Recommended Databases for Finding Literary Criticism
PERIODICAL INDEXES
Note: The Articles + Full Text menu option on the main Library web page allows you to perform simple searches across multiple databases. Because the various databases are structured differently, search results may vary widely. For more precise searching, it's best to search the databases individually. The list of databases below is only a selection. For more options, see the Databases subject listing
Literature Databases
- MLA International BibliographyThe premier scholarly bibliography covering languages, literatures, folklore, film and linguistics from all over the world. Online coverage back to 1926. Includes books, articles in books, and journal articles. Does not index book reviews.
- ProQuest One LiteratureFormer name: Literature Online. Offers a full-text collection of poetry, drama, and prose with complementary references sources as well as articles, monographs and dissertations from the Annual bibliography of English language and literature (ABELL); full-text articles from literary journals; and biographical information on widely studied authors.
- 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.
Multidisciplinary Databases
- Humanities International IndexIndexes articles and books across the arts and humanities disciplines from a multitude of U.S. and international publications. HII also provides citations for original creative works including poems, fiction, photographs, paintings and illustrations. Many links to full text.
- JSTORJSTOR is a fully-searchable database containing the back issues of several hundred scholarly journals in the humanities, social sciences, mathematics, music, ecology and botany, business, and other fields. It includes the following collections: Arts & sciences I, II and III, General science, Ecology and botany, Business, Language and literature.
- Project MUSESearchable database that provides access to the full text of journals and ebooks published by university presses in the humanities, social sciences, and mathematics. Covers such fields as literature and criticism, history, the visual and performing arts, cultural studies, education, political science, gender studies, and others.
- Oxford Bibliographies OnlineDeveloped cooperatively with scholars and librarians worldwide, Oxford Bibliographies offers exclusive, authoritative research guides. Combining the best features of an annotated bibliography and a high-level encyclopedia, this cutting-edge resource guides researchers to the best available scholarship across a wide variety of subjects.
Databases in Other Disciplines
- America: History & LifeCovers academic journals on the history of the United States and Canada from prehistory to the present.
- Black Studies CenterCombines resources for research and teaching in Black studies: Schomburg studies on the Black experience, International index of Black periodicals (IIBP), The Chicago defender, ProQuest dissertations for Black studies, and Black literature index. Includes scholarly essays, recent periodicals, historical newspaper articles, and more.
- Ethnic NewsWatchEthnic NewsWatch is a full-text collection of the newspapers, magazines and journals of the ethnic, minority and native press from 1960.
- GenderWatchA full text database of publications that focus on the impact of gender across a broad spectrum of subject areas, including family, childbirth, birth control, daycare, domestic abuse, work and the workplace, sexual harassment, aging, aging parents, body image, eating disorders and social and societal roles.
- Historical AbstractsCovers academic journal literature on world history from the late middle ages onward.
- LGBTQ+ SourceProvides indexing and abstracts of worldwide literature on gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender issues, as well as full text for more than 50 journals, magazines and regional newspapers and dozens of monographs; also includes a specialized LGBT thesaurus with over 6,400 terms.
- Philosopher's IndexProvides indexing and abstracts of journal articles, books, contributions to anthologies, and book reviews published worldwide since 1940. Topics covered include aesthetics, axiology, philosophy of education, epistemology, ethics, philosophy of history, philosophy of language, logic, metaphysics, philosophical anthropology, metaphilosophy, political philosophy, philosophy of science, social philosophy, and the philosophy of religion.
- PsycINFOCovers the international literature in psychology and related behavioral and social sciences, including psychiatry, sociology, anthropology, education, pharmacology, and linguistics. Includes applied psychology, communication systems, and more.
- Sociology Source UltimateCovers peer-reviewed journals, international resources and open access titles in sociology. Provides citations and direct links to the texts of journal articles, book chapters and conference proceedings, encompassing sub-disciplines and related areas of the social sciences, including labor, crime, demography, economic sociology, immigration, ethnic, racial and gender studies, and more.
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