Research Guides: Literature: Home

Approaches for Researching Works of Literature

Features of the work itself
How the work fits within the author’s body of work
How elements of the work conform (or not) to expectations of a genre or a form
Themes contained in the work
Context in which the work was written/published
How readers respond to the work

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Background Information

Use online encyclopedias and other reference books to get an overview of your topic and start your research.

Credo Reference
Credo Reference provides full-text access to 116 major reference books in all subject areas. Entries, though not full books, may be downloaded.
Oxford Reference Online - Premium Edition
Full text access to more than 140 specialized dictionaries and reference works published by Oxford University Press. Each book in the Oxford Reference collection has a separate policy for downloading, printing, and copyright restrictions.
Contemporary Authors
A full-text reference database for information on writers active in the last century.