Databases

• Academic Search Complete (approximately 1880s to date). Provides abstracts of articles (summaries), and full-text articles from more than 10,000 books, scholarly journals, magazines, newspapers, and reference works on a wide variety of topics.
• American Periodicals Series Online (1741 to 1900). Provides digitized images of more than 1,000 American magazines, journals, and newspapers.
• Arts & Humanities Search (1980 to date). Indexes more than 1,300 of the world's leading arts and humanities journals.
• Biography and Genealogy Master Index (coverage varies by publication). An index to millions of biographical sketches in hundreds of reference books and other sources.
• Communication and Mass Media Complete (coverage varies; mostly 1930s to date). Provides abstracts of articles (summaries) of more than 600 journals in areas related to communication and mass media. The database also includes the full text of some 325 journals.
• English Poetry, 600-1900. Includes English language poems by British authors from the Anglo-Saxon era to 1900.
• English Verse Drama. Covers the late 13th century through the Elizabethan and Jacobean period to the end of the 19th century. Contains more than 2,200 works.
• FirstSearch databases. Provides access to dozens of indexes and databases in a variety of disciplines.
• Humanities Abstracts (1983 to date). Indexes a broad range of some 500 magazines and journal publications.
• Humanities & Social Sciences Index Retrospective: 1907-1984. Indexes nearly 1,200 periodicals in the social sciences and humanities.
• JSTOR (archived publications from the 1800s to the last 1-5 years).  A full-text collection of scholarly journals in a wide variety of disciplines in the humanities, social sciences, and sciences.  UMW has the Arts and Sciences Collections I, II, and III, as well as the Ecology, Botany, and Business Collections. 
• Literature Resources from Gale (coverage varies by publication). Provides access to critical and biographical information on living and deceased authors from around the world.
• MLA International Bibliography (1963 to date). A comprehensive, international index to articles and books on language, literature, and the dramatic arts.
• Project Muse (coverage varies; mostly 1995 to date). Provides online access to more than 400 scholarly journals in the humanities, arts, and social sciences.

Databases in Related Disciplines

• Ethnic NewsWatch (1960 to date). Supplies full-text articles from newspapers, magazines, and journals of the ethnic, minority, and native press.
• GenderWatch (1970 to date). A full-text collection of journals, magazines, special reports, conference proceedings, and other works devoted to women's and gender issues.
• HarpWeek: The Civil War Era and Reconstruction (1857-1877). Provides full-text access to 21 years of Harper's Weekly, a leading 19th-century illustrated newspaper.
• Humanities International Complete (coverage varies; approximately 1985 to date). Provides the full text of hundreds of magazines, journals, books, and other published sources from around the world.
• LexisNexis Academic (coverage varies; mostly 1990s to date). Contains full-text articles from newspapers, magazines, legal and business sources, reference books, and other works. See the TipSheet on using this database.
• MasterFile Premier (coverage varies by publication). Furnishes full-text coverage of thousands of reference books, biographies, and primary source documents. Also contains an image collection.
• OmniFile Full Text, Mega Edition (1982 to date). A multidisciplinary database that provides the full text from a variety of the company's full-text databases, including Education, General Science, Humanities, Readers' Guide, Social Sciences, and Business. When available, the full text is included from these databases: Applied Science & Technology, Art, Biological & Agricultural Index, Index to Legal Periodicals & Books, and Library Literature & Information Science. Coverage dates: Indexing, 1982+; Abstracting, 1984+; select full text, 1994+ (start dates for full-text coverage vary from journal to journal within a database).
• Periodicals Index Online (formerly PCI) (1665 to 1995). Provides author, title, and keyword access to the table-of-contents pages of more than 4,000 worldwide periodicals.
• ProQuest Historical Newspapers (coverage varies). Provides full-text and full-image articles for the New York Times (1851 to within the last several years) and the Washington Post (1877 to 1991). Users can search the newspapers separately or together.

For a complete listing of databases provided by UMW Libraries, please see Databases A-Z.

Also see our Guide to Finding Literary Criticism.

selected reference books in simpson library

• General Sources
• Literature by Subject and Genre
• Literature by Region and Nationality
• Writers
• Literary Periods and Movements
• Poetry
• Children's and Young Adult Literature
• English Language and Grammar

general Sources

• Bartlett's Familiar Quotations REFB PN 6081 .B27 2002b
• Benet's Readers Encyclopedia REFB PN 41 .B4 1996
• The Cambridge Guide to Literature in English REFB PR 85 .C29
• Cyclopedia of Literary Characters REFB PN 44 .M3 1998
• Cyclopedia of World Authors REFB PN 451 .M36 2003
• A Dictionary of Literary and Thematic Terms REFB PN 44.5 .Q56
• A Dictionary of Literary Symbols REFB PN 56 .S9 F47 1999
• Encyclopedia of World Literature in the 20th Century REFB PN 771 .E5 1999
• A Glossary of Literary Terms REFB PN 44.5 .A2 2005
• A Handbook to Literature REFB PN 41 .H355 2003
• Homophones and Homographs REFB PE 2833 .H63 2006
• Literary Research Guide REFB PR 83 .H34 2002
• Merriam Webster's Encyclopedia of Literature REFB PN 41 .M42
• A Multicultural Dictionary of Literary Terms REFB PN 41 .C28 1999
• The New York Public Library Literature Companion REFB PN 41 .N49 2001
• Reference Guide to World Literature REFB PN 524 .R44 2003

Literature by Subject and Genre

• Anatomy of Wonder: A Critical Guide to Science Fiction REFB PN 3433.8 .A5x 2004
• Beacham's Encyclopedia of Popular Fiction REFB PN 56 .55 B42
• Critical Survey of Drama REFB PN 1625 .C68 2003
• Encyclopedia of Feminist Literature REFB PN 471 .S58 2006
• Encyclopedia of Gothic Literature REFB PN 3435 .S58 2005
• Encyclopedia of Literary Epics REFB PN 56 .E65 J33 1996b
• Encyclopedia of the Essay REFB PN 6141 .E53 1997
• Encyclopedia of the Novel REFB PN 3451 .E487 1998
• Encyclopedia of 20th-Century American Humor REFB PS 438 .N55
• Feminism in Literature REFB PN 471 .F43 2005
• Gay & Lesbian Literary Heritage REFB PN 56 .H57 G365 2002
• Gothic Literature REFB PR 408 .G68 G675 2006
• Historical Dictionary of Fantasy Literature REFB PN 3435 .S82
• A Reader's Companion to the Short Story in English REFB PS 374 .S5 R43 2001
• Reference Guide to Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror REFB PN 3433.5 .B87 2002
• Supernatural Literature of the World REFB PN 56 .S8 S86 2005
• The World Encyclopedia of Comics REFB PN 6710 .W6 1999

Literature by Region and Nationality

• The Companion to African Literatures REFB PR 9340 .C65 2000
• Encyclopedia of African Literature REFB PL 8010 .E63 2003
• Encyclopedia of Caribbean Literature REFB PN 849 .C3 E53 2006
• Encyclopedia of Latin American Literature REFB PQ 7081 .A1 E56
• Encyclopedia of Post-Colonial Literatures in English REFB PR 9080 .A52 E53 2005
• The Feminist Encyclopedia of Spanish Literature REFB PQ 6055 .F46 2002
• The Greenwood Encyclopedia of African American Literature REFB PS 153 .N5 G73 2005
• The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Multiethnic American Literature REFB PS 153 .M56 G74 2005
• Hispanic Literature of the United States REFB PS 153 .H56 K36
• Literary Cultures of Latin America REFB PQ 7081 .A1 L525 2004
• Magill's Survey of American Literature REFB PS 21 .M34 2007
• Middle Eastern Literatures and Their Times REFB PJ 307 .M67 2004
• Native American Literatures REFB PS 153 .I52 W47 1999
• The Oxford Companion to English Literature REFB PR 19 .O94
• The Oxford Companion to Irish Literature REFB PR 8706 .O88
• The Oxford Encyclopedia of American Literature REFB PS 21 .E537 2004
• The Oxford Encyclopedia of British Literature REFB PR 19 .O95 2006
• South Asian Literature in English REFB PR 9570 .S642 S67 2004
• Writing African American Women: An Encyclopedia of Literature by and About Women of Color REFB PS 153 .N5 W756 2006

Writers

• African American Writers REFB PS 153 .N5 A344 2001
• African Writers REFB PL 8010 .A453 1996
• American Ethnic Writers REFB PS 153 .M56 A414 2000
• American Women Writers REFB PS 147 .A42 2000
• Gothic Writers: A Critical and Bibliographical Guide REFB PN 3435 .G68 2002
• Jewish American Women Writers: A Bio-Bibliographical and Critical Sourcebook REFB PS 153 .J4 J48 1994
• Modern Black Writers REFB PN 841 .M58 2000
• Multicultural Writers from Antiquity to 1945 REFB PN 452 .M85
• Multicultural Writers since 1945 REFB PN 452 .M88 2004
• Notable Latino Writers REFB PS 153 .H56 N68 2006
• St. James Guide to Fantasy Writers REFB PN 3435 .S715 1996
• St. James Guide to Horror, Ghost & Gothic Writers REFB PN 3488 .H6 S246 1998
• St. James Guide to Science Fiction Writers REFB PS 374 .S35 S68

Literary Periods and Movements

• The Beat Generation REFB PS 228 .B6 Z68 2003
• Dictionary of Literary Influences: The Twentieth Century, 1914-1920 REFB PM 451 .B57 2004
• Encyclopedia of Literary Modernism REFB PN 56 .M54 E53 2003
• Encyclopedia of Medieval Literature REFB PN 669 .R88 2006
• Encyclopedia of the Chicago Literary Renaissance REFB PS 285 .C47 P56 2004
• Encyclopedia of the Harlem Literary Renaissance REFB PS 153 .N5 B675 2006
• Encyclopedia of Transcendentalism REFB PS 217 .T7 E53 1996
• Encyclopedia of Utopian Literature REFB PN 56 .U8 S66 1995
• Holocaust Literature: An Encyclopedia of Writers and Their Work REFB PN 56 .H55 H66 2003
• Twentieth-Century Literary Movements Dictionary REFB PN 597 .T94 2000

Poetry

• The Columbia Granger's Index to Poetry REFB PN 1022 .H39
• Dictionary of Poetic Terms REFB PN 1042 .M93 2003
• Encyclopedia of American Poetry: The Twentieth Century REFB PS 323.5 .E53 2001
• The Greenwood Encyclopedia of American Poets and Poetry REFB PS 303 .G74 2006
• The New Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics REFB PN 1021 .N39 1993
• The Oxford Companion to Twentieth-Century Poetry in English REFB PR 601 .O9 1994
• The Poetry Dictionary REFB PN 1021 .D78 2006
• Poetry Themes REFB PN 1022 .M3
• World Poets REFB PN 1021 .W67 2000

Children's and Young Adult Literature

• Authors of Books for Young People REFB PN 452 .W35 1990
• Best Books for Children REFB PN 1009 .A1 B471 2006
• Characters in Children's Literature REFB PN 1009 .A1 J78 1997
• Characters in Young Adult Literature REFB PN 1009 .A1 G47
• The Children's and Young Adult Literature Handbook: A Research and Reference Guide REFB PN 1009 .A1 G55 2005
• Children's Literature Review REFB PN 1009 .A1 C5139
• The Continuum Encyclopedia of Young Adult Literature REFB PN 1008.5 .C67 2005
• The Essential Guide to Children's Books and Their Creators REFB PD 490 .E85 2002
• The Oxford Encyclopedia of Children's Literature REFB PN 1008.5 .O94 2006

english language and grammar

• American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language REFB PE 1628 .A623 2000
• Dictionary of American Regional English REFB PE 2843 .D52
• The Facts on File Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins REFB PE 1689 .H47 2004
• Hodge's Harbrace Handbook REFB PE 1112 .H6 2004
• The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English REFB PE 3721 .P3 2006
• The Oxford English Dictionary REFB PE 1625 .O87 1989
• Random House Webster's College Thesaurus REFB PE 1591 .R314 1998
• Webster's Dictionary of English Usage REFB PE 1460 .W425 1989
• Words to Rhyme With REFB PE 1519 .E87 2001

Websites

• Virtual Libraries
• Dictionaries, Encyclopedias, and Other Reference Works
• Electronic Text Collections
• Poetry
• Children's and Young Adult Literature

Virtual libraries

Virtual libraries contain annotated collections of high-quality Internet resources that librarians or other information specialists have carefully selected. Users can usually browse by subject or search.

• Librarians' Internet Index. See especially the Literature & Books category under Arts and Humanities.
• The Internet Public Library. See especially the Literature category under Arts & Humanities. The many sections of "Literature" include:
  • Authors
  • Literature by Time Period
  • Writing

Dictionaries, encyclopedias, and Other Reference Works

• A Glossary of Literary Terms.
• Internet Public Library: Pathfinders: Quotations. A guide prepared by librarians at the Internet Public Library.
• Librarians' Internet Index: Arts and Humanities: Literature & Books: Quotations. An annotated listing of websites compiled by librarians at the Librarians' Internet Index.
• Oxford English Dictionary. Provides definitions and word origins, as well as traces word usage.
• Reference--Bartleby.com. Contains online encyclopedias, thesauri, dictionaries, quotation books, anthologies, literary histories, and reference works.

Electronic Text Collections

• Douglass: Archives of American Public Address. A full-text collection of great American oratory and related documents.
• Electronic Text Center. An online archive of prose and poetry.
• Google Book Search. Provides full text or parts of books.
• The Internet Public Library: Arts & Humanities: Literature: Online Texts. An annotated listing of significant collections of electronic texts.
• Librarians' Internet Index: Arts and Humanities: Literature & Books: Electronic Books. An annotated listing of significant collections of electronic texts.
• Librarians Internet Index: Arts and Humanities: Literature & Books: Full-Text Works. An annotated listing of significant collections of electronic texts.
• The Online Books Page. Contains more than 25,000 digital texts of English-language books.

Poetry

• The Academy of American Poets. An organization founded in 1934 to foster the appreciation of American poetry.
• American Verse Project. An electronic archive of American poetry published before 1920.
• English Poetry, 600-1900. Covers Anglo-Saxon times to the end of the nineteenth century.
• Glossary of Poetic Terms. Provides definitions, phonetic pronunciations, usage notes, literary quotations, etc.
• Internet Public Library: Pathfinders: Poetry. A guide prepared by librarians at the Internet Public Library.
• Librarians' Internet Index: Arts and Humanities: Literature & Books: Poetry. An annotated listing of more than 200 high-quality websites.
• Poets' Corner. An online collection of poetry with about 7,000 works by some 800 authors.
• Representative Poetry Online. Includes more than 3,000 poems by some 500 poets from the Old English period to today.

Children's and Young Adult Literature

• Children's Literature Comprehensive Database. An "extensive array of information about children's books, video and audio recordings, film strips, and other children-focused media."
• Database of Award-Winning Children's Literature. Enables users to compile tailored reading lists of high-quality books for children and young adults.
• Librarians' Internet Index: Arts and Humanities: Literature & Books: Children's Literature. An annotated listing of some 250 high-quality websites on children's and young adult literature.

See Also our Guide to Finding Literary Criticism.