LibGuides: English Literature: researching your dissertation: Key subject-specific e-resources

Key databases

British Literary Manuscripts Online [full-text] This link opens in a new window
Contains facsimile images of literary manuscripts, including letters and diaries, drafts of poems, plays, novels, and other literary works in the Medieval and Renaissance periods.
Available in two parts, covering: the Medieval and Renaissance periods (c.1120-1660), and 1660-1900.

Information relating to each manuscript is fully searchable, although the text of the manuscripts themselves is not.

Help and guidance
Use the 'Help' link available once connected to this resource for guidance on searching and using your results.
Cambridge Companions [full-text] This link opens in a new window
Introductions to major writers, artists, philosophers, topics and periods in the subject areas of literature, philosophy, classics, religion and cultural studies.
Over 2,800 downloadable essays taken from the Cambridge Companions series.
Provides cross-searchable introductions to major writers, artists, philosophers, topics and periods in the subject areas of literature, philosophy, classics, religion and cultural studies.

Most titles are listed on the Library catalogue.
Cambridge Histories [full-text] This link opens in a new window
Historical summaries covering a range of topics primarily in the humanities.
Provides full-text access to over 300 volumes published in the Cambridge Histories series since 1960. Subjects range across the humanities and include:
- American history
- British history
- Economic history
- General history
- History of science
- Language and literature
- Literary studies
- Philosophy
- Political and social theory
- Regional history
- Theatre studies and performing arts
- Warfare

All titles are listed on the Library catalogue.
Drama Online [full-text] This link opens in a new window
Plays and supporting critical and contextual material relating to works from the classical era to the present day. The collection features the theatre lists of Methuen Drama, the Arden Shakespeare and Faber and Faber, as well as production photos from the Victoria and Albert Museum and The American Shakespeare Center. Also available are plays, screen plays and theatrebooks from Nick Hern Books; Playwrights Canada Press, a collection of plays by emerging and established Canadian playwrights; plays from the Oberon Books collection; Shakespeare and Early Modern Drama Videos covering key plays and acting techniques; and the National Theatre collection, containing 30 filmed performances from the venue.
The Drama Online collection features full-text plays and supporting critical and contextual material relating to works from the classical era to the present day.

The collection features:

-theatre lists of Methuen Drama, the Arden Shakespeare, and Faber and Faber
-production photos from the Victoria and Albert Museum and The American Shakespeare Center
-Nick Hern Books collection of plays, screenplays and theatre books
-Shakespeare and Early Modern Drama Videos - covering key plays and acting techniques, including Maxine Peake’s Hamlet, Stage on Screen, and a Shakespeare Acting Masterclass from Patsy Rodenburg
-Shakespeare's Globe on Screen (2008-2015): 21 films recorded live on the Globe stage
-Playwrights Canada Press: plays from established and emerging Canadian playwrights
-National Theatre collection
-Oberon Books collection of plays

Featured writers include: Aeschylus, Euripides, Sophocles, Shakespeare, Ibsen, Chekhov, Bertolt Brecht, Oscar Wilde, and modern classics from Tom Stoppard, Caryl Churchill, Alan Ayckbourn, Mark Ravenhill, Brian Friel, John Osborne, Christopher Hampton, Alan Bennett, Willy Russell and David Hare.

New writing is also represented with works from Polly Stenham, Katori Hall, D.C. Moore, James Graham, Rebecca Lenkiewicz and Lucy Prebble and theatre companies such as Complicité and Filter.

All titles are listed on the Library catalogue

Help and Guidance
Video tours to help with making the most of this resource are available via the Drama Online YouTube channel.
Gale Literature [full-text] This link opens in a new window
This resource covers a wide range of literary topics including full-text access to books and poetry, literary criticism and author biographies.
You can cross-search the following databases:

- Gale Literature Criticism
- Gale Literature: Dictionary of Literary Biography
- Gale Literature: LitFinder
- Gale Literature Resource Center
- Gale Literature: Scribner Writer Series
- Gale Literature: Something About the Author
- Gale Literature: Twayne's Author Series

Help and guidance
Once logged into the site click on 'Help' at the bottom of the page for comprehensive guidance.
JSTOR [full-text] This link opens in a new window
Archive of journal articles covering most subjects.

Please read the JSTOR terms and conditions of use before accessing JSTOR. You may not download an entire issue of a journal from the JSTOR database or keep multiple electronic or paper copies of any article. You may not alter or distribute any Content, including but not limited to transmission via email to another computer.
Full-text archive of journal articles covering most subjects. Covers 1880s up to a 'moving wall' usually of between 2 and 5 years. Each journal title has its own 'moving wall'.

We subscribe to the following JSTOR packages: Arts & Sciences I-XI, Biological Sciences, Health & General Sciences and Ireland Collection.

We also subscribe to the 19th Century British Pamphlets collection.

Help and guidance
JSTOR help page for searching

Location Register of English literary manuscripts and letters
includes information about the manuscript holdings of British and Irish repositories of all sizes, from the British Library to small-town museums, and about literary authors of all genres, from major poets to minor science fiction writers and romantic novelists.

MLA (Modern Language Association International Bibliography) This link opens in a new window
Bibliography of literature, language, linguistics and folklore worldwide; gives references and abstracts to journal articles, monographs, working papers, bibliographies, etc, from 1963 up to the most recent issues.
MLA (Modern Language Association International Bibliography) covers literature, language, linguistics and folklore worldwide.

Gives references to journal articles, monographs, working papers, conference proceedings, indexes and bibliographies, etc.

Covers 1884-. Hosted on the EBSCO platform.

Help and guidance
EBSCOhost user guide
Orlando Women's Writing in the British Isles [full-text] This link opens in a new window
Covering women’s writing in the British Isles from its beginnings to the present day, Orlando provides entries on authors' lives and writing careers, contextual material, timelines, sets of internal links, and bibliographies.
Help and guidance
There is information on how to use the database in the "Get Started" tab of the about section.
Oxford Bibliographies This link opens in a new window
Searchable bibliographies. Topic entries feature a unique design specifically created to accommodate the way research is conducted online. Areas currently subscribed to include: medieval studies, renaissance and reformation studies and Victorian literature.
Bibliographies currently subscribed to are:

-Atlantic history
-Classics
-Medieval studies
-Philosophy
-Renaissance and Reformation
-Victorian literature

Individual articles are listed on the Library catalogue.

Help and guidance
Oxford Bibliographies help
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography [full-text] This link opens in a new window
Biographies of the men and women who shaped all aspects of Britain's past, from the fourth century BC to the year 2000.
Help and guidance
Oxford DNB Help
Oxford Handbooks Online [full-text] This link opens in a new window
- provides access to review essays covering key issues and exploring major debates across several subject areas, including literature.
The University has purchased some titles in the following subjects:

-Archaeology
-Business & management
-Classical studies
-Criminology & criminal justice
-Economics & finance
-History
-Law
-Linguistics
-Literature
-Philosophy
-Political science
-Psychology

Individual titles are listed on the Library catalogue.

Help and guidance
Oxford Academic guides
Project MUSE [full-text] This link opens in a new window
Provides access to around 150 mainly literary titles; complements JSTOR by providing recent issues of many titles in that archive.
View a list of titles available on Project Muse (you will need to be on-campus or logged in via the off-campus link above to view this list).

Complements JSTOR by providing recent issues of many titles in that archive.

Help and guidance
Project MUSE video tutorials and search guides
Shakespeare Survey This link opens in a new window
A yearbook of Shakespeare studies and production providing full-text access to articles and features, images and production photographs from 1948 to the present. Each volume covers a selected theme, specific play or group of plays, as well as reviews of reviews of textual and critical studies, and the major British performances for the year.
Times Literary Supplement (TLS) Historical Archive, The [full-text] This link opens in a new window
Use the TLS Historical Archive to full-text search more than 150,000 pages of the TLS from 1902 to 2009 and discover a wealth of content in more than 300,000 articles and theatre, cinema, music and exhibition reviews.
Use the TLS Historical Archive to full-text search more than 150,000 pages of the TLS and discover a wealth of content in more than 300,000 articles.

Help and guidance
Once logged in to TLS Archive click on the 'Help' link for comprehensive guidance.

Subject specific resources for English Literature

Box of Broadcasts [video & audio] This link opens in a new window
Box of Broadcasts (BoB) is a collection of TV and radio programmes from free-to-air channels. Set new recordings and playback programmes already recorded. Content back to 1990s.
Record and view TV and radio programmes from over 75 free-to-airchannels and access an archive of over 2 million programmes from the 1990s to the present day. Includes content from:
- BBC TV and radio
- ITV
- Channel 4
- Film4
- Sky Arts
-1 0 foreign language channels (Italian, French and German)
- BBC Shakespeare Archive content dating back to the 1950s

Use tools within BoB to create innovative and engaging learning materials to support teaching and learning;
- Create playlists, clips and clip compilations
- Embed content in BlackBoard and use in lectures
- Find programmes and clips on your topic by searching across programme transcripts and subtitles

How you may use the content

Permitted:
- lecture presentations
- Blackboard
- Create clips
- Embed in student coursework - provided it is within BlackBoard

Tip! Acknowledge the source and title of the programme and the ERA licensing scheme - see text under each video on BoB.

Not permitted:
- using BoB from outside the UK
- downloading or copying the videos - they are for streaming only
- publicly available websites
- public display in University
- any alteration, adaption or modification of the video or audio (except creating clips)
- promotional materials

Help and guidance
BoB video tutorials - including videos on using embed codes and using BoB videos in PowerPoint

Have a look at the BoB Frequently Asked Questions

Recommended browsers for BoB are Internet Explorer 11, Edge 12, Mozilla Firefox 44, Safari 8, Google Chrome 48 - or later versions of any of these browsers.

How to embed BoB videos in BlackBoard [PDF]

Tip! Each clip has a citation which you can copy.
British Literary Manuscripts Online [full-text] This link opens in a new window
Provides facsimile images of literary manuscripts, including letters and diaries, drafts of poems, plays, novels, and other literary works, covering: the Medieval and Renaissance periods (c.1120-1660), and 1660-1900.
Available in two parts, covering: the Medieval and Renaissance periods (c.1120-1660), and 1660-1900.

Information relating to each manuscript is fully searchable, although the text of the manuscripts themselves is not.

Help and guidance
Use the 'Help' link available once connected to this resource for guidance on searching and using your results.
IMB (International Medieval Bibliography) This link opens in a new window
Gives references to journal articles, conference proceedings, essay collections or Festschriften covering all aspects of medieval studies.

Choose the International Medieval Bibliography database when you reach the homepage.
IMB is relevant to the following disciplines:

-Arabic and Islamic studies
-art history
-Classics
-English language and literature
-history and archaeology
-history of education
-medieval European languages and literatures
-music
-rhetoric and communication studies
-theatre and performance arts
-theology and philosophy
Iter Gateway to the Middle Ages & Renaissance This link opens in a new window
Gives reference to the Iter Bibliography covering the European Middle Ages and Renaissance, and the Bibliography of English Women Writers.
Links to the individual resources within Iter Gateway - University username and password required:

Link to Iter Bibliography - which gives references to journal articles and essays on topics about the European Middle Ages and Renaissance, 400-1700
Link to the Bibliography of Women Writers (1500-1640)
Link to Renaissance and Reformation - Full-text journal
Link to Early Theatre - Full-text journal
Link to Reed Newsletter (1976-1977)

The following freely available resources are also available: Aestimatio; Disreputable Bodies: Magic, Medicine, and Gender in Renaissance Natural Philosophy; Baptisteria Sacra Index; Medici Archive Project; Romeo and Juliet: Searchable Database for Prompt Books; and The Electronic Capito Project.
Manchesterhive [full-text] This link opens in a new window
E-books published by Manchester University Press. Includes the following collections: Manchester History of Medicine; Manchester Medieval Sources; Manchester Shakespeare.
We have access to the following collections, plus open access content, on Manchesterhive. If you want to limit your search result to just these collections, select the 'User-accessible content' option on the left of the screen. The links below will take you directly to each collection.

- Manchester History of Medicine - Forty e-books covering all aspects of health, illness and medicine from prehistory to the present, in every part of the world.
- Manchester Medieval Sources - The online version of the Manchester University Press Medieval Sources series which aims to provide translations of key social and political sources. Contains extensive introductory material and primary source accounts of the Medieval world.
- Manchester Shakespeare - Forty-nine e-books covering historical, social and cultural critiques of Shakespeare’s works, plus the works of his contemporaries.

All titles in these collections are listed on the Library catalogue.
Orlando Women's Writing in the British Isles [full-text] This link opens in a new window
Covering women’s writing in the British Isles from its beginnings to the present day, Orlando provides entries on authors' lives and writing careers, contextual material, timelines, sets of internal links, and bibliographies.
Help and guidance
There is information on how to use the database in the "Get Started" tab of the about section.

British Literary Manuscripts Online [full-text] This link opens in a new window
Provides facsimile images of literary manuscripts, including letters and diaries, drafts of poems, plays, novels, and other literary works, covering: the Medieval and Renaissance periods (c.1120-1660), and 1660-1900.
Available in two parts, covering: the Medieval and Renaissance periods (c.1120-1660), and 1660-1900.

Information relating to each manuscript is fully searchable, although the text of the manuscripts themselves is not.

Help and guidance
Use the 'Help' link available once connected to this resource for guidance on searching and using your results.
Drama Online [full-text] This link opens in a new window
Plays and supporting critical and contextual material relating to works from the classical era to the present day. The collection features the theatre lists of Methuen Drama, the Arden Shakespeare and Faber and Faber, as well as production photos from the Victoria and Albert Museum and The American Shakespeare Center. Also available are plays, screen plays and theatrebooks from Nick Hern Books; Playwrights Canada Press, a collection of plays by emerging and established Canadian playwrights; plays from the Oberon Books collection; Shakespeare and Early Modern Drama Videos covering key plays and acting techniques; and the National Theatre collection, containing 30 filmed performances from the venue.
The Drama Online collection features full-text plays and supporting critical and contextual material relating to works from the classical era to the present day.

The collection features:

-theatre lists of Methuen Drama, the Arden Shakespeare, and Faber and Faber
-production photos from the Victoria and Albert Museum and The American Shakespeare Center
-Nick Hern Books collection of plays, screenplays and theatre books
-Shakespeare and Early Modern Drama Videos - covering key plays and acting techniques, including Maxine Peake’s Hamlet, Stage on Screen, and a Shakespeare Acting Masterclass from Patsy Rodenburg
-Shakespeare's Globe on Screen (2008-2015): 21 films recorded live on the Globe stage
-Playwrights Canada Press: plays from established and emerging Canadian playwrights
-National Theatre collection
-Oberon Books collection of plays

Featured writers include: Aeschylus, Euripides, Sophocles, Shakespeare, Ibsen, Chekhov, Bertolt Brecht, Oscar Wilde, and modern classics from Tom Stoppard, Caryl Churchill, Alan Ayckbourn, Mark Ravenhill, Brian Friel, John Osborne, Christopher Hampton, Alan Bennett, Willy Russell and David Hare.

New writing is also represented with works from Polly Stenham, Katori Hall, D.C. Moore, James Graham, Rebecca Lenkiewicz and Lucy Prebble and theatre companies such as Complicité and Filter.

All titles are listed on the Library catalogue

Help and Guidance
Video tours to help with making the most of this resource are available via the Drama Online YouTube channel.
EEBO (Early English Books Online) [full-text] This link opens in a new window
Full-text early English books (1473-1700).
From the first book printed in English by William Caxton, through the age of Spenser and Shakespeare and the tumult of the English Civil War. Includes:

works by Malory, Bacon, More, Erasmus, Boyle, Newton, Galileo
musical exercises by Henry Purcell
novels by Aphra Behn
prayer books, pamphlets, and proclamations; almanacs, calendars, and many other primary sources.
It will contain over 125,000 titles listed in Pollard & Redgrave's Short-Title Catalogue (1475-1640), Wing's Short-Title Catalogue (1641-1700), and the Thomason Tracts (1640-1661).

Help and guidance
EEBO support
Electronic Enlightenment [full-text] This link opens in a new window
Online collection of correspondence of the early modern period, from across Europe, the Americas and Asia.
Search or browse over 60,000 letters and documents, from the early 17th to the mid-19th century, in 11 languages including English, French, German and Italian.

Help and guidance
Help using Electronic Enlightenment
Iter Gateway to the Middle Ages & Renaissance This link opens in a new window
Gives reference to the Iter Bibliography covering the European Middle Ages and Renaissance, and the Bibliography of English Women Writers.
Links to the individual resources within Iter Gateway - University username and password required:

Link to Iter Bibliography - which gives references to journal articles and essays on topics about the European Middle Ages and Renaissance, 400-1700
Link to the Bibliography of Women Writers (1500-1640)
Link to Renaissance and Reformation - Full-text journal
Link to Early Theatre - Full-text journal
Link to Reed Newsletter (1976-1977)

The following freely available resources are also available: Aestimatio; Disreputable Bodies: Magic, Medicine, and Gender in Renaissance Natural Philosophy; Baptisteria Sacra Index; Medici Archive Project; Romeo and Juliet: Searchable Database for Prompt Books; and The Electronic Capito Project.
Manchesterhive [full-text] This link opens in a new window
E-books published by Manchester University Press. Includes the following collections: Manchester History of Medicine; Manchester Medieval Sources; Manchester Shakespeare.
We have access to the following collections, plus open access content, on Manchesterhive. If you want to limit your search result to just these collections, select the 'User-accessible content' option on the left of the screen. The links below will take you directly to each collection.

- Manchester History of Medicine - Forty e-books covering all aspects of health, illness and medicine from prehistory to the present, in every part of the world.
- Manchester Medieval Sources - The online version of the Manchester University Press Medieval Sources series which aims to provide translations of key social and political sources. Contains extensive introductory material and primary source accounts of the Medieval world.
- Manchester Shakespeare - Forty-nine e-books covering historical, social and cultural critiques of Shakespeare’s works, plus the works of his contemporaries.

All titles in these collections are listed on the Library catalogue.
Orlando Women's Writing in the British Isles [full-text] This link opens in a new window
Covering women’s writing in the British Isles from its beginnings to the present day, Orlando provides entries on authors' lives and writing careers, contextual material, timelines, sets of internal links, and bibliographies.
Help and guidance
There is information on how to use the database in the "Get Started" tab of the about section.
Oxford Scholarly Editions Online [full-text] This link opens in a new window
Access to Oxford's scholarly editions of Shakepeare and Renaissance Drama, Poetry & Prose.
We have purchased access to the following collections:

-Early 17th Century drama
-Early 17th Century poetry
-Early 17th Century prose
-Renaissance Drama
-Renaissance Poetry
-Renaissance Prose
-Shakespeare

Individual titles are listed on the Library catalogue.

Help and guidance
Getting started guide
Take a tour
How to videos
Shakespeare Survey This link opens in a new window
A yearbook of Shakespeare studies and production providing full-text access to articles and features, images and production photographs from 1948 to the present. Each volume covers a selected theme, specific play or group of plays, as well as reviews of reviews of textual and critical studies, and the major British performances for the year.

British Literary Manuscripts Online [full-text] This link opens in a new window
Provides facsimile images of literary manuscripts, including letters and diaries, drafts of poems, plays, novels, and other literary works, covering: the Medieval and Renaissance periods (c.1120-1660), and 1660-1900.
Available in two parts, covering: the Medieval and Renaissance periods (c.1120-1660), and 1660-1900.

Information relating to each manuscript is fully searchable, although the text of the manuscripts themselves is not.

Help and guidance
Use the 'Help' link available once connected to this resource for guidance on searching and using your results.
ECCO (Eighteenth Century Collections Online) [full-text] This link opens in a new window
Exact reproductions of over 150,000 significant English language and foreign language titles printed in the UK in the Eighteenth Century and many titles from the Americas.
Covers all subjects, including history, geography, fine arts, medicine and literature.

Contains several titles by women writers, collections on the French Revolution, and numerous eighteenth-century editions of the works of Shakespeare.

A key feature is the inclusion of the complete works of key authors of the period, including:

Henry Fielding
Edmund Burke
Alexander Pope
Thomas Paine
Benjamin Franklin
Jonathan Swift
Covers 1700-1799
Orlando Women's Writing in the British Isles [full-text] This link opens in a new window
Covering women’s writing in the British Isles from its beginnings to the present day, Orlando provides entries on authors' lives and writing careers, contextual material, timelines, sets of internal links, and bibliographies.
Help and guidance
There is information on how to use the database in the "Get Started" tab of the about section.
Oxford Scholarly Editions Online [full-text] This link opens in a new window
Access to Oxford's scholarly editions of Early 17th Century literature.
We have purchased access to the following collections:

-Early 17th Century drama
-Early 17th Century poetry
-Early 17th Century prose
-Renaissance Drama
-Renaissance Poetry
-Renaissance Prose
-Shakespeare

Individual titles are listed on the Library catalogue.

Help and guidance
Getting started guide
Take a tour
How to videos
Seventeenth and Eighteenth Century Burney Collection [full-text] This link opens in a new window
This collection includes more than 1000 pamphlets, proclamations, newsbooks and newspapers from the 17th and 18th Century. It covers the years 1600-1800 and includes material from England, Ireland, Scotland and some papers from British colonies in the Americas and Asia.

Search this resource simultaneously with other archive collections on Gale Primary Sources.
Gathered by the Reverend Charles Burney (1757-1817), this is the largest single collection of 17th and 18th century English news media available from the British Library. You can conduct full-text searches of nearly 1 million pages – some 1,270 titles.

British Library Newspapers [full-text] This link opens in a new window
Full-text of 48 national, regional, and local 19th century British newspapers reflecting the social and political developments of the time.
It also includes contextual essays regarding the role of newspapers in the Victorian age, bibliographic headnotes, and a chronological overview.

Covers 1800-1900.

Search this resource simultaneously with other archive collections on Gale Primary Sources.
British Literary Manuscripts Online [full-text] This link opens in a new window
Provides facsimile images of literary manuscripts, including letters and diaries, drafts of poems, plays, novels, and other literary works, covering: the Medieval and Renaissance periods (c.1120-1660), and 1660-1900.
Available in two parts, covering: the Medieval and Renaissance periods (c.1120-1660), and 1660-1900.

Information relating to each manuscript is fully searchable, although the text of the manuscripts themselves is not.

Help and guidance
Use the 'Help' link available once connected to this resource for guidance on searching and using your results.
Drama Online [full-text] This link opens in a new window
Plays and supporting critical and contextual material relating to works from the classical era to the present day. The collection features the theatre lists of Methuen Drama, the Arden Shakespeare and Faber and Faber, as well as production photos from the Victoria and Albert Museum and The American Shakespeare Center. Also available are plays, screen plays and theatrebooks from Nick Hern Books; Playwrights Canada Press, a collection of plays by emerging and established Canadian playwrights; plays from the Oberon Books collection; Shakespeare and Early Modern Drama Videos covering key plays and acting techniques; and the National Theatre collection, containing 30 filmed performances from the venue.
The Drama Online collection features full-text plays and supporting critical and contextual material relating to works from the classical era to the present day.

The collection features:

-theatre lists of Methuen Drama, the Arden Shakespeare, and Faber and Faber
-production photos from the Victoria and Albert Museum and The American Shakespeare Center
-Nick Hern Books collection of plays, screenplays and theatre books
-Shakespeare and Early Modern Drama Videos - covering key plays and acting techniques, including Maxine Peake’s Hamlet, Stage on Screen, and a Shakespeare Acting Masterclass from Patsy Rodenburg
-Shakespeare's Globe on Screen (2008-2015): 21 films recorded live on the Globe stage
-Playwrights Canada Press: plays from established and emerging Canadian playwrights
-National Theatre collection
-Oberon Books collection of plays

Featured writers include: Aeschylus, Euripides, Sophocles, Shakespeare, Ibsen, Chekhov, Bertolt Brecht, Oscar Wilde, and modern classics from Tom Stoppard, Caryl Churchill, Alan Ayckbourn, Mark Ravenhill, Brian Friel, John Osborne, Christopher Hampton, Alan Bennett, Willy Russell and David Hare.

New writing is also represented with works from Polly Stenham, Katori Hall, D.C. Moore, James Graham, Rebecca Lenkiewicz and Lucy Prebble and theatre companies such as Complicité and Filter.

All titles are listed on the Library catalogue

Help and Guidance
Video tours to help with making the most of this resource are available via the Drama Online YouTube channel.
Nineteenth Century UK Periodicals [full-text] This link opens in a new window
Nearly 100 full-text searchable 19th century periodicals covering women's writing, the rapid rise of children's entertainment and education, among other topics.
Orlando Women's Writing in the British Isles [full-text] This link opens in a new window
Covering women’s writing in the British Isles from its beginnings to the present day, Orlando provides entries on authors' lives and writing careers, contextual material, timelines, sets of internal links, and bibliographies.
Help and guidance
There is information on how to use the database in the "Get Started" tab of the about section.
Times Literary Supplement (TLS) Historical Archive, The [full-text] This link opens in a new window
Online access to articles published in the TLS from 1902 to 2019.
Use the TLS Historical Archive to full-text search more than 150,000 pages of the TLS and discover a wealth of content in more than 300,000 articles.

Help and guidance
Once logged in to TLS Archive click on the 'Help' link for comprehensive guidance.

Academic Video Online on Alexander Street [video] This link opens in a new window
Video material including documentaries, interviews, performances, news programmes and newsreels covering a variety of events and themes.
We also have access to Academic Video Online on ProQuest

Academic Video Online is a comprehensive source of video material including 70,000 titles with curricular relevance: documentaries, interviews, performances, news programmes, newsreels and more. Use the Alexander Street link for the best browsing experience.

Academic Video Online comprises some of the following channels:

-60 Minutes: 1997-2014
-American History
-Black Studies
-LGBT Studies
-The March of Time
-World History
-World Newsreels Online 1929-1966

Some of subjects covered are:

-Art & Architecture
-Criminal Justice & Public Safety
-Drama
-Education
-Engineering
-Environmental Studies
-History
-Literature
-Politics & Current Affairs
-Psychology
-Science
-Theatre

Help and guidance
Alexander Street Press resources help

How you may use the content
Permitted

-lecture presentations
-Blackboard - embed the video in your module or link to it
-student work

Tip! You may make clips and playlists with the videos

Not permitted

-publicly available websites
-public display in University
-any alteration, adaption or modification the video
Book History Online This link opens in a new window
Book History Online (BHO) is an international bibliography in the field of book and library history.
Included are references to monographs, articles and reviews dealing with the history of the printed book, its arts, crafts, techniques and equipment, its economic, social and cultural environment, as well as its production, distribution, preservation and description.

Help and guidance
Search tips
Box of Broadcasts [video & audio] This link opens in a new window
Box of Broadcasts (BoB) is a collection of TV and radio programmes from free-to-air channels. Set new recordings and playback programmes already recorded. Content back to 1990s.
Record and view TV and radio programmes from over 75 free-to-airchannels and access an archive of over 2 million programmes from the 1990s to the present day. Includes content from:
- BBC TV and radio
- ITV
- Channel 4
- Film4
- Sky Arts
-1 0 foreign language channels (Italian, French and German)
- BBC Shakespeare Archive content dating back to the 1950s

Use tools within BoB to create innovative and engaging learning materials to support teaching and learning;
- Create playlists, clips and clip compilations
- Embed content in BlackBoard and use in lectures
- Find programmes and clips on your topic by searching across programme transcripts and subtitles

How you may use the content

Permitted:
- lecture presentations
- Blackboard
- Create clips
- Embed in student coursework - provided it is within BlackBoard

Tip! Acknowledge the source and title of the programme and the ERA licensing scheme - see text under each video on BoB.

Not permitted:
- using BoB from outside the UK
- downloading or copying the videos - they are for streaming only
- publicly available websites
- public display in University
- any alteration, adaption or modification of the video or audio (except creating clips)
- promotional materials

Help and guidance
BoB video tutorials - including videos on using embed codes and using BoB videos in PowerPoint

Have a look at the BoB Frequently Asked Questions

Recommended browsers for BoB are Internet Explorer 11, Edge 12, Mozilla Firefox 44, Safari 8, Google Chrome 48 - or later versions of any of these browsers.

How to embed BoB videos in BlackBoard [PDF]

Tip! Each clip has a citation which you can copy.
Drama Online [full-text] This link opens in a new window
Plays and supporting critical and contextual material relating to works from the classical era to the present day. The collection features the theatre lists of Methuen Drama, the Arden Shakespeare and Faber and Faber, as well as production photos from the Victoria and Albert Museum and The American Shakespeare Center. Also available are plays, screen plays and theatrebooks from Nick Hern Books; Playwrights Canada Press, a collection of plays by emerging and established Canadian playwrights; plays from the Oberon Books collection; Shakespeare and Early Modern Drama Videos covering key plays and acting techniques; and the National Theatre collection, containing 30 filmed performances from the venue.
The Drama Online collection features full-text plays and supporting critical and contextual material relating to works from the classical era to the present day.

The collection features:

-theatre lists of Methuen Drama, the Arden Shakespeare, and Faber and Faber
-production photos from the Victoria and Albert Museum and The American Shakespeare Center
-Nick Hern Books collection of plays, screenplays and theatre books
-Shakespeare and Early Modern Drama Videos - covering key plays and acting techniques, including Maxine Peake’s Hamlet, Stage on Screen, and a Shakespeare Acting Masterclass from Patsy Rodenburg
-Shakespeare's Globe on Screen (2008-2015): 21 films recorded live on the Globe stage
-Playwrights Canada Press: plays from established and emerging Canadian playwrights
-National Theatre collection
-Oberon Books collection of plays

Featured writers include: Aeschylus, Euripides, Sophocles, Shakespeare, Ibsen, Chekhov, Bertolt Brecht, Oscar Wilde, and modern classics from Tom Stoppard, Caryl Churchill, Alan Ayckbourn, Mark Ravenhill, Brian Friel, John Osborne, Christopher Hampton, Alan Bennett, Willy Russell and David Hare.

New writing is also represented with works from Polly Stenham, Katori Hall, D.C. Moore, James Graham, Rebecca Lenkiewicz and Lucy Prebble and theatre companies such as Complicité and Filter.

All titles are listed on the Library catalogue

Help and Guidance
Video tours to help with making the most of this resource are available via the Drama Online YouTube channel.
Independent Voices [full-text] This link opens in a new window
A digitised collection of American independent and alternative press sources from various library special collections. It covers topics including feminism, LGBT activitism and anti-war activism, focusing generally on the second half of the 20th century.
It covers topics including feminism, LGBT activism and anti-war activism, focusing generally on the second half of the 20th century.

Help and guidance
When using Independent Voices, click 'Help' in the top navigation bar for tips on searching.
Orlando Women's Writing in the British Isles [full-text] This link opens in a new window
Covering women’s writing in the British Isles from its beginnings to the present day, Orlando provides entries on authors' lives and writing careers, contextual material, timelines, sets of internal links, and bibliographies.
Help and guidance
There is information on how to use the database in the "Get Started" tab of the about section.
Times Literary Supplement (TLS) Historical Archive, The [full-text] This link opens in a new window
Online access to articles published in the TLS from 1902 to 2019.
Use the TLS Historical Archive to full-text search more than 150,000 pages of the TLS and discover a wealth of content in more than 300,000 articles.

Help and guidance
Once logged in to TLS Archive click on the 'Help' link for comprehensive guidance.

ArticleFirst This link opens in a new window
A multidisciplinary database containing references to journal articles covering all subject areas from 1990 onwards. Browse specific journal issues to keep up-to-date with articles published in journals of interest.
Arts and Humanities Citation Index This link opens in a new window
References to published materials in the arts and humanities including journal articles, letters, editorials and reviews.
This database is part of the Web of Science Core Collection. To search just this part select 'Arts & Humanities Citation Index' from the 'Editions' drop down list.

Gives references to journal articles, letters, editorials, notes, meeting abstracts, discussions, music scores, poems, plus reviews of literature, performances and recordings. Covers 1970-

Help and guidance
Web of Science Training Portal
Book Citation Index This link opens in a new window
Use this interdisciplinary database to find books and book chapters.
This database is part of the Web of Science Core Collection. To search just this part select 'Book Citation Index' from the 'Editions' option.

Covers 2008-

Help and guidance
Web of Science Training Portal
ESTC (English Short Title Catalogue) This link opens in a new window
Descriptions of early books printed in Great Britain or any of its dependencies in any language, as well as materials printed in English anywhere else in the world.
Covers from the beginnings of print to 1800, including all recorded English monographs printed between 1475 and 1700.

Useful for anyone studying 15th-18th century British history or literature, the history of the book or the humanities in general.

Help and guidance
For search help, open the ESTC search page & then click on the link above the search box called 'Quick Tips - for this page'.
Oxford Handbooks Online [full-text] This link opens in a new window
Oxford Handbooks Online is a collection of review essays covering key issues and exploring major debates across different subject areas.
The University has purchased some titles in the following subjects:

-Archaeology
-Business & management
-Classical studies
-Criminology & criminal justice
-Economics & finance
-History
-Law
-Linguistics
-Literature
-Philosophy
-Political science
-Psychology

Individual titles are listed on the Library catalogue.

Help and guidance
Oxford Academic guides
Periodicals Archive Online (PAO) [full-text] This link opens in a new window
Archive of journal articles in a range of subjects.
Content also available via JISC Journal Archives.

Online archive giving access to full-text journal articles in the following subjects: arts; business; history; linguistics; literature; philosophy; politics; psychology; and social sciences.

Covers issues from 1891 to 2000.

Help and guidance
Proquest LibGuide: Periodicals Archive Online
WorldCat This link opens in a new window
Essentially a vast Library catalogue. Gives references to books, theses, and other published materials in all subjects.
Covers ca.1000 BC to the present.

Accessing online Library resources

If you are on campus you will be able to access most e-journals and e-books, and some databases, without entering a username and password because your IP address identifies you as being at the University of Reading.

For any that require a login, see the Off-campus tab.

Terms of Use

When you use our e-resources you are agreeing to our Terms of Use. Please take a moment to look at these by following the link below:

Terms and conditions of use for Library e-resources

When you are off-campus you will need to login to identify yourself as a member of the University of Reading to gain access to our protected databases, e-books and e-journals.

Your login details

You login in the same way as for Blackboard - via Microsoft. Just enter your University username followed by @student.reading.ac.uk (e.g. ab123456@student.reading.ac.uk) and your password. If this is the first time you have logged in via this method when off-campus you will be asked to complete a Multi-Factor Authentication. For more information see:

Find out more about multi-factor authentication

Getting to the login page...

For most resources, if you follow a link from our website or catalogues your login will be picked up automatically or you will be prompted to login straightaway.
If you access resources via another route you will need to look for a login option once you reach the resource you are trying to access. Look for an institutional or shibboleth login option and pick 'University of Reading' from a list of institutions. This will then pick up your login or prompt you to login. For more information about institutional login, please see the link below:

Find out more about the Institutional login

Logging in to Library resources

Watch this short video on how you login to use Library resources.

Other online resources by period / topic / genre

American Memory Collection
A gateway to rich primary source materials relating to the history and culture of the United States. The site offers more than 7 million digital items from more than 100 historical collections.
Academy of American Poets

Children's Literature Association
Children's Collection
Over 6,000 books and journals written for children, mostly from the 19th and early 20th centuries

Digital Library of the Caribbean
Full text resource providing access to provides access to digitized versions of Caribbean and circum-Caribbean cultural, historical and research materials held in archives, libraries, and private collections.

Feminae: Medieval Women and Gender Index
Covers journal articles, book reviews, and essays in books about women, sexuality, and gender during the Middle Ages. N.B. This is a bibliographic index, it does not provide full text access to the resources listed.
The Labyrinth: resources for medieval studies
The Labyrinth provides free, organised access to electronic resources in medieval studies through a WWW server at Georgetown University. This project not only provides an organisational structure for electronic resources in medieval studies, but also serves as a model for similar, collaborative projects in other fields of study. The Labyrinth project is open-ended and is designed to grow and change with new developments in technology and in medieval studies.
Luminarium
Articles and essays about authors and their works are included in this anthology of medieval, renaissance and 17th century English literature.
Medieval Monsters
British Library website.
The Middle Ages
British Library website.
ORB: The Online Reference Book for Medieval Studies
Provides links to many medieval documents, reference sources and electronic periodicals for medieval studies.
TEAMS Middle English texts series
Edited editions of several Middle English texts, along with introductions and select bibliographies for each text.

Luminarium
Articles and essays about authors and their works are included in this anthology of medieval, renaissance and 17th century English literature.
Renascence editions
An online repository of works printed in English between the years 1477 and 1799.

Bodleian First Foilo
The Folger Shakespeare Library
Global Shakespeares
Multicultural Shakespeare: translation, appropriation, and performance
Royal Shakespeare Company
Shakespeare's Globe
Shakespeare in Quarto ( British Library)
Understanding Shakespeare
This site connects Shakespeare texts available on the Folger Shakespeare site with references to articles in JSTOR.

Early Stuart Libels
An online repository of over 350 early seventeenth-century political poetry from manuscript sources, many previously unpublished.

The Shelley-Godwin Archive
The Shelley-Godwin Archive provides digitized manuscripts of Percy Bysshe Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, William Godwin, and Mary Wollstonecraft, including the Frankenstein manuscripts.
Discovering Literature: Romantics and Victorians
Selected works from the British Library's collections, with essays, articles and information about individual authors.

Charles Dickens: The Publishing Formats of his First Editions
(YouTube video 05:23 mins) Adam Douglas, Senior Specialist in Early Literature at Peter Harrington talks about the different publishing formats of Charles Dickens' first editions. www.peterharrington.co.uk
Discovering Literature: Romantics and Victorians
Selected works from the British Library's collections, with essays, articles and information about individual authors.
Victoriana on the web
This site provides links to a wide range of useful sources, including links to archive catalogues, bibliographies, online texts and sites about women's writing.
The Victorian Web
Information on many aspects of Victorian Britain from politics and gender to science and technology.

First World War Poetry Archive
Primary and secondary material on First World War poets, including poems, pictures of the poets, diary entries and letters, audio of oral history and podcasts of interviews with academics and contextual photos, video and ephemera.