Article Databases, Encyclopedias, Dictionaries, Text Collections, Research Guides

The following are links to relevant article databases, encyclopaedias, dictionaries and text collections. This information is meant to supplement the plays you are reading and help give them context and critical meaning. The following links provide information about the purpose and function of each resource. After selecting a link, click 'connect to this resource' to access the database itself.

Useful Article Databases and Directories:

Play Index
Covers over 30,000 plays written from the age of antiquity to the present.

Directory of Theatre Resources: PN2598.5 .H68 1986 Robarts Library. Provides directory information for works from Great Britain.

MLA International Bibliography
A major database and an essential for English students! This database covers over 4,400 periodicals with topics including literary theory, criticism, and the dramatic arts.

FRANCIS
A humanities database containing over 1 million records.

Essay and General Literature Index
Contains almost 65,000 critical essays, including dramatic literature.

Encyclopedias and Dictionaries

Drama Criticism
Contains many critical full-text essays concerning famous dramatists and plays.

Dictionary of Writers and their Works
Provides a guide to British literature, the authors and their works from the 15^th century to the present.

Concise Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms
This dictionary will help define tricky terminology used when critiquing literature.

Text Collections 

Literature Online
Contains over 350,000 works about English and American poetry, drama, and prose.

Research Guides

These guides will help you develop a further grasp on how to think critically when writing your essays.

Literary Theory and Criticism

Critical Writing about Literature