LibGuides: English Studies Databases: Databases

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MLA International Bibliography This link opens in a new window
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Index of scholarly materials for the study of language, literature, linguistics, rhetoric and composition, folklore, and film. Provides citations to journal articles, books, book chapters, series, translations, scholarly editions, websites, and dissertations with links to full text in JSTOR, Project MUSE, and other resources. Coverage: early 20th century to present.
Literary Reference Center Plus This link opens in a new window
Discover information on thousands of authors and their works across literary disciplines and timeframes. This full-text database includes major respected reference works, books, literary journals, study guides, and more.
Literature Criticism Online This link opens in a new window
This resource provides online access to the full-text to all 10 of the Thomson Gale Literature Criticism Reference Sets, including Contemporary Literary Criticism, Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism, Shakespeare Criticism, etc. Provides access to criticism (excerpts or full-text) published from an author's own time to the present as well as biographical and bibliographical information.
Gale Literary Sources This link opens in a new window
Gale Literature brings together Gale's literary databases in one search interface. Currently allows for federated searching and access to Gale Literature Criticism, Gale Literature Resource Center, Dictionary of Literary Biography, Contemporary Authors and Something About the Author.

More Databases for English Studies

17th & 18th Century Burney Collection of UK Newspapers This link opens in a new window
Digitized collection of early English news media, including newspapers, pamphlets, and broadsides from the 17th and 18th centuries.
19th Century US Newspapers This link opens in a new window
Find primary source newspaper content from the 19th century, including full-text content and images from newspapers in urban and rural regions throughout the U.S.
The collection encompasses the entire 19th century with an emphasis on such topics as the American Civil War, African-American culture and history, and Western migration and Antebellum-era life.
Accessible Archives This link opens in a new window
Accessible Archives has moved to History Commons. Access to the old platform ended August 30, 2024.
Find primary source material from throughout U.S. history, including eyewitness accounts of historical events, descriptions of daily life, editorial observations, commerce as seen through advertisements, and genealogical records.

African-American Poetry
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Contains the full-text of nearly 3,000 poems written between 1760 and 1900.

African American Newspapers, Series 1, 1827-1998 This link opens in a new window
Explore the African American newspaper archives of the Wisconsin Historical Society, Kansas State Historical Society, and the Library of Congress.
Beginning with Freedom's Journal (NY), the first African American newspaper published in the United States, the titles in this resource include: The Colored Citizen (OH), Rights of All (NY), Wisconsin Afro-American, New York Age, Virginia Journal and Alexandria Advertiser, Richmond Planet, Cleveland Gazette, The Appeal (MN), and hundreds of others from every region of the U.S.
American Antiquarian Society Historical Periodicals Collection This link opens in a new window
Find historic periodical titles from the American Antiquarian Society dating from 1693 to 1877.
This Collection was released in five series. All five series are simultaneously searched on this site.
American Drama This link opens in a new window
Discover over 2,000 full-text plays from 1714 to present.
American Periodicals Series Online This link opens in a new window
Scanned pages of more than 1,100 historic American magazines, journals, and newspapers from 1740 through 1940. Articles can be searched by author, source, and words in the complete text. Updated quarterly.
American Poetry 1600-1900 This link opens in a new window
Discover the full text of over 40,000 poems by more than 200 American writers from the 17th century to the early 20th century.

Bible in English
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The full text of 21 editions of the Bible written in English. Can be searched by contents, keyword, and parallel text (by chapter).

Black Authors, 1556-1922: Imprints from the Library Company of Philadelphia This link opens in a new window
550 fully searchable digitized works by Black authors from the Americas, Europe, and Africa, compiled from the Library Company of Philadelphia collection. Includes personal narratives, autobiographies, histories, expedition reports, military reports, novels, essays, poems, and musical compositions. Coverage: 1556-1922.
British Library Newspapers, 19th Century II This link opens in a new window
Full-text digitized collection of 22 regional 19th century British newspapers representing Nottingham, Bradford, Leicester, Sheffield, York, and North Wales. In addition, two major London newspapers, the Standard and the Morning Post, are included.
Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers This link opens in a new window
This site allows you to search and view newspaper pages published between 1836 and 1922; some newspapers from Ohio are available. The site also includes directory information for publications.
Contemporary Authors This link opens in a new window
Biographical information on more than 149,000 modern novelists, poets, playwrights, nonfiction writers, journalists and scriptwriters. Sketches typically include personal information, contact information, career history, writings, biographical and critical sources, authors' comments, and informative essays about their lives and work.
English-Corpora.org This link opens in a new window
Search the Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA), the largest corpora of its kind available, with over 1 billions words from a variety of texts including popular magazines, newspapers, spoken language, academic journals, and fiction. Coverage: 1990-2019.
Users must create an account for this resource.

Dictionary of Literary Biography
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Provides information about the lives and careers of authors from all genres and eras. Also includes biographical and critical studies written by scholars, as well as suggestions for further readings and author bibliographies.
Dictionary of Old English Web Corpus
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Available to Kent, Salem and Stark Campuses only! The Dictionary of Old English (DOE) defines the vocabulary of the first six centuries (C.E. 600-1150) of the English language.
Discovering Literature: Romantics and Victorians
This site from the British Library provides essays, author pages, videos and other unique content on the literature of the Romantic and Victorian periods.
Early American Fiction
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Contains 440 works of 80 novelists and short-story writers, 1774-1850. Included are the full texts of the first editions of American novels and short stories written before 1850 by authors of significance during their lifetimes

Early American Newspapers, Series II, 1758-1900 This link opens in a new window
Access more than 200 significant 18th- and 19th-century American newspapers.
Based primarily on the newspaper collection of the American Antiquarian Society, Series II also includes titles from the holdings of the Library of Congress, the Wisconsin Historical Society and other organizations.
Early English Books Online This link opens in a new window
Search the digital facsimile page images of virtually every work printed in England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, and British North America and works in English printed elsewhere from 1473 to 1700.

Editions and Adaptations of Shakespeare
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Consists of selected full-text of Shakespeare's works, adaptations, and related writings. Items range from mid-16th century to mid-19th century.

Eighteenth Century Collections Online This link opens in a new window
Aims to include every significant English-language and foreign-language title printed in the United Kingdom, along with thousands of important works from the Americas, between 1701 and 1800. Consists of books, pamphlets, broadsides, ephemera. Also included are significant collections of women writers of the eighteenth century, collections on the French Revolution, and numerous eighteenth-century editions of the works of Shakespeare.
Eighteenth Century Fiction This link opens in a new window
Browse the full-texts of 96 works of British prose fiction published between 1700 and 1780.

English Poetry Database
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Contains the full text of over 175,000 poems by over 1,400 poets from British Commonwealth and ex-colonial countries, between the years 600 and 1900.
English Prose Drama
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Offers the full text of 1600 plays written in prose between the 16th-19th centuries. This source is based on plays listed in the New Cambridge Bibliography of English Literature.
English Short Title Catalogue
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Describes works printed in any language in England or its dependencies produced prior to 1801.
English Verse Drama
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Provides the full text of over 2200 plays by hundreds of different authors from the late 14th century through the end of the 19th century. This source is based on materials listed in the New Cambridge Bibliography of English Literature.

Film & Television Literature Index with Full Text This link opens in a new window
Find article citations from over 600 publications covering film & television theory, preservation & restoration, writing, production, cinematography, technical aspects, and reviews. Full text is available for select journals.
Gale Primary Sources This link opens in a new window
Gale Primary Sources brings together Gale's primary source databases in one search interface. Currently allows for federated searching and access to 12 primary source collections.

International Bibliography of Theatre & Dance
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The database provides a comprehensive multicultural and inter-disciplinary research tool available to theater students, educators and professionals. Developed from data going back to 1984, this comprises a fully indexed, cross-referenced and annotated databank of journal articles, books, book articles and dissertation abstracts on all aspects of theatre and performance.

Kanopy Streaming This link opens in a new window
View free films, videos, and documentaries with this by-request streaming video service for educational institutions. The Kanopy platform may not be supported on some devices, such as Chromebooks and mobile devices.
You must download the Kanopy App in order to stream videos on a mobile device.
MLA Directory of Periodicals This link opens in a new window
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Directory of 4400 periodicals in the areas of literature, language, linguistics, and folklore that are covered regularly in the MLA International Bibliography. Provides addresses, advertising rates, circulation stats, submission information, acceptance rates, and timelines for publication.
New York Times - Historical This link opens in a new window
Explore New York Times articles published from 1851 up to two years ago. Includes the complete paper with full-page and article images in PDF format.
Nineteenth-Century Collections Online This link opens in a new window
A multi-year global digitization and publishing program focusing on primary source collections of the nineteenth century, with archives releasing incrementally. Currently, this resource includes the following collections: British Politics and Society; European Literature 1790-1840 : the Corvey Collection; Asia and the West : Diplomacy and Cultural Exchange; and British Theatre, Music, and Literature : High and Popular Culture.
Oxford English Dictionary This link opens in a new window
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Search for both current and historical definitions of a word. Provides quotations and the ability to search for the occurrence of a word in any definition.
Oxford Reference Online This link opens in a new window
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Contains entries from over 100 major discipline-related dictionaries and other publications from Oxford University Press. Coverage includes the sciences, foreign languages, art and architecture, politics, business, literature, and more.
Play Index This link opens in a new window
Find full publication details needed to locate plays in their published manifestations. Searchable by title, author, subject, style, genre, cast type, and more.

Salem Press
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Online access to Salem Press' Critical Insights and Critical Surveys series, providing analytical essays on key literary authors and literary works written in the English language. Also provides access to Salem Press' Great Events From History Series as well as to Milestone Historical Documents.

Shakespeare's Globe on Screen (2008-2018) This link opens in a new window
Experience landmark Shakespeare productions recorded live on the Globe stage in London

Short Story Index
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Short Story Index provides indexing to over 100,000 short stories found within anthologies and collections. Search by author, title, subject, keyword, date, or literary technique. Also includes the full text for nearly 5,000 stories.
Something About the Author
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This database provides illustrated biographical profiles of children's authors and illustrators.This is the online version of the more than 200 volume print edition.

Swank Digital Campus This link opens in a new window
View a library more than 20,000 licensed streaming feature films through Kent State University's Swank Digital Campus portal. Instructors must request activation of a film before use. To search available films go to: www.swank.com/digitalcampus.
The Times Digital Archive, 1785-2019 This link opens in a new window
Access more than 200 years of The Times, one of the most highly regarded newspapers of 19th 20th Century, in its original published context.

Victorian Britain- The British Library
From the British Library, "discover historical sources and articles written by experts that reveal the everyday reality of living in Victorian Britain." Includes full text primary collections from the period.
Victorian Studies Bibliography
Victorian Bibliography lists noteworthy publications (including articles, books, and reviews) that have a bearing on the Victorian period. It annually indexes over 400 journals, representing scholarship in a range of disciplines. Prepared by the staff of Victorian Studies and a committee of the Victorian Division of the Modern Language Association of America
World Shakespeare Bibliography Online
The World Shakespeare Bibliography Online is a searchable electronic database consisting of the most comprehensive record of Shakespeare-related scholarship and theatrical productions published or produced worldwide.

Interdisciplinary Databases of Possible Interest

Academic Search Complete This link opens in a new window
Access the full text for more than 4,000 scholarly publications covering diverse academic areas of study.
Areas of study include social sciences, humanities, education, computer sciences, engineering, language and linguistics, arts & literature, medical sciences, and ethnic studies.
America: History and Life This link opens in a new window
Search an index of literature covering the history and culture of the United States and Canada from pre-history to present. Coverage dates back to 1910.

Bibliography of Native North Americans
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The multi-disciplinary database covers many areas of literature regarding Native North Americans in the United States and Canada: books, essays, journal articles, and government documents. Coverage is from the 16th century through the present.

Citation Indexes This link opens in a new window
Multidisciplinary "Web of Science" databases covering the journal literature in the areas of the arts and humanities, sciences, and social sciences.
Dissertations & Theses Global (ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global) This link opens in a new window
Search millions of citations to dissertations and theses from around the world. Includes downloadable full text for most dissertations added since 1997 and some retrospective full text coverage for older graduate works. Coverage: 1861 to present.
Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center (OhioLINK ETD Center) This link opens in a new window
Online theses and dissertations from Ohio graduate students. Includes links to full-text.
Electronic Journal Center (OhioLINK) This link opens in a new window
Search the full text of over 11,000 academic journals covering arts, humanities, math, medicine, science, engineering, computer science, and social sciences.
Gender Studies Database This link opens in a new window
Search the full spectrum of gender-engaged scholarship inside and outside academia. Source documents include professional journals, conference papers, books, and more. Coverage: 1972-present.
Combines Women's Studies International and Men's Studies databases with the coverage of sexual diversity issues.
Historical Abstracts This link opens in a new window
Find citations of academic historical journals covering the history of the world (excluding the United States and Canada) from 1450 to present.
JSTOR This link opens in a new window
Electronic archive of scholarly journals in the humanities, social sciences, and basic sciences from the earliest issues to within a few years of current publication.
The collections include: Arts & Sciences I-VIII, Business Collection I-III, Ecology & Botany, General Science, and Language and Literature.

LGBT Life with Full Text
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LGBT Life provides indexing and abstract coverage of the world's literature regarding Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender issues. Disciplines covered include civil liberties, culture, employment, family, history, politics, psychology, religion, sociology and more.
Women's Studies Database
The University of Maryland women's studies site provides links to conferences, bibliographies, film reviews, other web sites of interest to women's studies researchers.
Women's Studies International
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Women's Studies International covers the core disciplines in Women’s Studies to the latest scholarship in feminist research. Disciplines included are sociology, history, political science & economy, public policy, international relations, arts & humanities, business and education.
WorldCat
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Contains records to over 100 million items in most (if not all) subject areas. Materials may include books, computer data files and programs, films, journal and magazine titles, newspapers, manuscripts, musical scores, and more. Not included are individual articles, stories, or book chapters. Updated daily.

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