LibGuides: English Literature: Home

Library Updates due to COVID-19 Closures

All branches of the University of Texas Libraries, including the Perry-Castañeda Library, are closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. We are unable to provide access to the print collections.

However, library staff are working hard from home to continue our services. Gina Bastone, the English Librarian, is available for:

Research consults via Zoom
Questions over email
Library purchase requests for ebooks only. (We are not buying new print books at this time.)

For the most up-to-date information about library services, please check the Libraries Service Continuity guide.

Additionally, many publishers and database vendors have temporarily opened their online content to us. Please see this guide about temporary access for details.

Top Library Research Tools

Ready to dive into your research?
Below are links to the top reference tools, scholarly databases with journal articles, and other library resources. If you'd like to go deeper with your research, use the tabs along the side.

Oxford English Dictionary (OED)
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.
MLA International Bibliography
Updated ten times per year. Indexes critical materials on literature, criticism, drama, languages, linguistics, and folklore. Provides access to citations from over 4,400 journals, series, books, essay collections, working papers, proceedings, dissertations, and bibliographies. Produced by the Modern Language Association.
For help searching the MLA International Bibliography, please see the MLA's video tutorials.
JSTOR
Updated regularly. Offers a high-quality, interdisciplinary archive to support scholarship and teaching. Includes archives of over 1,000 leading academic journals across the humanities, social sciences, and sciences, as well as select monographs and other materials valuable for academic work. The entire corpus is full-text searchable, offers search term highlighting, includes high-quality images, and is interlinked by millions of citations and references.
Members of the public can read online up to three articles for free every two weeks from a large subset of JSTOR journals via the Register & Read program. This program allows remote access. Non-UT students, faculty and staff who need more articles can contact library staff for other access options.

For more information on ebooks see the Ebook Guide
Project MUSE Premium Collection
Journals: Updated as issues are published. Project MUSE is a leading provider of humanities and social science content for the scholarly community, with complete, full-text versions of scholarly journals from leading university presses and scholarly societies.
Ebooks: Selected ebook titles from university presses and scholarly societies. All content from the print edition of the book is included in the digital edition. There are no DRM restrictions, and titles are accessible on some mobile devices. For further information, please consult the FAQ or tutorials and user guides
.
For more information on ebooks see the Ebook Guide
Guide to Literary Theory & Criticism
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.

Full list of English Literature databases

Need more help? Contact Gina Bastone, the English Librarian!

UT Poetry Center

The UT Poetry Center is currently closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. If you need access to a print book in the Poetry Center, please contact Gina Bastone for help finding a possible online version. (Some materials will not be available online.)

Looking for inspiration? Visit the UT Poetry Center, located in the UFCU Room on the PCL main floor! Browse the UT Poetry Center items in the library catalog .

Please note that Poetry Center books are library use only. If you have questions about the collection's non-circulating status, please contact Gina Bastone, English Librarian.