English language, English literature and creative writing subject resources

Journal & Database Collections

• Academic Search Premier Creative Writing is one of the subjects covered within the wide range it contains. It is a good starting point when you are new to searching for journal articles it can be used to find full text peer reviewed journal articles.
• Box of Broadcasts is an on demand TV and radio service for education. The academically-focused system enables you to record programmes from over 65 free-to-air channels, and search an extensive archive. Box of Broadcasts is intuitive and easy to use, so you may find you can start straight away
• British Periodicals Collection This database provides access to the searchable full text of hundreds of periodicals from the late seventeenth century to the early twentieth, comprising millions of high-resolution facsimile page images. Topics covered include literature, philosophy, history, science, the social sciences, music, art, drama, archaeology and architecture.
• Cambridge Core A collection of scholarly journals useful for locating full text journal articles for English language.
• Communication and Mass Media Complete Useful for researching English language and for finding journal articles on linguistics.
• Contemporary Authors contains biographical information on more than 149,000 modern novelists, poets, playwrights, nonfiction writers, journalists and scriptwriters.
• Critical Studies and Performance Practice is a part of Drama Online and contains 400 textbooks from Methuen Drama and Arden Shakespeare, as well as 60 actor training videos.
• Dickens Journal Online A complete online edition of Dickens’s weekly magazines, Household Words and All the Year Round. Free online resource.
• Dictionary of Literary Biography contains information on authors and their works in an easy to understand, engaging format. It aims to make literature and better understood and more accessible to students.
• Drama Online Core Collection contains over 1875 playtexts, published by Faber and Faber and the Bloomsbury imprints, Methuen Drama and The Arden Shakespeare.
• Film and Television Literature Index with Full Text Use as a source of information in the area of script writing. Find full text journal articles. Covers the entire spectrum of film and television theory, preservation and restoration, writing, production, cinematography, technical, aspects and reviews.
• Gale Literature allows you to search all the Gale literary databases in one search.
• Gale Literature Criticism contains an extensive compilation of literary criticism from scholar and popular sources. These include broadsheets, pamphlets, encyclopaedias, books and periodicals.
• Gale Literature Resource Center has literary criticism on 130,000 authors, biographies about 160,000 authors, as well as primary sources and multimedia works.
• JISC Historical Texts contains four collections of historical texts:

British Library 19th Century Collection contains over 65,000 19th Century texts from the collection of the British Library.

Early English Books Online Early English Books (1473-1700) printed in England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales and British North America. From the first book published in English through the age of Spenser and Shakespeare. Useful for the study of English literature, linguistics and history.

Eighteenth Century Collections Online Works published in the UK during the 18th century plus thousands from elsewhere. Useful for History and Literature research.

UK Medical Heritage Library has images and full text from over 66,000 19th Century European medical texts.

• JSTOR An extensive archive of journals, as it is an archive the most recently published issues (past 3-5 years) are not available. Use it to find journal articles. It is extremely relevant for the study of English and history. The collections include JSTOR Arts and Sciences I,II,III and VII. Specialist collections within this are, JSTOR Language and Literature and JSTOR Ireland.
• Literary Reference Center Plus Useful for information on literary authors from a wide variety of genres as it covers all writings from genres such as poetry, drama, fiction and non-fiction.
• Literature Compass Key literature criticism is featured in the journal articles that survey important research and current thinking in this area. Subdivided in to sections that cover Medieval, Renaissance, Shakespeare, 17^th Century, 18^th Century, Romanticism, Victorian, 20^th Century, contemporary and American literature.
• Literature Online Important information source for literature research. Find full text journal articles, other key criticism and reference material. A large collection of English and American poetry, drama and prose to read and refer to.
• LitFinder contains more than 130,000 full-text poems and 650,000 poetry citations, as well as short stories, speeches, and plays.
• MLA International Bibliography with Full Text is produced by the Modern Language Association and contains millions of citations, as well as the full text of articles from 1,000 journals about literatures and languages from around the world. The subjects covered include literary theory and criticism, dramatic arts (such as film, television and theatre) and linguistics.
• Nick Hern Books Modern Plays is a part of Drama Online and contains 600 plays from many of the major playwrights from the UK and Ireland.
• Periodicals Archive Online A collection of 20th Century periodical archives. Subject areas covered include language and literature Specific interest for Victorian poetry.
• SAGE Research Methods is a database which supports research at all levels by providing material to guide users through each step of the research process. From writing your research question and choosing a method, to analysing data, writing up and publishing the findings. Resources include a methods map, books, reference works, journal articles, podcasts and instructional videos from world-leading academics. With information on qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods, Sage Research Methods is the ideal tool to support you through your research in social sciences.
• Scribner Writer Series is a database of approximately 100 ebooks relating to literature.
• Something About the Author contains information about the lives and works of authors and illustrators of books for children and young adults.
• Twayne’s Author Series contains nearly 900 ebooks from the Twayne Literary Masters series on individual world, American and English authors.

Referencing the sources of information you use is an essential part of academic writing and your research, it’s important to get it right. Referencing is the acknowledgment of all the sources that have been cited in your assignment, whether you have quoted directly or paraphrased.

English Language use Edge Hill University’s Harvard referencing style.

• Access Edge Hill University’s Harvard referencing guide.

More information about referencing and plagiarism is available on the UniSkills referencing page.

English Literature and Creative Writing use the MHRA referencing style.

The full guide can be downloaded from: MHRA, Modern Humanities Research Association.

The English, History & Creative Writing department runs regular sessions on referencing.