Research Guides: English: Honors Students

Getting Started: Finding Background Information on Your Topic

Reference Resources:
Reference books -- either in print or online -- are great for finding background information on a topic. Find out biographical information on an author; key dates, socio/political history of a time period, important events, names of important scholars in the field, and a helpful bibliography for additional reading.

Here are a couple of options for finding reference material online:

Literature Resource Center
Provides access to biographies, bibliographies, and critical analyses of authors from ancient times-present.
GVRL (Gale Virtual Reference Library)
A database of encyclopedias and specialized reference sources for multidisciplinary research. Disciplines included are the Arts, Business, Education, the Environment, History, Literature, Religion, and more!

Johns Hopkins Guide to Literary Theory & Criticism This link opens in a new window
Provides a comprehensive historical survey of the field's most important figures, schools, and movements. Includes alphabetically arranged entries and subentries on critics and theorists, critical schools and movements, and the critical and theoretical innovations of specific countries and historical periods.

Core English Research Tools

MLA International Bibliography This link opens in a new window
Covers literature, language and linguistics, folklore, film, literary theory and criticism, and dramatic arts, as well as the historical aspects of printing and publishing. Over 6,000 journals and series, plus 1,200 book publishers, are indexed. Articles date from 1926-present.
ProQuest Central This link opens in a new window
Provides access to thousands of full-text scholarly journals, trade and professional titles, newspapers, magazines, dissertations, working papers, case studies, and market reports. Content covers all major subject areas, including business, health and medical, social sciences, arts and humanities, education, science and technology, and religion.

Find Books

MUSCAT Plus: Musselman Library's Online Catalog and More!
**Remember, use a Keyword Search to get started. Once you find books that look like what you generally want, start using appropriate Subject Headings to continue your search.
WorldCat: Find books in libraries around the world!
Use WorldCat to identify books and other materials that our library does not own. Then, request any item via Interlibrary Loan.

What is ILLiad?

ILLiad: ILLiad is the name of the library’s Interlibrary Loan system. Use ILLiad to request books and articles we don’t have in the library from other libraries around the world.

Organize Your Sources

Keep track of your citations as you find them. Use RefWorks to organize your research!

RefWorks is an online citation management tool that allows you to create a personal database of references by importing them from research databases. What's the best part? You can change citation styles or generate bibliographies in seconds.

English: Honors Students

Tips for Research Success!

Start your research early! Save time by building in time to search, refine your topic, read sources, and search some more.

Questions? Just ask!

Getting Started: Finding Background Information on Your Topic

Core English Research Tools

Find Books

Organize Your Sources