This guide provides a general introduction to Library and information resources for the study of literature in English.
The Library uses the term ‘database’ to describe a searchable online resource which forms an increasingly important part of our overall Library collections. Usually, the Library pays for access to copyrighted content within licensed databases, although a small number may be freely avialable to access.
You might be able to find references to licensed databases by searching Google, but you'll only be able to access them via UoE login by following the links from Databases A-Z or Databaes by Subject, that is, if we do own or subscribe to the databases you need.
A database may be dedicated to a single subject (e.g. Beckett Digital Library) or cover several subjects (e.g. Arts and Humanities Citation Index). Some publishers also provide a single platform which allows you to search across all their databases from one website (e.g. ProQuest).
You can find a variety of resources:
Primary texts, criticism (journal articles and dissertations), reference works and contextual literary movements in one place. Author pages also show criticism over time and audio-visual files if available (e.g. recordings of poets reading their own work)
ProQuest One Literature contains 3 million literature citations from thousands of journals, monographs, dissertations, and more than 500,000 primary works – including rare and obscure texts, multiple versions, and non-traditional sources like comics, theatre performances, and author readings.
Enhanced by interpretive sources such as book reviews and criticism sourced from wider, interdisciplinary publications in the fields such as humanities and history, it provides diverse, global perspectives with sources from all over the world – Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, and North and South America - the majority of which are in full-text.
Gale Literature is an integrated platform that brings together Gale's premier literary databases to allow search across these resoruces. It includes the following databases, all of which are also listed in the Key databases for English Literature section on this page:
The academic field of English Literature crosses over with a number of other disciplines. Depending on your research area it may be worthwhile looking at the databases available in other subject areas e.g.
See a full list of subjects and their recommended databases at:
The Library regularly arranges trials to new resources, including databases. It's always worthwhile checking the list of current trials as there could be something available for a short period that is just what you are looking for.