LibGuides: E 314: Background Information

Places to start

Background Information can save you time by giving you an overview of your topic. Learn about concepts, vocabulary, and events related to your texts. Background information can help you brainstorm keywords that will bring you better search results in subject-specific databases. You can also find scholarly alternatives to Wikipedia articles in these resources.

Here are some good places to start:

Literary Reference Center
Includes plot summaries, literary criticism, author biographies, book reviews, poems, short stories, classic texts, author interviews, and more.
Provides users with a broad spectrum of information on thousands of authors and their works across literary disciplines and timeframes. Includes plot summaries, literary criticism, author biographies, book reviews, poems, short stories, classic texts, author interviews, and more.
Guide to Literary Theory & Criticism
Excellent scholarly synopses of key literary theories, criticism, theorists/critics, and philosophers, from Plato and Aristotle to the present. Published by Johns Hopkins Press.
Updated irregularly. Includes 241 alphabetically arranged entries on individual critics and theorists, critical and theoretical schools and movements, and the critical and theoretical innovations of specific countries and historical periods. It also treats figures who did not explicitly deal with, but who still deeply affected, literature, literary theory, or literary criticism, as well as figures and kinds of inquiry from other fields that have been shaped by or have themselves shaped literary theory and criticism. Each entry includes a selective primary and secondary bibliography, and there are extensive cross references both within and at the conclusion of each entry. Chronological range extends from Plato and Aristotle to the present, with wide geographical and cultural coverage.
African American Studies Center
Search for African American authors, events, or themes. Includes biographies, overview articles, and bibliographies.
Updated regularly. A comprehensive collection of scholarship focused on the lives and events which have shaped African American and African history and culture, coupled with sophisticated technology permitting precise search and browse capabilities. Features over 7,500 articles from Oxford's authoritative reference works, approximately 100 primary sources with specially written commentaries, over 1,000 images, over 100 maps, over 200 charts and tables, timelines to guide researchers through the history of African Americans and over 6,000 biographies.
Some of the titles included in this access are:
- African American Artists before the Twentieth Century
- African American National Biography
- Africana
- Black Women in America, Second Edition
- Concise Oxford Companion to African American Literature
- Encyclopedia of African American History, 1619-1895
- Encyclopedia of African American History, 1896 to the Present

Other options:

Find more online encyclopedias purchased by the UT Libraries.
Catalog search for your topic and encyclopedia, biography, or bibliography. Ex: "jane austen" AND (encyclopedia OR biography OR dictionary).

Ask a Librarian

Chat With Us

EID login required

Oxford English Dictionary

Oxford English Dictionary (OED)
The Oxford English dictionary is the definitive record of the English language. It provides in-depth etymologies and usage of words over time. It is the premier dictionary for English literature students.
Updated quarterly. Covers words from across the English-speaking world and offers etymological analysis, listings of variant spellings, and phonetic pronunciation. Corresponds to the print Oxford English Dictionary published in 1989 and the three Additions volumes published 1993-1997.

Glossaries of Literary Terms

Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics
4th edition (2012). Unlimited users.
Provides the most comprehensive and authoritative reference for students, scholars, and poets on all aspects of its subject including history, movements, genres, prosody, rhetorical devices, and critical terms. This edition reflects recent changes in literary and cultural studies, providing up-to-date coverage and giving greater attention to the international aspects of poetry.

The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms
Unlimited users

Cambridge Companion Series

Cambridge Companion to Literature Series
Cambridge University Press's long-standing series, great for overviews and discovering top scholars in sub-fields.

NOTE: Some titles are in print; others as ebooks.