Electronic databases for English literature research
You use databases to find journal articles on a specific topic. Bear in mind that databases are indexes: you will need to check your results to find which of the articles you want to read are available in our Library, either as print copies or online.
If you are unsure about how to use a database, have a look at my step by step explanation of this process.
 | Please note:-- The terms of our licence agreements with suppliers strictly limit remote access to electronic databases to enrolled students and staff members of the University of Adelaide. |
Major databases for English literature
The most important databases for English research are:
- MLA
Easily the best database for our purposes, the MLA (Modern Language Association) International Bibliography is a subject index to journal articles and books on modern languages, literatures, folklore, and linguistics. It covers from 1925 onwards and contains over 1.7 million citations from more than 4,400 journals. The majority of records are from English-language publications, but at least sixty other languages are represented including French, Spanish, German, Russian, Portuguese, Norwegian, and Swedish.
The database also has an identifiable subset of more than 77,000 records from JSTOR's Language and Literature Collection. The documents date back as far as 1881 and contain direct links to the full-text articles in JSTOR (see under Other useful databases below).
MLA also indexes journals in related areas such as Cultural studies, Film studies and Media. Australian literature is included (but also see AustLit below).
- AustLit The best index to use for articles on Australian literature. For more information about this database please go to the AustLit entry on my Australian literature resources page.
Other useful databases
- Academic search premier Indexes and provides abstracts of articles from over 8,000 journals. Of these, full text is provided for over 4,600 journals, and more than 3,600 are peer-reviewed.
Coverage: social sciences, humanities, education, computer sciences, engineering, physics, chemistry, language and linguistics, arts & literature, medical sciences, ethnic studies.
Academic search premier is one of the Ebscohost research databases to which the Library subscribes. For information on searching have a look at the Ebscohost Help page.
- Academic OneFile A collection of peer-reviewed, full-text articles in HTML and PDF format from more than 8,000 journals with extensive coverage of the physical sciences, technology, medicine, social sciences, the arts, theology, and literature. The publisher maintains a complete listing of journals covered by Academic OneFile, with details of dates of coverage.
- JSTOR Not strictly a database but a searchable collection from volume 1 onwards of over 270 core journal titles in many disciplines. I've had very good results using it to track down citations for specific articles when not all the details were known. Coverage extends to all volumes except for the last few years, so don't use it to find articles on very recent topics.
JSTOR citations can be exported in EndNote-compatible format [don't know about EndNote bibliographical software? - visit the EndNote page].
Note to my academic colleagues: JSTOR provides a stable URL for every article, which you can copy and paste into MyUni - see Using Library e-resources in online teaching for details.
- Periodicals index online (PIO) Formerly called Periodicals Contents Index (PCI) this huge database indexes millions of articles published in the arts, humanities and social sciences over the past 300 years.
From the PIO results screen there is a link to Periodicals Archive Online which provides access to hundreds of online journals.
- Film & Television Literature Index (FTLI)
FTLI is definitely the best place to look for journal articles on film and TV. It is a comprehensive bibliographic database covering the entire spectrum of television and film writing from 1976 to date. It indexes 150 film and television journals from 30 countries cover-to-cover and 200 other journals selectively for articles on film and television. Subject coverage includes film reviews, film theory, television theory, preservation, restoration, writing, production, cinematography, technical aspects, and more. FTLI is one of the Ebscohost research databases to which the Library subscribes.
To find journal articles I suggest you use the Advanced Search option, choose Academic Journal as the Publication Type and Article as the Document Type.
For more information on searching have a look at the Help page.
- Australian public affairs - full text: APA-FT
Includes citations (from 1978 onwards) and some full text (from 1995 onwards) for journal articles, selected newspaper articles, conference papers and books in Australian business, health, current affairs, economics, humanities, law, literature, politics and social sciences. If APA-FT is not available, use APAIS (see below):
- APAIS (citations only) (Australian Public Affairs Information Service) [part of the AUSTROM group of databases]. Index only; not full text. Use if APA-FT is not available (see above).
- The Web of knowledge database includes the Arts & Humanities citation index and the Social sciences citation index from 1980 to date. Search by author, keyword or citation.
Web of science is useful for finding articles that have cited a given article, and so are likely to be on a related topic.
- Scopus database is worth searching for recent articles, as it has a large component of Arts and Humanities journals.
- LLBA Linguistics and Language Behavior Abstracts. Citations to international literature on the nature, use, and teaching of language and also speech, communication and linguistics. Indexes journal articles, books, technical reports, dissertations, book reviews. Coverage 1973+
- ERIC Indexes Current index to journals in education (CIJE) and Resources in education (RIE). A U.S. Department of Education database covering the journal and research literature in the field of education research and practice. The world's largest source of education information, containing abstracts of documents and journal articles.
- Philosophers Index Provides indexing and abstracts from books and journals of philosophy and related fields. It covers the areas of ethics, aesthetics, social philosophy, political philosophy, epistemology, metaphysics, logic, the philosophy of law, religion, science, history, education, and language. Coverage is 1946 onwards.
- PsycINFO Psychological abstracts. Citations and abstracts of journal articles, book chapters, books, and technical reports in the field of psychology and psychological aspects of related disciplines including medicine, psychiatry, nursing, sociology, education, pharmacology, physiology, linguistics, anthropology, business, and law. Coverage 1983+
- Sociological abstracts. Coverage 1963+. An index with abstracts (1974+) to journals, conference papers, book reviews, books in sociology, social policy, psychology and social sciences, especially those dealing with culture and society.
- Libraries Australia (Kinetica). Use this database to find which Australian libraries hold a particular book or journal.
Note: Use Advanced search and change all of these to exact match or starts with. Apply the Journals limit when searching for journals.
If you do not find a journal in Libraries Australia, search SIAL: Serials in Australian Libraries which includes a few extra older journal holdings. We've provided an online help guide showing you how to use it.
- British Library Integrated Catalogue Search for details of over 12 million books and other material from 1450 to the present day. A CD-ROM version of The British Library general catalogue of printed books to 1975 is available only on Barr Smith Library Non-networked databases computer 331, behind the Information desk.
Indexes to newspapers
- Factiva
Indexes all major Australian and many international newspapers; provides facts and numbers from nearly 9,000 sources in 22 languages, including influential local, national and international newspapers, leading business magazines, trade publications, and newswires.
If you haven't used Factiva before, I strongly suggest you have a look at the Factiva help pages before you start searching.
- Elibrary
A database of full-text newspapers including Australian newspapers, full-text magazines, newswires, classic books, maps, and photographs, as well as major works of literature and art.
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Australia/New Zealand Reference Centre This resource provides access to many Australian and New Zealand newspapers in full text, including News Ltd. publications.
Book reviews
Book reviews are covered in the Library's general guides.
My colleague, Chris Smith, maintains an excellent page: Finding book reviews.
And I have a separate page to help you to find Book reviews of contemporary fiction.
About electronic databases
The Library has an excellent and constantly expanding collection of electronic databases - indexes to published material on a topic. The main emphasis is on journal articles, but often they also index important chapters in edited books, conference proceedings and other sources.
Some are indexes only: they provide a full reference so that you can find the article referred to. Remember that by no means all the journals indexed by a particular database will be in the Barr Smith Library's collections. If you find an article that is important to you, and it isn't available in our Library either in paper format or as an online subscription, you can make use of our Document delivery service.
Some databases will provide full text of the articles either directly, or by linking you to the journal's website through the Library catalogue.
Most databases will allow you to mark results that you want to follow up and many let you email your marked results, and/or the full text of articles, to your own email address.
I've listed on this page the Library's databases that are most likely to be of use in English literature research.
They are all available through the Library Catalogue, using the 'Electronic Resources' Quick Limit, but here I've provided short cuts.
Don't forget, though, that there are many traditional printed resources in the Barr Smith Library's Reference collection that could be useful; see me for more information.
Multimedia resources
As well as databases, we also have a growing collection of multimedia CDs and DVDs. I've linked each title below to its Library Catalogue record. If you would like to have a look at one of these titles you will need to take note of the Location on the catalogue record; most of them are in the Reserve and Multimedia area on Level 3 South of the Barr Smith Library. Ask the librarian at the Reserve and Multimedia desk to set you up in the on the Multimedia computer. You may need to ask for headphones if the CD/DVD contains sound files. Please tell the librarian at the Reserve and Multimedia desk when you have finished with the CD/DVD.
- Chaucer: life and times. Complete works of Geoffrey Chaucer as in the Riverside Chaucer with translations of major works as published by Penguin and critical essays by leading academics. Also includes images from various libraries, museums and art galleries, a map of pilgrim routes, a tutorial on reading a medieval manuscript, a glossary of Middle English words and audio clips of The General Prologue and some tales in Middle English.
A CD-ROM available only in the Barr Smith Library Multimedia collection (not networked).
- Chaucer's Wife of Bath's Prologue. Transcriptions, collations and digitised images of all 58 pre-1500 manuscript and print versions of Chaucer's famous poem. A CD-ROM available only in the Barr Smith Library Multimedia collection (not networked).
- Electronic Beowulf. Image-based edition of the great Old English poem, surviving in the British Library in a composite codex known as Cotton Ms. Vitellius A. xv. A CD-ROM available only in the Barr Smith Library Multimedia collection (not networked).
- Johnson's dictionary Samuel Johnson's eighteenth century dictionary of the English language. A CD-ROM available only in the Barr Smith Library Multimedia collection (not networked).
- Old English. An introduction to the language and culture of England from the coming of the English until the Norman Conquest. The language is covered in detail, with chapters on the writing system, sounds, grammar and vocabulary, as well as on dialect and poetic language. The art and architectural milieu is represented by more than 300 images of manuscripts, sculpture, architecture and jewelry.
A CD-ROM available only in the Barr Smith Library Multimedia collection (not networked).
- World Shakespeare Bibliography
Issued every year as part of Shakespeare quarterly. We have a complete set of paper copies of Shakespeare quarterly from vol. 1 (1950) to date, at call number 822.3305 S522. We also have online access to volumes 1-31, 1950-1981, including the Bibliography, through JSTOR; unfortunately, the Bibliography for 1982 onwards is not included in our JSTOR and Project Muse online subscriptions.
I'm trying to get funding for online access to World Shakespeare Bibliography, but so far without success...
- Black literature index, 1827-1940: Index to the Black Literature project which documents the fiction, poetry, and literary reviews which appeared in black-owned and -edited newspapers published in the United States between 1827 and 1940. The Barr Smith Library holds the collection of indexed publications at MICROFICHE PER 340.
A CD-ROM available only on Barr Smith Library Non-networked databases computer 332, behind the Information desk.
Thesis checking
If you are embarking on a thesis you should consult these indexes to theses/dissertations as early as possible; not only is it interesting to see what work has been done on your thesis topic, it is crucial, if you are doing a higher degree, to ensure that your actual thesis topic is original.
- Digital Dissertations [formerly Dissertation abstracts]. An index to doctoral dissertations (theses) submitted to accredited North American universities and colleges, and some international universities, from 1861 onwards.
Citations from 1980 include a 350-word abstract. From 1997, in addition to the abstract, you can read a preview comprising the first 24 pages of the thesis. You can also download the complete text of each thesis in .pdf format, but you will need to pay for that (in March 2007 the cost was US$42.00).
- Index to theses Theses accepted for higher degrees by the universities of Great Britain and Ireland.
- Australasian Digital Theses Program The University of Adelaide is a member of the ADT program which is building a distributed database of theses in digitised format from Australian universities. Search or browse the database, and find out how to deposit a thesis in the database.
How to access the databases
You'll find information about how to access them on the page for each individual database in the lists above.
Many of them may be accessed remotely from your home or office computer. Read the detailed instructions on our Remote access to electronic resources page for information on how to do this.
This page is maintained by Jennifer Osborn
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