Guides: English: Encyclopedias & More

What Are Reference Sources?

Reference sources include encyclopedias, dictionaries, atlases, directories, and other succinct background or factual materials to aid in research. Use reference sources to:

Find a succinct overview of a topic.
Help you identify a topic to explore in depth.
Access quick, reliable facts.
Find bibliographies that will lead you to detailed studies.

Dictionaries

Oxford English Dictionary This link opens in a new window
The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) is widely regarded as the accepted authority on the English language. It is an unsurpassed guide to the meaning, history, and pronunciation of 600,000 words— past and present—from across the English-speaking world.

DMLBS through Logeion
Logeion (literally, a place for words; in particular, a speaker's platform, or an archive) was developed to as a robust Greek and Latin dictionary. The collection includes references from The Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, which has been based wholly on original research and it documents the vocabulary of Latin in medieval Britain from the sixth to the sixteenth centuries.

Biographical Information

Literature Resource Center This link opens in a new window
Author biographies, interviews, and background information; overviews of works, topics, and literary movements; and full-text articles from scholarly journals and literary magazines.
Gale In Context: Biography This link opens in a new window
600,000+ biographies covering more than 525,000 individuals. Includes 170+ Gale reference titles, periodical information and multimedia content.
Orlando: Women's Writing in the British Isles from the Beginnings to the Present This link opens in a new window
Orlando: Women's Writing in the British Isles from the Beginnings to the Present from Cambridge University Pressisan electronic database designed to assist in the study women's writing in Britain. Provides entries on authors' lives and writing careers, contextual material, timelines, tags, and bibliographies.

Handbooks, Encyclopedias, etc.

Oxford English Dictionary This link opens in a new window
The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) is widely regarded as the accepted authority on the English language. It is an unsurpassed guide to the meaning, history, and pronunciation of 600,000 words— past and present—from across the English-speaking world.

Oxford Handbooks Online
Oxford Handbooks Online (OHO) includes in-depth articles and ebooks. Middlebury has access to the following handbook collections: Philosophy, Religion, Economics and Finance, Music, Literature, History, and Political Science.
Oxford Reference Online
Includes several subject-specific encyclopedias in literature. including An A-Z Guide to Shakespeare, A Dictionary of Critical Theory, The Oxford Companion to American Literature, The Oxford Companion to Modern Poetry, The Oxford Encyclopedia of Children's Literature, and many more. Make sure to limit your search to "unlocked" items (look for green, opened lock icon).

World Shakespeare Bibliography Online This link opens in a new window
Annotated entries for all important books, articles, book reviews, dissertations, theatrical productions, reviews of productions, AV materials, electronic media, and other materials related to Shakespeare published between 1961 - present. International coverage (118+ languages).

Critical Dictionaries

A Glossary of Literary Terms by M. H. Abrams
Call Number: PN44.5 .A2 1999
Publication Date: 1998
First published in 1957, A Glossary of Literary Terms contains succinct essays on the terms used in discussing literature, literary history, and literary criticism. This text is an indispensable reference for students.
The Bedford Glossary of Critical and Literary Terms by Ross C. Murfin; Supryia M. Ray
Call Number: PN41 .M874 1997
ISBN: 0312115601
Publication Date: 1997-12-01
A Dictionary of Critical Theory by Ian Buchanan
Publication Date: 2010
Containing over 750 in-depth entries, this is the most wide-ranging and up-to-date dictionary of critical theory available. It covers the whole range of critical theory, including the Frankfurt school, cultural materialism, cultural studies, gender studies, film studies, literary theory, hermeneutics, historical materialism, internet studies, and sociopolitical critical theory.
The Routledge Companion to Postmodernism by Stuart Sim (Editor)
Publication Date: 2011
The Routledge Companion to Postmodernism combines a series of fourteen in-depth background chapters with a body of A-Z entries to create an authoritative, yet readable guide to the complex world of postmodernism.

Critical Dictionary -- Active catalog search
Browse other dictionaries related to literature from the library catalog