LibGuides: English Studies Databases: Databases

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MLA International Bibliography This link opens in a new window
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Provides over a million citations to scholarly publications in literature, modern languages, and linguistics. Updated monthly.
Literary Reference Center Plus This link opens in a new window
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Literary Reference Center Plus is a comprehensive database that provides a broad spectrum of information on thousands of authors and their works across literary disciplines and timeframes. LRC Plus combines information from major respected reference works, books, literary journals 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 Literary Sources brings together Gale's literary databases in one search interface. Currently allows for federated searching and access to Literature Criticism Online and Literature Resource Center. Additional Gale resources will be added as they become available.
Literature Resource Center This link opens in a new window
Literature Resource Center provides access to: full-text scholarly articles, book reviews, biographical essays, full text of thousands of poems and short stories published in contemporary journals and magazines, overview essays on thousands of books and literary topics, links to editorially selected websites on authors and their works, pictures, audio interviews and more.

More Databases for English Studies

17th & 18th Century Burney Collection of UK Newspapers This link opens in a new window
A digitized collection of early English news media, including newspapers, pamphlets, broadsides from the 17th and 18th centuries. The collection, that helps chart the development of the concept of 'news' and 'newspapers' and the "free press", totals almost 1 million pages and contains approximately 1,270 titles.
19th Century US Newspapers This link opens in a new window
As compelling as it is comprehensive, 19th Century U.S. Newspapers provides access to primary source newspaper content from the 19th century, featuring full-text content and images from numerous newspapers from a range of 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, Western migration and Antebellum-era life, among other subjects.

This full-text searchable, facsimile-image database makes experiencing historical events, daily life and 19th-century American culture as easy as clicking a mouse. 19th Century U.S. Newspapers provides both professional and general researchers with easy access to seemingly endless information and primary resources — the vast majority of which have never before been accessible online.
Accessible Archives This link opens in a new window
Find primary source material from throughout U.S. history. Information archived is from leading historical periodicals and books, and includes eyewitness accounts of historical events, vivid 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
The AAS Historical Periodicals Collection contains more than 6,500 historical periodical titles 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
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American dramatic literature from 1714 to the present. The database contains more than 2,000 full-text plays written by over 300 American dramatists.
American Periodicals Series Online This link opens in a new window
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American Periodicals Series Online contains page images of more than 1,100 historic American magazines, journals, and newspapers. These resources illuminate the development of American culture, politics, and society across some 150 years. 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
Contains the full text of over 40,000 poems by more than 200 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
Created from the renowned holdings of the Library Company of Philadelphia, Black Authors, 1556-1922, is the most complete and compelling collection of its kind. It offers more than 550 fully catalogued and searchable works by black authors from the Americas, Europe and Africa, expertly compiled by the curators of Afro-Americana Imprints collection, the largest existing collection of its kind. Found within are wide-ranging genres, including personal narratives, autobiographies, histories, expedition reports, military reports, novels, essays, poems and musical compositions.
British Library Newspapers, 19th Century II This link opens in a new window
The British Library Newspapers collection contains full runs of 48 newspapers specially selected by the British Library to best represent nineteenth century Britain. This new collection includes national and regional newspapers, as well as those from both established country or university towns and the new industrial powerhouses of the manufacturing Midlands, as well as Scotland, Ireland and Wales. Special attention was paid to include newspapers that helped lead particular political or social movements such as Reform, Chartism, and Home Rule. The penny papers aimed at the working and clerical classes are also present in the collection.
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, including a link to l...
Contemporary Authors This link opens in a new window
Covers biographical information on more than 130,000 current writers in a wide range of media, including writers of fiction, general nonfiction, poetry, and drama; prominent print and broadcast journalists, editors, photojournalists, syndicated cartoonists, screenwriters, television scriptwriters, and other media people; authors who write in languages other than English, provided their works have been published in the United States or translated into English; and literary greats of the early twentieth century.
English-Corpora.org This link opens in a new window
The Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA) is the largest freely-available corpus of English. It was created by Mark Davies of Brigham Young University in 2008. Sources include popular magazines, newspapers, spoken language, academic journals and fiction.
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
Provides access to more than 200 significant 18th and 19th-century American newspapers. Focuses on the period between 1820 and 1860, when the number of American newspapers rose dramatically. 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
Early English Books Online (EEBO) contains 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
This database contains of every significant English-language and foreign-language title printed in the United Kingdom during the 18th century, along with thousands of important works from the Americas. Scope includes The American Revolution, The French Revolution and The Industrial Revolution. Features full-text search capabilities. Resource types include books and directories, Bibles, sheet music, sermons, pamphlets and more.
Eighteenth Century Fiction This link opens in a new window
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Offers the complete text 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
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Covers the literature about television and film writing. It provides cover-to-cover indexing and abstracts for more than 300 publications, and selected coverage of 300 more. Subject coverage includes film & television theory, preservation & restoration, writing, production, cinematography, technical aspects, and reviews
Gale Literary Database (Biographical Material) This link opens in a new window
Full-text access to "Dictionary of Literary Biography," "Contemporary Literary Criticism" and "Contemporary Authors" reference sets. A bio-bibliographical guide covering writers from all eras, nationalities and genres.
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 Eighteenth Century Collections Online and Nineteenth Century Collections Online.

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
A 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 the resources.
MLA Directory of Periodicals This link opens in a new window
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MLA Directory of Periodicals lists over 4400 periodicals in the areas of literature, language, linguistics, and folklore that are covered regularly in the MLA International Bibliography. The directory provides addresses, advertising rates, and information about submissions for publication.
New York Times - Historical This link opens in a new window
Search for 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. NOTE: if you are looking for current New York Times content, please consult LexisNexis Academic.
Nineteenth-Century Collections Online This link opens in a new window
Nineteenth Century Collections Online is 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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Can be searched for both current and historical definitions of a word, as well as provide quotations and the ability to search for the occurrence of a word in any definition. Updated periodically.
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
An index of plays in English searchable by title; author; subject; style; genre; cast type; and more. Play Index provides the full publication details needed to locate the play in its published manifestations. All Play master records contain a link to the results of an Internet metasearch of specially selected Web sites to link to full text, criticism, and other useful information.

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
Kent State University's Swank Digital Campus portal provides access to the collection of licensed streaming feature films available for viewing.

Beyond our licensed collection, Swank Digital Campus contains over 20,000 feature films available as streaming video. Instructors must request activation of a film before use. To search available films go to: www.swank.com/digitalcampus.
The Times Digital Archive, 1785-2012 This link opens in a new window
The Times Digital Archive is an online, full-text facsimile of more than 200 years of The Times, one of the most highly regarded resources for the 19th – 20th Century history detailing every complete page of every issue from 1785. This historical newspaper archive allows researchers an unparalleled opportunity to search and view the best-known and most cited newspaper in the world online 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
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Provides a complete bibliographic reference to the history of the United States and Canada from prehistory to the present.

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
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Three multidisciplinary "Web of Science" databases covering the journal literature in the areas of the arts and humanities, sciences, and social sciences. Updated weekly.
Dissertations & Theses Global (ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global) This link opens in a new window
Includes millions of searchable citations to dissertation and theses from around the world from 1861 to the present day together with full text dissertations that are available for download in PDF format. The database offers full text for most of the dissertations added since 1997 and some retrospective full text coverage for older graduate works.
Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center (OhioLINK ETD Center) This link opens in a new window
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Online theses and dissertations from Ohio graduate students. Includes links to full-text.
Electronic Journal Center (OhioLINK) This link opens in a new window
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Full-text coverage of selected journals in the areas of arts, humanities, math, medicine, science, engineering, computer science, and social sciences. This link gives the current status of access to EJC titles. For some, links are provided through publishers' web sites.
Gender Studies Database This link opens in a new window
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Gender Studies Database combines Women’s Studies International and Men’s Studies databases with the coverage of sexual diversity issues. GSD covers the full spectrum of gender-engaged scholarship inside and outside academia. Source documents include professional journals, conference papers, books, book chapters, government reports, discussion and working papers, theses & dissertations and other sources
Historical Abstracts This link opens in a new window
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Contains references about the history of the world from 1450 to the present (excluding the United States and Canada, which are covered in America: History and Life).
JSTOR This link opens in a new window
JSTOR is an electronic archive of complete journal backruns, current to within 2 to 5 years. The collections include: Arts & Sciences I-VIII, Business Collection I-III, Ecology & Botany, General Science, and Language and Literature. For Kent State University, students and faculty now have access to 381 JSTOR journals representing over 2 million articles.

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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