Reference Sources on Literature
- Gale LiteratureA literature database combining biographical, bibliographical, and contextual
information on authors and their works (fiction, nonfiction, poetry, drama, history, and journalism). Includes both textual and visual material from the Dictionary of Literary Biography, Contemporary Authors, and Contemporary Literary Criticism.
Encyclopedia of Literary and Cultural TheoryCall Number: Print copy: Olin Reference PN 81 E435 2011Publication Date: Malden, Mass.: Wiley-Blackwell, 2011Arranged in three volumes covering Literary Theory from 1900 to 1966, Literary Theory from 1966 to the present, and Cultural Theory, this encyclopedia provides accessible entries on the important concepts, theorists and trends in post-1900 literary and cultural theory.
Columbia Companion to the Twentieth-century American Short Story.Call Number: Print copy: Olin Reference PS374 S5 C57x 2000Publication Date: Columbia University Press, c2000.Emphasizing criticism as opposed to theory, essays cover a wide array of themes (e.g., African American short story -- Asian American short story -- Chicano-Latino short story -- Ecological short story -- Lesbian and gay short stories -- Native American short story -- American short stories of the Holocaust) and over 100 individual authors. Author essays are arranged alphabetically and include biographies, as well as critical overviews of their works. Indexed.
Encyclopedia of Latin American and Caribbean Literature 1900-2003Call Number: Online and Olin Reference PQ7081.A1 E558 2004"More than 1,200 entries written by 190 contributors, covers Spanish America and Brazil, as well as the Dutch, French, and English Caribbean. Entries are brief, but do include a selective bibliography for further reading." (Guide to Reference, ALA)
Oxford Encyclopedia of Latina and Latino LiteraturePublication Date: Oxford UP, 2020From Chicana/o identity to Caribbean and Central American diasporic literature, from key figures in Latina/o letters to bilingual texts and graphic novels, this encyclopedia explores a variety of issues that are central to the 21st century's American experience, such as feminism, LGBTQA groups, indigeneity, environmental justice, social movements, migration, and US-Mexico borderlands.
Olin Reference Collection
Encyclopedias are great for:
- choosing a topic
- educating yourself quickl
- perspective on a topic
- variant spellings, terminology
- bibliography
Need a Substantive Bibliography?
Nothing gets your research off to a good start like a substantive, scholarly bibliography. Oxford Bibliographies provide excellent, scholar-curated bibliographies of academic books and articles in a variety of subject areas.
Reference Sources in Race & Gender Studies
Encyclopedia of African-American Culture and History: the Black Experience in the AmericasCall Number: Print copy: Olin Library Reference E185 .E54 2006Publication Date: 2006 (2nd ed.)6 vols. Culture broadly defined provides information on persons, events, and trends. Concludes with a collection of around 35 primary documents, section of "Statistics and Lists," and an overall index.
Encyclopedia of gender and societyCall Number: Olin Reference HQ1115 E54 2009+Publication Date: Sage, 20092 volumes; Focuses on significant gender scholarship within commonly recognized areas of social research.
Oxford Encyclopedia of Latinos and Latinas in the United StatesCall Number: Print copy: Olin Reference E184.S75 O97 2005Publication Date: 20054 vols. More than 900 articles that draw together the diverse historical and contemporary experiences in the United States of Latinos and Latinas from Mexico, Puerto Rico, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Central America, South America, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East.
Encyclopedia of Race, Ethnicity, and SocietyPublication Date: 2008Covers important topics, events, and persons relevant to race and ethicity in society. Also addresses other issues of inequality that intersect with race and ethnicity, including ability status, age, class, gender, and sexual orientation.
