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English Literature 

 
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This subject guide covers resources available at the NUS Libraries. This is not a comprehensive subject guide, but rather a selective list of materials that are most useful for locating information in English Literature 

This guide contains the following sections:

Databases
Journals
Reference Sources
Theses
Library Instruction & Tips
Internet Sources
Newspapers
Research & Citation 

Databases

Databases are a good a place to begin research. They may contain articles in journals, papers in conference proceedings, newspapers, chapters in books, reports and reviews.

Literature Online
Librarian's take: Major resource for English/American literature. Covers more than 300,000 works of English and American poetry, prose and drama. The database also includes biographies, bibliographies; articles, monographs and dissertations from the Annual Bibliography of English Language and Literature; literary criticism and reference sources. Search features are user-friendly and the database is easy to navigate.

Guides for searching Literature Online available at Proquest (HTML).

MLA International Bibliography, 1963-
Librarian's take: A popular subject index of scholarly books and articles on modern languages, literatures, folklore and linguistics, compiled by the Modern Language Association of America. Coverage includes literature from all over the world as well as works on literature transmitted orally, in print, or in audio-visual media. Other topics include literary theory and criticism, dramatic arts (film, theatre, television, radio) and history of printing and publishing. With over 1.7 million records, the MLA International Bibliography provides a comprehensive listing of works published pertaining to language and literature.

Guides for searching MLA International Bibliography available at the MLA website(HTML).

FIAF International FilmArchive Database, 1972-
An essential tool for film studies, FIAF indexes more than 300,000 articles from 300 of the world's foremost academic and popular film journals, dating from 1972 onwards. The database also incorporates the International Index to Film Periodicals, the International Index to TV Periodicals; Treasures from the Film Archives, which identifies silent film holdings in archives around the world; the FIAF Members' Publications and the Documentation Collections.

Guides for searching FIAF on the SilverPlatter platform available at the Ovid website (PDF).

Arts & Humanities Citation Index, 1975- (via Web of Science)
Part of the ISI Web of Knowledge products by Thomson Scientific, the Arts & Humanities Citation Index provide access to current and retrospective bibliographic information and cited references in more than 1,000 of the world's leading arts & humanities journals. Also provides cited reference searching, a unique ISI search and retrieval feature that enables users to track the literature forward, backward and through the database.

Guides for searching Arts & Humanities Citation Index available at Web of Science Tutorial (HTML).

Humanities Abstracts, 1984-
Produced by the H.W. Wilson Company, Humanities Abstracts is a bibliographic database that cites English-language periodicals. Periodical coverage includes some of the best-known scholarly journals and numerous lesser-known but important specialized magazines. Subjects covered include Archaeology, Area Studies, Art, Classical Studies, Communications, Dance, Film, Folklore, Gender Studies, History, Journalism, Linguistics, Literary & Social Criticism Literature, Music, Performing Arts, Philosophy, Religion and Theology.

Guides for searching Humanities Abstracts available at Wilson Web (HTML).

JSTOR
An archive of important scholarly journals, JSTOR provides page images of back issues of core journals in the humanities and social sciences from the earliest issues to within a few years of current publication. Users may browse by journal title or discipline, or may search the full-text or citations/abstracts. New issues of existing titles and new titles are added on an ongoing basis.

Guide for searching the database available at JSTOR website (HTML).

Expanded Academic ASAP, 1980-
Provides indexed and full-text articles from sources covering Humanities, Social Sciences, Education, Science and Technology.

Guide for searching Expanded Academic ASAP available at Gale Cengage Learning (PDF).

More databases available at: NUS Libraries> E-Resources> Databases

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Journals

Below is a select list of journals in English Literature that are available in the NUS Libraries. The list is based on the NUS Office of Research journal tierings.

American Literature
Asian Theatre Journal
Cinema Journal
Comparative Literature
Cultural Critique
English Literary Renaissance
Film Quarterly
Gender, Place and Culture
Journal of Commonwealth Literature
Journal of Modern Literature
Journal of Popular Culture
Modern Fiction Studies
Nineteenth Century Literature
PMLA: Publications of the Modern Language Association of America
Screen
Shakespeare Quarterly
Theatre Journal
Theatre Topics
Twentieth Century Literature
Victorian Studies

More E-Journals available at: NUS Libraries> E-Resources> EJournals

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Reference Sources

This is a select list of reference sources that give background information including broad overview, definitions, key issues, major dates or events, keywords and bibliographies.

Bibliographies

British playwrights, 1956-1995: a research and production sourcebook

The Cambridge bibliography of English literature

English poetry

Film and television: a guide to the reference literature

Literary research guide: an annotated listing of reference sources in English literary studies

Reference works in British and American Literature

Shakespeare: his life, times and work

Biographies

Contemporary authors: a bio-bibliographical guide to current writers in fiction, general nonfiction, poetry, journalism, drama, motion pictures, television and other fields

Contemporary authors autobiography series

Contemporary authors, cumulative index, including references to all entries in Contemporary authors, Contemporary authors new revision series and numerous other reference works

Literature 1996-2000

Literary Lives

Dictionaries

The concise Oxford dictionary of literary terms

The Continuum companion to twentieth century theatre

Dictionary of film terms: the aesthetic companion to film art

A glossary of contemporary literary terms

The poetry dictionary

Twentieth-century literary movements dictionary: a compendium to more than 500 literary, critical, and theatrical movements, schools, and groups of more than 80 nations, covering the novelists, poets, short-story writers, dramatists, essayists, theorists, and works, genres, techniques, and terms associated with each movement

Encyclopedias

A historical companion to postcolonial literatures in English

The Oxford companion to twentieth-century poetry in English

The Oxford encyclopedia of British literature

The Oxford encyclopedia of theatre and performance

Schirmer encyclopedia of film

Guides

The Cambridge guide to Asian theatre

Doing English: a guide for literature students

Modern North American criticism and theory: a critical guide

The Oxford guide to film studies

Reference guide to world literature

Problems in literary research: a guide to selected reference works

Indexes & Abstracts

Annual bibliography of English language and literature

The Columbia Granger's index to poetry in collected and selected works

Contemporary literary criticism

Film index international

For other background sources, search the Library catalogue, LINC at http://linc.nus.edu.sg/.

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Theses

NUS Theses

Selected theses & academic exercises received from the NUS English Language & Literature Dept are kept in the Library's Closed Stacks under the call number PR13 (English Literature) and PN2020 (Theatre Studies).

More on how to search NUS theses available at: http://www.lib.nus.edu.sg/lion/l/wtheses.html.

Foreign Theses

Index to Theses with Abstracts accepted for Higher Degrees by the Universities of Great Britain and Ireland (E-Resource)
Listing of theses with abstracts accepted for higher degrees by universities of Great Britain and Ireland since 1716.

Guide to searching Index to Theses with Abstracts accepted for Higher Degrees by the Universities of Great Britain and Ireland available at the Index to Thesis Search Tips (HTML).

Proquest Dissertations & Theses Database (PQDT) (E-Resource)
A comprehensive database of dissertations and theses records from around the world. Where available, PQDT provides the full text of the dissertations and theses. It allows natural language searching and the menu-driven search facility help users find information quickly and easily.

Guide to searching Proquest Dissertations & Theses Database available at the Proquest website (HTML).

More foreign theses databases are available at: NUS Libraries> E-Resources> Databases by Type> Theses & Dissertations

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Library Instruction & Tips

This is a list of customized "How to search" Library sessions teaching users how to search specific databases, Library catalogue, etc.. It may include notes on how to use specific resources.

Searching & Information Sources for English Literature Research: EN4271 Research Workshop

EndNote Web Workshop for Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences on 24 Mar 2008 (webcast)

Library sources on English Literature: A session for EN2101E Literary Appreciation and Criticism

EndNote Web workshop for EN4271

How to import references into EndNote Web

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Internet Sources

American and English Literature Internet Resources
Highlights some major websites for American and English Literature. Includes websites, gopher sites, listservs, newsgroups and homepages of various authors.

Contemporary Postcolonial & Postimperial Literature in English
Originally created and maintained by Professor George Landow of The Victorian Web, the site has not been accepting contributions since March 2006. However, it still provides a good introduction to postcolonial literature in various countries including Singapore.

Eserver Drama Collection
Based at Iowa State University. Provides a collection of original plays and screenplays, criticism and links to other theatre sites.

Introduction to Modern Literary Theory
A webpage created by Dr Kristi Siegel from Mount Mary College, the site provides clear and concise explanations of literary approaches, important literary concepts and further readings to enhance understanding.

Romantic Circles
Romantic Circles is a scholarly refereed website devoted to the study of Romantic-period literature and culture. A collaboration project between the University of Maryland, the Maryland Institute of Technology in the Humanities and Loyola University of Chicago, the site consists of reviews, links to e-texts, essays, indexes, guides, bibliographies and a weblog.

The Victorian Web
Created by Professor George Landow, Professor of English and History of Art at Brown University and students of the University Scholars Programme at the National University of Singapore, the site contains links to Victorian texts and a rich collection of resources on Victorian authors, art, architecture, design, religion, philosophy, politics, society, science, performing arts and technology.

VoS: Voice of the Shuttle
Created by Professor Alan Liu at the Department of English at the University of California, Santa Barbara with a team of department graduate students. Contains a superb collection of electronic resources on English literature and the humanities.

The WWW Virtual Library Theatre and Drama
The site offers links to resources in more than 50 countries around the world on theatre and drama. Topics range from academic/training institutions worldwide to journals online, monologues in print and resources and articles on theatre studies.

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Newspapers 

Factiva (E-Resource)
A resource for searching and obtaining full-text articles from major newspapers around the world such as New York Times, Financial Times and others as well as journals. Articles from the Straits Times and Business Times are covered from January 1995.

Guides for searching Factiva available at the Factiva website (HTML).

LexisNexis Academic (E-Resource)
Another database for searching and obtaining full-text newspaper articles from major world newspapers and journals. The issues covered for the Straits Times and Business Times are from May 1992.

Guides for searching LexisNexis Academic available at the LexisNexis Academic web Tutorial (HTML).
 

Press Clippings
A useful source for topical and current information not available in journal articles or books. Articles on Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei and ASEAN compiled from the Straits Times and Business Times are arranged by broad subject categories. They are located in the Singapore/Malaysia Collection, Central Library.

More on Press Clippings collection available at: http://libpweb.nus.edu.sg/lion/n/presclip.html.

Guide to broad Subject Headings for Press Clippings collection available at: http://libpweb.nus.edu.sg/lion/n/presclip_sub.html

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Research & Citation 

Research

A handbook to literary research

Literary research and the British romantic era: strategies and sources

Literary research guide: an annotated listing of reference sources in English literary studies

A research guide for undergraduate students: English and American literature

More sources on Research are available at: http://www.lib.nus.edu.sg/bib/index.html#general

Citation

The Columbia guide to online style

A manual for writers of term papers, theses and dissertations

MLA handbook for writers of research papers

MLA style manual and guide to scholarly publishing

More on MLA citation style: http://libpweb1.nus.edu.sg/lion/s/citemla.html

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Central Library
Last updated: 07-11-2008

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