Where Do I Start?
Did you know?
- Central Library has a materials budget of 2 million dollars.
- Vanderbilt library subscribes to over 700 databases.
- These resources make up a majority of the Deep Web
- Google, Bing and other familiar search engines capture less than 1% of information on the Web.
Infographic credit: CNN/Money
Oxford English DictionaryCall Number: Available ONLINEISBN: 0199563837Widely regarded as the accepted authority on the English language. It is an unsurpassed guide to the meaning, history, and pronunciation of 600,000 words— past and present—from across the English-speaking world. Updated Quarterly.
Why should I Start with these resources?
Here are a few reasons:
- Get an overview of a new or complex topic
- Find authoritative information
- Find out the names of key players in a given area
- Locate terms that you can use in your research
- Help narrow (or expand) your topic
- Locate a bibliography of sources to help you start your research.
- Dictionary of Literary Biography This link opens in a new windowProfiles of past and present authors, historians, journalists, screenwriters, publishers, and playwrights discussing their lives and careers and critical response to their works. Includes the Documentary Series, Main Series, and Yearbook.
- Literature Criticism (Gale) This link opens in a new windowBiographical essays; critical essays or excerpts taken from books, magazines, literary reviews, newspapers, scholarly journals, and interviews with featured authors.
Includes ten publications: Contemporary Literary Criticism, Nineteenth Century Literary Criticism, Twentieth Century Literary Criticism, Poetry Criticism, Short Story Criticism, Drama Criticism, Classical and Medieval Literature Criticism, Shakespearean Criticism, Literature Criticism from 1400-1800, and Children's Literature Review.
- Cambridge Companions Online This link opens in a new windowCollection of Cambridge titles covering literature, classics, philosophy, religion and cultural studies.
- Johns Hopkins Guide to Literary Theory and Criticism This link opens in a new windowHistorical survey of critics and theorists, critical and theoretical schools and movements, and the critical and theoretical innovations of specific countries and historical periods. Concentrates heavily on modern criticism and theoretical research.
- Past Honors English ThesesAccess full-text Honors English Theses from this page.
