Dictionaries | Indexes, Databases & Bibliographies | Biographical / Critical Sources
Additional Reference Materials | Catalogs
Interlibrary Loan | Web Resources| Citation Guides

DICTIONARIES

Oxford English Dictionary 20v. plus 3 volumes of Additions Series [RR PE1625.087 1989] Entries outline the history of a given word, from the date of its introduction to the present. They illustrate how meaning, pronunciation, and use change over time. A good portion of each entry consists of examples of use over the centuries and includes references to the actual publications.

OED Online
Contains the complete text of the 20-volume Second Edition and its 3-volume Additions Series. St. Olaf has a subscription to this resource.

A Guide to the Oxford English Dictionary [RR PE1617 .049 B47 1993]
A great source explaining the various nuances of the OED.

Dictionary of Literary-Rhetorical Conventions of the English Renaissance [RR PR531 .D6]

INDEXES, DATABASES & BIBLIOGRAPHIES

MLA International Bibliography
P rovides access to scholarly research in over 3000 journals and series. Also covers monographs, essays, working papers, proceedings and other formats. Subjects include literature, language, linguistics and folklore.

JSTOR
An index to and full text of select, academic journals. Among various disciplines covers language and literature, including PMLA and a range of core journals in the diverse fields of literary criticism that have emerged in the last thirty years .

Iter: Gateway to the Middle Ages and Renaissance
An index to books and journals in all areas of medieval and Renaissance studies (400-1700) since 1842.

Literature Criticism Online
Online versions of Classical and Medieval Literature Criticism, Contemporary Literary Criticism, Literature Criticism from 1400 to 1800, Nineteenth-Century Literature Criticism, Poetry Criticism, Shakespearean Criticism, Short Story Criticism, and Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism. Provides excerpts od critical evaluation culled from journals and edited books.

Academic Search Premier
Provides access to over 8040 multi-disciplinary publications, including literary journals. Covers 1975 to present.

Guide to British Poetry Explication 4v. [RR PR311 .M34 1991]

Milton's Sonnets: An Annotated Bibliography, 1900-1992 [RR PR3567 .J68 1994]

The Essential Shakespeare: An Annotated Bibliography of Major Modern Studies [RR PR2894 .C49 1993]

Shakespeare: An Annotated Bibliography [RR PR2894 .R65 1992]

The New Cambridge Bibliography of English Literature 5 v. [RR PR57 .N4 1969]

BIOGRAPHICAL / CRITICAL SOURCES

Biography and Genealogy Master Index
An index to biographical encyclopedias and dictionaries.

Dictionary of National Biography
The Oxford DNB contains 56,000 biographies of people who shaped the history of the British Isles and beyond, from the 4th century BC to the year 2004.

Dictionary of Literary Biography
Provides bio-critical essays on creative writers.

Dictionary of World Biography [RR CT104 .D54 1998]
Volume III: The Renaissance

British Authors Before 1800: Biographical Dictionary [RR PR105 .K9]

Major Tudor Authors: A Bio-bibliographical Critical Sourcebook [RR PR411 .M25 1997]

A Biographical Dictionary of Renaissance Poets and Dramatists, 1520-1650  [RR PR421 .S33 1983]

The Critical Temper: A Survey of Modern Criticism on English and American Literature from the Beginnings to the Twentieth Century 5v. [RR PR83 .C75]
Use Volume 1: From Old English to Shakespeare.

ADDITIONAL REFERENCE MATERIALS

Crowell's Handbook of Elizabethan & Stuart Literature   [RR PR19 .8]
Calls itself "the first alphabetical guide to the drama, poetry, and prose of the Renaissance in England, with biographies of their authors."

The Oxford Companion to English Literature  [RR PR 19 .D73 2000]

Encyclopedia of the Renaissance  6v . [RR CB361 .E52 1999]

The Oxford Dictionary of the Renaissance [RR CB361 .C27 2003]

A Companion to English Renaissance Literature and Culture [RR PR411 .C66 2000]

The Undergraduate's Companion to English Renaissance Writers and Their Web Sites [RR 421 .G35 2004]

Shakespeare: A Study and Research Guide [RR  PR2894 B43 1995]

All Things Shakespeare: An Encyclopedia of Shakespeare's World 2v. [RR PR2892 .O56 2002]

Shakespeare's Words: A Glossary and Language Companion [RR PR2892 .C78 2002]

Shakespeare A to Z: The Essential Reference to His Plays, His Poems, His Life and Times, and More [RR PR2892 .B69 1990]

CATALOGS

Bridge catalogs resources available at St. Olaf and Carleton libraries. Use Bridge to search for books (including subject-specific bibliographies and biographies) and periodicals, but not chapters within books or articles within periodicals.

Search Bridge by Title, Author, Keyword or Subject. Some relevant subject heading

You may request materials housed at Carleton directly from Bridge by clicking on the "Request" button.

WorldCat is a union catalog for libraries around the world, including most libraries in the United States. You may request materials from WorldCat through Interlibrary Loan, just remember to plan ahead!

INTERLIBRARY LOAN

Any item not owned by St. Olaf may be ordered through Interlibrary Loan (ILL) provided you allow enough time.

WEB RESOURCES

Remember to evaluate each site critically for authority, accuracy, objectivity, currency, and coverage.

A few good review sites that evaluate web content:

Librarians' Index to the Internet: "A searchable, annotated subject directory of more than 14,000 Internet resources selected and evaluated by librarians for their usefulness to users."

Infomine: Scholarly Internet Resource Collections: "A virtual library of Internet resources relevant to faculty, students, and research staff."

The Scout Report Archives: "A searchable and browseable database containing critical annotations of carefully selected Internet sites and mailing lists."

 

A few good sites to try:

16th Century Renaissance English Literature (1485-1603)
"An index of biographies, essays, images, full-text of works, and scholarly articles on the major English literary figures of the period, as well as links to other sites covering general aspects of the era. Represented authors include Henry VIII, Sir Thomas More, Edmund Spenser, Christopher Marlowe, William Shakespeare, John Foxe, and Edward De Vere. From Luminarium."

CERES: Cambridge English Renaissance Electronic Service
This resource is "Aimed at those working in the area of English Renaissance literature and its environs, it offers its members a Starter Guide to help them get more from the internet, and a regular email newsletter, CERES Harvest, detailing and reviewing new developments in electronic resources for research in the Renaissance, as well as relaying calls for papers and conference programmes."

Voice of the Shuttle - Renaissance and Seventeenth Century
A compilation of general resources in Renaissance, authors and works, cultural and historical contexts, and criticism.

The Norton Anthology of English Literature -- "This companion to the print resource of the same name features "annotated texts and contexts grouped by topic, over 1000 illustrations, ... hundreds of annotated links to related sites [and] The Norton Online Archive, a searchable electronic library of over 150 literary texts and downloadable audio files, annotated by the editors." Also includes quizzes and essay topic ideas. Searchable or browsable by time period from the Middle Ages through the 20th century.

Early Modern Literary Studies

MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers. Sixth Edition [RR LB2369 .G53 2003]

For on-line guides, see:
Citation Guide from Purdue University

Assembling a List of Works Cited in Your Paper from Duke University

For the revised MLA format, see an online guide from Olson Library at Northern Michigan University:

http://library.nmu.edu/guides/userguides/style_mla_scholar.htm

Or check MLA Style Manual and Guide to Scholarly Publishing at Reference Desk [ PN147 .G444 2008]