Research Guides: English Resources: Article Databases / Literary Criticism

Key Databases

MLA International Bibliography This link opens in a new window
Covers literary theory and criticism, film, radio, television, theater, all aspects of folklore, and more. Indexes academic journals, books, book chapters, and dissertations.
Coverage: 1926 to present.
Annual Bibliography of English Language and Literature, 1920- (ABELL) This link opens in a new window
Bibliographical listing of monographs, periodical articles, critical editions of literary works, book reviews, collections of essays and doctoral dissertations about English language, literature, and culture published anywhere in the world. Literature: poetry, prose, fiction, films, biography, travel writing, literary theory, and studies of individual writers. English culture: custom, belief, narrative, song, dance, and material culture.
Coverage: 1920 to present.
World Shakespeare Bibliography Online This link opens in a new window
Annotated entries for scholarly and popular Shakespeare materials. Reviews of books, productions, films, and audio recordings.
Coverage: 1960 to present.

Arts & Humanities Citation Index (Web of Science).
A&HCI indexes from 1975 to present and includes art, literature, language (including linguistics), history, philosophy, religion, television, and theater.

JSTOR This link opens in a new window
Archive of scholarly journal articles in full-text. Use Advanced Search to narrow by discipline and/or publication title. Does not include recent years for many journals; date coverage varies by title.
Project MUSE This link opens in a new window
Indexes full-text articles from journals in the humanities, arts, and social sciences.
ProQuest This link opens in a new window
ProQuest is a general database (covers many disciplines and subject areas). It provides citations to books, book chapters, journal articles, magazine & newspaper articles including historical newspapers, dissertations, and other sources. Date coverage varies by title.
Oxford Bibliographies This link opens in a new window
Literary guide to significant sources on a variety of subjects. Serves as an annotated bibliography and a high-level encyclopedia.

Gale Literary Sources This link opens in a new window
Biographies, literary & cultural analysis, work & topic overviews, selected full-text primary sources (short stories, poetry, speeches, plays, and essays), and more. Simultaneously searches Gale's Literature Criticism Series and most of the Dictionary of Literary Biography.
Literature Online This link opens in a new window
Author pages, literary criticism, primary sources in full-text (selected poetry, drama and prose), reviews, and reference sources.*Searches the Annual Bibliography of Language and Literature.*
Coverage: 7th century to present
Short Story Index This link opens in a new window
Index of important collections and anthologies of short stories that are published each year. All literary genres are covered.
Coverage: Index, 1984 to present; Full text, 1994 to present.
Scribner Writers Series This link opens in a new window
Provides bio-critical essays on the lives and works of European writers.
Twayne's Authors Series This link opens in a new window
Provides critical introductions to the lives and works of major writers of the world, and original commentary on the history and influence of literary movements.
Cambridge Companions Online This link opens in a new window
Provides introductions to major writers, artists, philosophers, topics and periods.