To get started, try a keyword search in OASys. Keyword searching is less specific than searching Library of Congress subject headings, but may provide more results. Need more? Click over to LINK+ and continue your searching there. Need even more? WorldCat includes over 54 million entries from more than 45,000 libraries. You may also place Interlibrary Loan requests. (Slower than LINK+). Below are a few sample keyword searches for you to start with. Be creative, come up with your own, and use keywords from the works you find to improve your future searches.

Suggested Keyword Searches:

keyword: Shakespeare* and "literary criticism"

keyword: Derrida and criticism

keyword: Barthes and criticism

keyword: Foucault and sex*

keyword: "Toni Morrison" and race

For more assistance with searching for books, please see Finding Books.

back to top

Library of Congress Subject Heading Searching on OASys and LINK+

LC Subject Headings are classifications agreed upon by all US libraries and be an invaluable tool when you are searching for information. While keyword searches may bring up more titles, LC Subject searching can bring up more accurate lists of works specifically related to your field of study. Need more? Click over to LINK+ and continue your searching there. Need even more? WorldCat includes over 54 million entries from more than 45,000 libraries. You may also place Interlibrary Loan requests. (Slower than LINK+)

Suggested Subject Headings searches:
 

American Literature -- 19th Century

English Literature -- 18th Century -- History And Criticism

Epic Poetry, English -- History And Criticism

Iranian American Women -- Biography

Arabic Literature -- 20th Century -- History And Criticism

back to top

Arts & Humanities Search (FirstSearch)
Find journal articles in the arts and humanities. Offers citations with lists of articles cited. Can be used to find citing articles.

JSTOR
Full-text archive of high-impact academic journals in many disciplines. Included journals generally begin with full-text from the first issue up until 3-5 years ago. Full-text is not available through JSTOR for recent issues. You can browse journals by discipline, by title or search articles by keyword.

Literature Resource Center (Gale)
Full-text biographies, bibliographies and critical analysis of more than 90 000 novelists, poets, essayists, journalists and other writers, with in-depth coverage of 2 000 of the most-studied authors.

MLA Bibliography (First Search)
Index to scholarly materials published worldwide in literature, languages, linguistics, and folklore.

Project MUSE
Full-text of over 40 scholarly journals in the humanities, the social sciences and mathematics from Johns Hopkins University press.

ProQuest Online Information Service
A common interface to databases marketed by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. Oxy's set of ProQuest databases includes ProQuest General Reference, ProQuest Religious Periodicals, National Newspapers, and ProQuest Historical Newspapers. Except for Historical Newspapers, these databases can be searched simultaneously. Together they form a convenient general article database offering ample links to complete online articles.

WilsonWeb
Find citations, abstracts, and substantial full-text for international, English-language periodicals pertinent to literature.

For more assistance with searching our databases, please see Finding Articles.

back to top

Reference

websites

American Heritage Dictionary

Oxford English Dictionary: OED online

Oxford Reference Online

Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary

Dictionary.com

reference books

back to top

Style Manuals

For a comprehensive list of style manuals, please browse the Library Style Manual Webpage.

Modern Language Association (MLA) Format

American Psychological Association (APA) Format

American Anthropological Association (AAA) Format

Chicago (Turabian) Style Format

Occidental College Online Writing Center
This elaborate writing guide will help you formulate paper topics, construct theses, create outlines and cite sources as part of paper drafting.

back to top

Tired of Googling? try a different search engine or a subject directory found on our Public Internet Search Tools page.

For example, go to the Librarian's Index to the Internet, and try these searches: 

Shakespeare                  literature

Below are just a few of the webpages discussing ECLS in its various forms.

Shakespeare Illustrated

Shakespeare Resource Center

English and American Literature Resources

The American Literature Association

The Internet Public Library

Library Servers on the Web

Post-Colonial Literature

For more assistance with searching for web sites, please see Finding Public Web Pages.

back to top

Selected Books

Literature - History and Criticism

The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism

American Literature

The Norton Anthology of American Literature

L.A. Exiles: A Guide to Los Angeles Writing, 1932-1998

English Literature

The Norton Anthology of English Literature

The Oxford Companion to English Literature

English Poetry

The New Oxford Book of Eighteenth Century Verse

back to top