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Literature in English

Browse library materials for the study of literature in English

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Reference

Reference Collections

These collections provide access to many specialized encyclopedias, handbooks, dictionaries, and other reference materials.

Encyclopedias

Dictionaries

Dictionaries of Phrases, Concepts, and Symbols

Dictionaries of Specific Forms of English

Dictionaries of Critical and Philosophical Terms

Language Dictionaries of Interest to Scholars of Literature in English

Welsh Dictionaries

Biographies

Companions & Guidebooks

Concordances

What is it?

A concordance is an alphabetical listing of words in a text or writer's oeuvre, with where the words can be found.

Ways to find:

  1. Keyword search: writer AND concordance*
  2. Subject search: use the format writer -- Concordances
    example: Dickinson, Emily, 1830-1886 -- Concordances

Examples:

Library Catalogs

National Union Catalog, pre-1956 Imprints (NUC) Catalog of holdings of many U. S. libraries, including the Library of Congress.  Useful for tracking editions. Print: Main Z733.U57.C22556    

Library of Congress Online Catalog   Does NOT include every title in the NUC but has the newer titles.

The British Library General Catalogue of Printed Books to 1975   Gardner Stack Z921 .B8542 1975

British Library     Advanced search (with search tips) for the British Library site.

Bibliographies

More

What Is Reference?

Reference sources include encyclopedias, dictionaries, and atlases.

They may give you a succinct overview of a topic. 

They may help you identify a topic to explore in depth.

They may provide quick, reliable facts.

They may include bibliographies that will lead you to detailed studies.