present; Shakespearean Criticism, 1984-present; Literature Criticism from 1400 to 1800, 2008-present; Classical and Medieval Literature Criticism, 2008-present; Poetry Criticism, 1991-present; Short Story Criticism, 1988-present; Drama Criticism, 1991-present; and Children's Literature Review, 1976-present. It covers a range of modern and historical views on authors and their works across regions, eras and genres, offering tens of thousands of hard-to-find critical essays. It is produced by Gale Cengage Learning and the user interface is provided by InfoTrac.

Literature Resource Center (all full-text; XLinks; RefWorks help) provides access to biographies, bibliographies and critical analysis of authors from every age and literary discipline. It covers more than 90,000 novelists, poets, essayists, journalists and other writers, with in-depth coverage of 2,000 of the most-studied authors. It includes online versions of Gale's Contemporary Authors, Contemporary Literary Criticism, and Dictionary of Literary Biography, as well as selections from Gale's other Literature Criticism and For Students Series, such as Nineteenth Century Literary Criticism and Short Stories for Students. It permits searches by author name, title, genre, literary movement or literary themes. It is produced by Thomson-Gale and the user interface is provided by InfoTrac.

MLA International Bibliography (1926-present; updated 10 times/year; some full-text; tutorials; RefWorks help; XLinks) provides a classified listing and subject index for books, journal articles, and dissertations published on modern languages, literatures, folklore, and linguistics. It is produced by the Modern Language Association of America and the user interface is provided by EBSCO Publishing.

Academic Search Complete (1985-present; updated daily; more full-text; tutorials; RefWorks help; XLinks) is a multidisciplinary database that covers nearly all academic areas of study. It indexes and abstracts over 9,300 journals, many of them peer-reviewed (4,400), and provides full-text for over 5,300 journals. It also includes indexing and abstracts for books, reports, conference proceedings, etc. Searchable cited references are provided for 1,000 journals. It is produced by and the user interface is provided by EBSCO Publishing.

African American Poetry Collection (1760-1900; all full-text; XLinks; title list) contains almost 3,000 poems written by African-American poets. The poetry explores topics such as abolition, children, civil rights, dreams, education, fugitive slave law, Indian raids, liberty, political issues, prejudice and slavery. It includes allegories, broadsides, children's poems, elegiac poems, epics, hymns, odes, patriotic poems and sonnets. The poets are among those included in the William French et al. bibliography, Afro-American Poetry and Drama, 1760-1975. It is produced by Chadwyck-Healey and the user interface is provided by OhioLINK. See also 20th Century African American Poetry (1900-2000), or search all six databases in the Poetry Group.

American Drama (1714-present; all full-text; XLinks) contains more than 700 plays from over 300 dramatists. It will eventually contain more than 2,000 plays. It is produced by ProQuest/Chadwyck-Healey and the user interface is provided by OhioLINK. See also English Prose Drama and English Verse Drama, or search all three databases in the Drama Group.

American Poetry Collection (1600-1900; all full-text; XLinks) is a collection of 1,200 books and anthologies of early American poetry and contains the works of all major American poets, including many that are less familiar.It includes over 40,000 poems by over 200 writers. Any accompanying text written by the original author and forming an integral part of the work, such as notes, dedications, and prefaces to individual poems, is also included. It is produced by ProQuest/Chadwyck-Healey and the user interface is provided by OhioLINK. See also Twentieth Century American Poetry (1900-2000), or search all six databases in the Poetry Group.

Annual Bibliography of English Language & Literature (ABELL) (1920-1997; no full-text; RefWorks help; saving searches) is a standard reference work for English studies. It indexes books, articles, critical editions of literary works, book reviews, collections of essays and doctoral dissertations published anywhere in the world. Coverage is international, including articles in languages other than English. It is produced by Chadwyck-Healey under the auspices of the Modern Humanities Research Association (MHRA) and the user interface is provided by OhioLINK.

Arts and Humanities Citation Index (A&HCI) (1980-present; updated weekly; some full-text; RefWorks help; tutorial; citation alerts; saving searches & creating alerts; journal titles) is one of the citation databases included in Web of Knowledge. Click Web of Science and then change Current Limits to search this database separately. It provides current and retrospective bibliographic information and cited references for over 1,130 arts and humanities journals plus individually selected, relevant items from about 7,000 science and social sciences journals. It covers archaeology, architecture, art, asian studies, classics, dance, film, folklore, history, language, linguistics, literary reviews, literature, music, philosophy, poetry, radio, religion, television and theater. Click Sign In to save searches and receive search history and citation alerts. It is produced by and the user interface is provided by Thomson Reuters.

Bibliography of American Literature (BAL) (American revolution-1930; all full-text; XLinks) provides nearly 40,000 records of the literary works of approximately 300 American writers. It lists every reprint and variant edition of an author's works, including obscure and fugitive appearances in anthologies, broadsides, and gift books. It also includes details on bindings and physical features of the editions. It originally appeared in print in nine volumes, published for the Bibliographical Society of America by Yale University Press between 1955 and 1991. All nine volumes are fully searchable together. It is produced by ProQuest/Chadwyck-Healey and the user interface is provided by OhioLINK.

CQ Researcher (1991-present; all full-text; RefWorks help; XLinks) is the online version of the CQ Researcher print publication. It provides original, comprehensive reporting and analysis on issues in the news. Each issue discussed includes an abstract, overview, background, current situation, outlook, special focus, chronology, pro/con, bibliography, next step, contacts, and footnotes. Controversial topics are addressed in a balanced, unbiased manner. It is published by and the user interface is provided by CQ Press, a Division of Congressional Quarterly, Inc. This subscription is limited to 5 simultaneous users.

Drama Group Collections (all full-text; XLinks) provides searching across three subcollections: American Drama, English Prose Drama and English Verse Drama. It is produced by ProQuest/Chadwyck-Healey and the user interface is provided by OhioLINK.

Early American Fiction (1774-1850; all full-text; XLinks) contains the first editions of American novels and short stories written before 1850 by authors of significance during their lifetimes. It includes 440 works of 80 novelists and short-story writers. It is produced by ProQuest/Chadwyck-Healey and the user interface is provided by OhioLINK.

Eighteenth Century Fiction (1700-1780; all full-text; XLinks) contains 96 works of English prose fiction, written by writers from the British Isles. It includes all of the most widely-studied texts and others long neglected or unavailable. First editions have been used unless considered unreliable. Some original images are included (title pages and illustrations). It is produced by ProQuest/Chadwyck-Healey and the user interface is provided by OhioLINK.

English Poetry Collection (600-1900; all full-text; XLinks) contains over 175,000 poems by over 1,400 poets from British Commonwealth and ex-colonial countries. It contains over 4,400 poetry collections listed in the New Cambridge Bibliography of English Literature, many of which are rare books and unavailable in print form. Users can also these works in XPLORE the library's online catalog. Works in English of Welsh, Scottish, and Irish poets are included. It also includes any relevant accompanying text written by the poet. It is produced by ProQuest/Chadwck-Healey and the user interface is provided by OhioLINK. See also 20th Century English Poetry (1900-2000), or search all six databases in the Poetry Group.

English Prose Drama (1600-1900; all full-text; XLinks) is based on plays listed in the New Cambridge Bibliography of English Literature that were written or intended for the stage and wholly or primarily in prose. It contains over 1,800 plays by about 400 authors from the renaissance to the end of the nineteenth century. The full text of each drama is included with any accompanying text written by the author and forming an integral part of the work. Selected images are directly accessible from the relevant points in the text. It is produced by ProQuest/Chadwyck-Healey and the user interface is provided by OhioLINK. See also American Drama and English Verse Drama, or search all three databases in the Drama Group.

English Verse Drama (1400-1900; all full-text; XLinks) contains more than 2,200 works by over 500 named authors and over 300 anonymous works, from the Shrewsbury Fragments of the late thirteenth century through the Elizabethan and Jacobean periods to the end of the nineteenth century. A verse drama is generally defined as a work acted on or intended for the stage which is either completely in verse or includes significant verse content. It is based on bibliographic information in the New Cambridge Bibliography of English Literature. It contains masques, short dramatic pieces written primarily in verse, selected translations, works written for children and adaptations. It includes any accompanying text written by the original author. It also includes any relevant accompanying text written by the poet. It is produced by ProQuest/Chadwck-Healey and the user interface is provided by OhioLINK. See also American Drama and English Prose Drama, or search all three databases in the Drama Group.

Essay & General Literature Index (1900-1984; Tutorials; RefWorks help; XLinks) contains citations for more than 249,000 essays in collections and anthologies published in the United States and Great Britain. Content covers topics such as archaeology, architecture, classics, drama, folklore, political science, psychology, religion, and women's studies. It is produced by H. W. Wilson and the user interface is provided by EBSCO Publishing.

Film & Television Literature Index (FTLI) (more full-text; tutorials; RefWorks help; XLinks) is a comprehensive bibliographic database covering film & television theory, preservation & restoration, writing, production, cinematography, technical aspects, and reviews. It also includes over 24,000 celebrity and entertainment images provided by the Motion Picture & Television Archive and 32,500 full-text reviews dating back to 1914 provided by Variety Movie Reviews. It is produced by and the user interface is provided by EBSCO Publishing.

Gale Opposing Viewpoints (RefWorks help; XLinks) contains more than 14,000 pro/con viewpoint essays; 5,000 topic overviews; 300 primary source documents; 300 biographies of social activists and reformers; 775 court case overviews; 5 million journal articles; 6,000 statistical tables, charts and graphs; podcasts, presidential addresses and premier NPR programs; and national and state curriculum standards. It is produced by and the user interface is provided by Gale Cengage Learning.

Humanities Abstracts (1980-present; Much full-text; Tutorials; RefWorks help; XLinks) contains indexing and abstracts from nearly 700 journals, of which 500 are peer reviewed. It includes scholarly journals as well as specialized magazines. Content includes feature articles, interviews, obituaries, and original works of fiction, drama, and poetry. Topics covered include art, classical studies, dance, film, journalism, philosophy, and religion. It is produced by H. W. Wilson and the user interface is provided by EBSCO Publishing.

Humanities International Complete (1925-present; updated monthly; much full-text; tutorials; RefWorks help; XLinks) provides indexing and abstracts for books, articles, essays and reviews, as well as original creative works including poems, fiction, photographs, paintings and illustrations. It indexes 1,700 scholarly journals and incorporates all content from American Humanities Index and Humanities International Index. It covers literature, language, history, philosophy, archaeology, classical studies, folklore, gender studies, performing arts, history, religion and theology. It is produced by Whitson Publishing and the user interface is provided by EBSCO Publishing.

Humanities with Full-Text (1910-present; Much full-text; Tutorials; RefWorks help; XLinks) contains the full-text from over 330 journals and indexing and abstracts from nearly 700 journals. It includes scholarly journals as well as specialized magazines. Content includes feature articles, interviews, obituaries, and original works of fiction, drama, and poetry. Topics covered include art, classical studies, dance, film, journalism, philosophy, and religion. It is produced by H. W. Wilson and the user interface is provided by EBSCO Publishing.

InteLex Past Masters (all full-text; RefWorks help) is a collection of electronic books. Included are the works of Aquinas, Aristotle, Augustine, Austen, Dewey, Plato, Mary Shelley, and the continental rationalists. In addition there are the works of British philosophy from 1600-1900 and political philosophy form Machivelli to Mill. Users can browse by title or subject and a keyword search is also available. After an author's work is selected, searching for words within the work is permitted. Printing is available. It is produced by and the user interface is provided by the InteLex Corporation.

International Bibliography of Theatre & Dance (IBTD) (much full-text; tutorials; RefWorks help; XLinks) is the online version of the print IBTD in 14 volumes. It indexes journal articles, books, book chapters and dissertation abstracts on all aspects of theatre and performance in 126 countries. It is a multicultural and inter-disciplinary research tool for theater students, educators and professionals. Initiated by the American Society for Theatre Research, the IBTD is now published by the Theatre Research Data Center (TRDC) at Brooklyn College. The user interface is provided by EBSCO Publishing.

JSTOR (1st issue of 1st volume to 3 years from present; all full-text; Video tutorial; Handout tutorial; RefWorks help; XLinks; title list) provides online access to back issues of selected scholarly journals in a variety of academic disciplines including the arts, business, demographic studies, humanities, social sciences, and science. The multidisciplinary arts & sciences collection was updated in June 2009 with an additional 120 titles, bringing the total number of journals in this collection to 749. JSTOR also includes 8,200 19th Century British pamphlets. It is produced by and the user interface is provided by JSTOR, a not-for-profit organization that serves and is supported by the scholarly community. NOTE: journal content published prior to 1923 in the US and prior to 1870 elsewhere is freely available to the public for reading and downloading (nearly 500.000 articles from more than 200 journals).

MLA Directory of Periodicals lists over 4,400 periodicals in the areas of literature, covered in the MLA International Bibliography. It provides print and electronic availability, contact information, subscription information, advertising rates, publishing information (scope and subjects covered), and information about submissions for publication. It is produced by the Modern Language Association of America and the user interface is provided by EBSCO Publishing.

Oxford English Dictionary (OED) (middle ages-present; all full-text; XLinks), an historical dictionary of the English language, is the online version of the 2nd print edition of the dictionary. It is produced by and the user interface is provided by Oxford University Press.

Oxford Reference Online (Using this resource; all full-text; XLinks) is a cross-searchable database of more than 125 quick reference dictionaries and 189 in-depth encyclopedias. It covers general reference as well as specific subject categories: archaeology, art and architecture, bilingual dictionaries, classical studies, encyclopedias, English dictionaries and thesauri, history, language reference, law, linguistics, literature, media studies, medicine and health, music, names studies, performing arts, philosophy, quotations, religion, science and technology, social sciences, and society and culture. All subject categories can be searched separately. Reference types include overview pages, subject reference, timelines, quotations, English dictionaries, and bilingual dictionaries. It is published by and the user interface is provided by Oxford University Press. This subscription is limited to 5 simultaneous users. No reader is required to use these electronic books. The best way to find ebooks is in the XPLORE Library Catalog. Just look for the ebook icon:

Periodicals Archive Online (most from first issue to 1995; RefWorks help; XLinks) provides the backfiles of periodicals in ancient civilizations, history, humanities, linguistics, literature, philosophy, religion, and general studies. This collection was updated in June 2009 with an additional 400 titles. Users can search for articles by keyword, author, article title, journal title, language, journal subject, and year. Users can browse journals by title or journal subject. It is produced by Chadwyck-Healey and the user interface is provided by ProQuest.

Play Index (1949-present; some full-text; Tutorials; RefWorks help; XLinks) includes about 31,000 plays published individually or in collections. It provides classic and historical plays, along with the works of contemporary playwrights. It covers new editions and translations, and includes descriptive annotations to summarize the plot and indicate musical requirements. It includes one-act plays, pageants, plays in verse, radio and television plays, classic drama, and over 600 monologues from playwrights such as Shakespeare, Aeschylus, Euripides, Moliere, and more. It is produced by H. W. Wilson and the user interface is provided by EBSCO Publishing.

Renaissance Women Online (1400-1700; all full-text; XLinks), included in Women Writers Online, this database is a collection of 100 Renaissance texts from the early modern period accompanied by introductions to the individual works and essays on the cultural context of the period, all written by scholars in the field. It is produced by and the user interface is provided by the Women Writers Project at Brown University.

Roget's II: The New Thesaurus (all full-text) contains 35,000 synonyms and over 250,000 cross-references. It features succinct word definitions and a hyperlinked category index. Click the down arrow in the select box and click Roget's. It is produced by Houghton-Mifflin and the user interface is provided by Bartleby.com.

Shakespeare: Editions and Adaptations 1623-1866; all full-text; XLinks) includes the complete text of eleven major editions of Shakespeare's works, from the First Folio in 1623 to the Cambridge edition of 1863-1866. It also includes twenty-four separate contemporary printings of individual plays, selected apocrypha and related works and more than 100 adaptations, sequels, and burlesques from the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries. It is produced by ProQuest/Chadwyck-Healey and the user interface is provided by OhioLINK.

Short Story Index (1984-present; some full-text; Tutorials; RefWorks help; XLinks) provides detailed indexing for more than 117,000 short stories from more than 4,200 collections and anthologies. It also provides the full-text for nearly 5,000 short stories. Users can find stories by keyword, author, title, date, subject, genre, source, literary technique, theme, locale, narrative technique, or literary figure. It is produced by H. W. Wilson and the user interface is provided by EBSCO Publishing.

Something About the Author (all full-text; XLinks) provides page images of the print Something About the Author series and Something About the Author Autobiography series. It examines the lives and works of authors and illustrators of children and young adult literature. It contains more than 12,000 entries that include autobiographies, biographies, and obituaries. Entries include personal and career information, writings, adaptations, sidelights, works cited, illustrations of the author and sample illustrations within their books. Basic and advanced searches are provided as well as browsing by author. Users can reformat documents for reading and can print or email documents. It is produced by and the user interface is provided by the Gale Group.

Turnitin.com is a plagiarism prevention and detection service which can be accessed directly or through Blackboard. If TurnItIn is used within Blackboard neither students or faculty need to set up an account. See these manuals for the Blackboard version of TurnItIn for students and faculty. If the direct, non-Blackboard version is used, both faculty and students need to set up a user profile to use this service. Faculty will need the administrative account ID and password to set up their profile. Contact the research help desk at 513 745-4808 for this information. Faculty also need to set up a class with a separate class ID and password. Faculty then need to give the class ID and password to their students before they can set up their accounts and submit their papers to TurnItIn. See these training pages for the direct, non-Blackboard version of TurnItIn for students and faculty.

Twentieth Century African American Poetry (1900-2000; all full-text; XLinks) contains 12,000 poems with biographical profiles of more than 100 African-American poets, including Audre Lorde, Langston Hughes, and Rita Dove, as well as emerging poets. It is produced by ProQuest/Chadwyck-Healey and the user interface is provided by OhioLINK. See also African American Poetry Collection 1760-1900, or search all six databases in the Poetry Group.

Twentieth Century American Poetry (1900-2000; all full-text; XLinks) contains 52,000 poems from collected works and individual volumes of poetry. It covers the works of more than 316 major 20th century American poets, including the traditionalists and modernists.as well as contemporary works of the 1990s. It includes volumes of poetry from all the major movements and schools, including the New School, the Chicago School, the Southern School, the Confessionals, the Beats, and the Black Mountain poets. It is produced by ProQuest/Chadwyck-Healey and the user interface is provided by OhioLINK. See also American Poetry Collection (1600-1900), or search all six databases in the Poetry Group.

Twentieth Century English Poetry (1900-2000; all full-text; XLinks) contains over 44,000 poems by 288 poets, incorporating the Modern Poetry Collection and The Faber Poetry Library. It includes any integral images, introductions, and prefaces to the volumes, all notes, and any prose sections. It is produced by ProQuest/Chadwyck-Healey and the user interface is provided by OhioLINK. See also English Poetry Collection 600-1900, or search all six databases in the Poetry Group.

William Butler Yeats Collection (all full-text; XLinks) is a complete electronic edition of Yeats's work, bringing together 22 printed volumes and including critical and fictional prose, poetry, plays, and autobiographical works. It is produced by ProQuest/Chadwyck-Heale and the user interface is provided by OhioLINK.

Women Writers Online (1400-1850; all full-text; XLinks) is an archive of works by pre-Victorian women writers accompanied by contextual and topical essays. It is produced by and the user interface is provided by the Women Writers Project at Brown University.

WorldCat (1000 BC-present; updated daily; RefWorks help) contains millions of bibliographic records for all material cataloged by OCLC member libraries. It includes books, computer programs, films and slides, journals and magazines, chapters, papers, manuscripts, maps, musical scores, newspapers, sound recordings, videotapes and websites. It also includes Net First and the Union List of Periodicals. It is produced by and the user interface is provided by OCLC (Online Computer Library Center).

WorldCat.org (updated daily; RefWorks help; XLinks) lets users search the collections of libraries in your community and thousands more around the world. You can search for popular books, music CDs and videos; you can discover many new kinds of digital content, such as downloadable audiobooks; you may also find article citations with links to their full text (export articles to RefWorks to display the FindIt icon and link to the full-text, when available); authoritative research materials, such as documents and photos of local or historic significance; and digital versions of rare items that aren't available to the public. Resources are available in many languages. Users can create a free account to create lists of favorites, bibliographies, and reviews. Owning libraries are displayed in descending order by the number of miles from your geographic location or zip code. It is produced by and the user interface is provided by OCLC (Online Computer Library Center).