LibGuides: English: Getting Started

Reference Sources

Reference sources provide foundational information on topics like important people, historical events, cultural theories, or religious doctrines. Use these sources to give yourself background information, develop the topic of a paper, make a list of important names or events related to your topic, understand the timeline of historical events, or discover the definition of unfamiliar terms.

Oxford English Dictionary
Call Number: [Ref] PE1625 .O87 1989 and ebook
THE authoritative dictionary for the English language. Each entry contains etymology, definitions, and historical usage.

Salem Literature This link opens in a new window
Salem Literature includes author biographies, historical context, literary criticism, and bibliographies. Also includes surveys of major movements and literary genres. To get the best results, search for an author's name.
Gale Literature Resource Center This link opens in a new window
Literature Resource Center offers literary criticism and author biographies for English literature.
Literary Reference Center This link opens in a new window
Includes thousands of essays of literary criticism, author biographies, book reviews, classic and contemporary poems, classic and contemporary short stories, and author interviews. Search for an author's name for the best results.
Oxford Reference Online This link opens in a new window
Contains the texts of more than 250 reference titles published by Oxford University Press from all subject areas.