LibGuides: English Literature: researching your dissertation: Getting an overview of your topic

Start here with handbooks, companions and histories

The Following series of scholarly handbooks and companions can also provide very useful overviews of authors, topics and themes. These are generally organised as a series of essays. We have many of these titles available in print and online. You can view some of these using the following links:

Cambridge Companions [full-text]
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.

The new Cambridge History of English LIterature series
The new Cambridge History of American Literature series
The Oxford Handbook series
The New Critical Idiom
A series of introductory guides to modern critical terms, or themes, in literature. They provide definitions of the term and an overview by a leading literary and cultural critic.

Encyclopedias and reference works

Encyclopedias, dictionaries and reference works are a good place to start this initial research as they provide concise summaries about a particular subject and you can often obtain relevant references/bibliographies.

Top tip: Following references cited in one work can be a really useful way of finding new research, so always look at the bibliography of a book or article.

Use encyclopedias:

for summaries
for lists of further reading
when starting a project

There are two key online resources which give access to hundreds of dictionaries and encyclopedias

Oxford Reference [full-text]
Oxford Reference allows you to search across multiple dictionaries and reference titles. We have access to the Premium, Literature and Western Civilization collections.

It also contains a wide range of English dictionaries; bilingual dictionaries of French, German, Spanish, Italian, and Latin; thesauri; and guides to English grammar and usage.

Timelines link over 2,000 key events in 20th century history in the areas of Art and Architecture; Performing Arts; Literature; Politics and Government; Society; Science, Technology and Medicine; and War.

Individual titles are listed on the Library catalogue.

Help and guidance
Tour of Oxford Reference
Credo Reference [full-text]
Find definitions in dictionaries and other reference works in all subjects.

Also includes conversion tables for area, distance, energy, fuel consumption, power, speed, temperature and weight - just click on the 'Gadgets' link.

Most titles are listed on the Enterprise catalogue.

Help and guidance
A Help Tour and Research Quick Tips are available by clicking the button at the top right of the page. Research Quick Tips are short videos to assist learners during the research process. Credo supports Boolean searching and truncation using an asterisk (*).

Find more on the catalogue by searching for "English Literature encyclopedias". Many are available in full-text online, and some also provide thematic essays on specific authors and subject areas.

Here are some topic specific reference works available;