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Research Guides

Encyclopedias, Dictionaries, and Companions

  • Cambridge collections online  
    Includes cross-searchable full text collections of the following series: Cambridge Companions in Literature and Classics; Cambridge Companions in Philosophy, Religion and Culture; and Cambridge Companions in Music.
  • Cayton, Mary Kupiec and Peter W. Williams, editors. Encyclopedia of American Cultural & Intellectual History. 3 vols. (New York : Charles Scribner’s Sons, c2001).
    Location :  Butler Reference, 301 Butler
    Call Number:  R973.92 En19
    ---
    Locations :  Barnard Reference & US History & Literature Reading Rm, 502 Butler (Non-Circ)
    Call Number:  E169.1 .E624 2001
  • Gale Virtual Reference Library
    Includes online full text of a wide range of encyclopedic works in history, the arts, business, law, medicine, religion, and social science. A number of the encyclopedias linked from this page are included in this database.
  • Groden, Michael Martin Kreiswirth, and Imre Szeman. The Johns Hopkins guide to literary theory & criticism [electronic resource].  2nd ed. (Baltimore, Md. : Johns Hopkins University Press, 2005).
    Also available in print:
    Location: Butler Reference Desk, 301 Butler
    Call Number: R803 J621
    ---
    Locations: Barnard Reference  &  Butler Stacks
    Call Number:  PN81 .J554 2005
  • Hart, James David ; with revisions and additions by Phillip W. Leininger. The Oxford companion to American literature. 6th ed. (New York : Oxford University Press, 1995).
    Location: Butler Reference Desk, 301 Butler
    Call Number: R803.1 Ox2146
  • Head, Dominic, ed. The Cambridge guide to literature in English. 3rd ed. (Cambridge, UK ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 2006).
    Location: Butler Reference, 301 Butler
    Call Number: R803.2 C1442
  • Kastan, David Scott, editor in chief. The Oxford encyclopedia of British literature. 5 vols.  (Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, 2006).
    Location: Butler Reference, 301 Butler
    Call Number: R820 Ox2
  • OED online (also known as: Oxford English Dictionary Online)
    The largest dictionary and most complete historical record of the English language.
  • Oxford Reference Online
    Contains the texts of more than 100 reference titles published by Oxford University Press.
  • Parini, Jay, editor-in-chief. The Oxford encyclopedia of American literature. 4 vols. : ill. (New York : Oxford University Press, 2004).
    Location: Butler Reference, 301 Butler
    Call Number:  R810.3 Ox2
    ---
    Locations:  Barnard Reference & US History & Literature Reading Rm, 502 Butler
    Call Number:  PS21 .E537 2004

Compilations of Literary Criticism

  • Literature criticism online 
    For authors from the classical world up through our own times, this resource gathers together a wide range of critical essays and
    excerpts from criticism. Critical writings are typically drawn from a wide chronological range--beginning with an author's contemporaries or near contemporaries.

Library Catalogues

  • CLIO: Columbia University Libraries Online Catalog
    CLIO is the online catalog for the Columbia, Barnard and Union Theological Seminary libraries. It includes Over 5 million records, covering over 95% of the Libraries' collections. CLIO covers library materials of all kinds: books, journals, newspapers, online resources, government documents, microforms, sound recordings, video recordings, archival collections. CLIO records for electronic versions of books and journals contain links to the online full text.
  • WorldCat
    Lists books and other materials from a large number of libraries in the United States and throughout the world.
  • The English Short Title Catalogue (ESTC)
    Covers monograph and serial publications:

    • Printed before 1801.
    • Printed in the British Isles, Colonial America, United States of America (1776-1800), Canada, or territories governed by Britain, in all languages.
    • Printed in any other part of the world, wholly or partly in English or other British vernaculars.
    • With false imprints claiming publication in London, in any language.

English & American
Literature Subject Guide