English Literature Dictionaries and Reference works
Dictionaries
- Oxford English Dictionary (OED) Online
- The Web-based new edition of the OED. Click on the link Enter OED Online on their website to use the dictionary.
The online Dictionary contains the complete A to Z sequence of the Second Edition, its three-volume Additions Series, and also draft material from the revision programme, which represents the latest progress towards the Third Edition. Provides etymology, definition, part of speech, date of origination, pronunciation, quotation and cross references.
If you just want to quickly look up a word in the OED simply type it in the box below:
[Isn't modern technology wonderful!!]
 You need to be a member of the University of Adelaide community, and connected to the University of Adelaide computer network, to be able to use OED Online.
To get the most out of this resource you should make use of the excellent online help page which provides comprehensive information about using the powerful search facilities. I find it useful to have the Quick Reference Guide on hand; download a copy in .pdf format and make a print.
To find out more about this marvellous project, have a look at About the Oxford English Dictionary for interesting features on: History of the Dictionary; The revision program; Guide to the Dictionary; Dictionary milestones; Dictionary facts.
You can keep up with developments by subscribing to Oxford English Dictionary News. A newsletter designed to keep OED users abreast of current research and developments on the OED, it includes articles by editors, researchers, and contributors on their work for the OED, as well as regular updates on the overall progress of the revision programme, and reports on other items, both interesting and entertaining, that the editors come across in the course of their research. Each issue also contains an Appeals List, consisting of words and phrases for which entries are currently being drafted or revised, and for which further evidence is needed.
There's a review of OED Online: "'The world's greatest dictionary' goes online" in issue number 23 of Ariadne.
- Compact Oxford English Dictionary
Searchable online from this link. From this page, you can also access the Little Oxford Dictionary of Quotations and the Concise Dictionary of First Names.
- Roget's Thesaurus
- Search the headwords or full text of Roget's Thesaurus, 1911 (supplemented: July 1991).
- Roget's II: The New Thesaurus
- Roget's II: The New Thesaurus (1995) contains 35,000 synonyms, in an easy-to-use format that eschews the traditionally classified or category-indexed thesaurus of old. It also contains succinct definitions as well as synonyms, and numerous cross-references.
There is a useful Category Index: Words Related and Opposite in Meaning.
- Johnson's dictionary
- An electronic version of Samuel Johnson's eighteenth century dictionary of the English language. Available to members of the University of Adelaide community in the Barr Smith Library's Reserve and Multimedia area.
Encyclopædias and other reference works
Oxford Reference Online
- This online refernce database holds several titles that are useful for literature students, including The Oxford Encyclopedia of American Literature, The Oxford Companion to Crime and Mystery Writing, The Oxford Companion to Twentieth-Century Literature in English and The Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms. Click on the link above and go to Encyclopedias: Literature. You can go directly to the Oxford Encyclopedia of British Literature from here. These databases are very useful for getting background information on particular authors, texts and literary concepts, as well as providing further reading in bibliographies.
- The Cambridge History of English and American Literature
- The most important general history of English and American literature, the 18-volume set appeared from 1907 to 1921 with 303 chapters and over 11,000 pages. The online version is a dream to use: there are indexes to chapters, authors and bbliographies or you can use the built-in search engine to find your topic. Wonderful stuff!
- Global Books in Print
- A combined elecronic version of Bowker's Books In Print database of titles available in the U.S. and Canada and Whitaker's British Books In Print database of titles available in the U.K.
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Bartlett's Familiar Quotations
"I have gathered a posie of other men's flowers, and nothing but the thread that binds them is mine own."
Contains a Chronological Index of Primary Authors and an Alphabetic Index of All Authors.
- Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable
- The Dictionary of Phrase and Fable by E. Cobham Brewer is a treasure -- one of my favourite reference books -- and it is great to see it on the Web! Described as a browser's joy [!] it has been in popular demand since 1870.
The Dictionary has a built-in search facility.
The text is the new edition, revised, corrected and enlarged, published in Philadelhpia by Henry Altemus in 1898.
- Fowler's The King's English
- The second edition, 1908, of H. W. Fowler's classic and idiosyncratic work on English grammar. 'It took the world by storm' said The Times in its obituary of Fowler. Better-known is Fowler's later work, A Dictionary of modern English usage (1926) which made the name of Fowler a household world in all English-speaking countries. Enjoy!
- Gale's Literary Index
- Gale's Literary Index is a master index to the major literature products published by Gale Group, Inc. It combines and cross references more than 135,000 author names, including pseudonyms and variant names, and more than 165,000 titles into one source. All in all, a very useful way of searching, by author or by title, the contents of the Library's sets of Gale Literary indexes. They include: American novelists since World War II; Contemporary authors; Contemporary literary criticism; Dictionary of Literary Biography ; Encyclopedia of world literature in the 20th century; Nineteenth-century literature criticism; Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism.
- Strunk's The Elements of Style (1918)
- Believing that one must first know the rules to break them, this classic reference book is a must-have for any student, writer, and conscientious writer. It aims to give in brief space the principal requirements of plain English style, and concentrate attention on the rules of usage and principles of composition most commonly violated.
- Oxford dictionary of national biography
- The above link is to the online version; we also have the 60-volume set in our Reference collection at Call number 920 D55o.
I felt sure I'd miss the great old DNB which, with its various supplements, has been part of my reference librarian life for an incredible number of years. The bound, Oxford-blue volumes of its replacement, the ODNB, smell and feel magnificent, and now they are even illustrated (thanks to the National Portrait Gallery); but I must admit to having been completely suborned by the online version.
Among the advantages of the electronic version is that online updates will 'add new biographies, taking in people who died after 2000, in addition to reference material designed to help readers navigate and interpret the dictionary'.
- Inter-Play
- Subtitled 'an on-line index to plays in collections, anthologies and periodicals' Inter-Play provides easy access to the locations of printed plays in collections, anthologies and periodicals. Most of the plays cited are not indexed in the standard printed play indexes such as Ottemiller's Index to Plays in Collections [Barr Smith Library Reference collection 809.2 O89.7r] or H. W. Wilson's
Play Index [Barr Smith Library Reference collection 822.05 P722 (1949/1952 - 1988/1992)].
- The Encyclopedia Mythica
- Subtitled An encyclopedia on mythology, folklore and legend. You can browse through the mythologies of individual countries or use the inbuilt search engine to find a particular piece of information.
It contains definitions of gods and goddesses, supernatural beings and legendary creatures and monsters from all over the world, an image gallery, guides to pronunciation and a bibliography.
I find it very useful.
- A Handbook of Rhetorical Devices
- Definitions and examples of more than sixty traditional rhetorical devices by Robert Harris, Professor of English at Southern California College in Costa Mesa, California. If you reckon you are pretty good at identifying rhetorical devices, try the Self-Test.
Glossaries of Literary terms
- Glossary of Literary terms
- An excellent reference tool provided by Gale, a world leader in publishing for libraries.
- The Virtual Classroom Glossary of Literary terms
- A list of definitions of literary terms compiled by the Virtual Classroom of the
Cambridge University English Faculty. The list contains many internal hyperlinks - a useful feature.
- Glossary of Literary terms
- A comprehensive and well-defined glossary which is maintained by Bedford/St. Martin's, a college publisher specialising in the humanities.
Literary prizes
- Nobel Prize in Literature winners
- Links to all the winners from 1901 in a chronological table (or you can use the alpahabetical arrangement).
For each author you get a background summary, books published and links to appropriate websites. An invaluable reference source.
If you want a detailed analysis of each Nobel Prize for Literature winner, have a look at Nobel prize laureates in literature. Detroit, Gale, 2007. Each article is signed, includes a portrait, an analysis, a Bibliography, Interviews and References. Nobel prize laureates in literature comprises volumes 329 to 332 in the Dictionary of Literary Biography series; you'll find it in the Barr Smith Library Reference collection at Call Number 920 D548 329-332.
- The Man Booker Prize
- The Booker Prize, which was renamed in 2002 after a change in its sponsorship and is now officially called the Man Booker Prize, is the most prestigious literary award given in the United Kingdom. The award is given to the best full-length novel published in the previous 12 months; nominees are chosen from among the nations of the current and former British Commonwealth. The aim of the prize is to stimulate the kind of public interest aroused in France by the Prix Goncourt.
The site includes a Prize archive a complete information resource of the prize since its inception in 1969.
If you want a detailed analysis of each Booker Prize-winning novel, have a look at Booker Prize novels, 1969-2005 edited by Merritt Moseley. Detroit, Gale, 2006. Each article is signed, includes a portrait, an analysis, a Bibliography, Interviews and References. Booker Prize novels, 1969-2005 is volume 326 in the Dictionary of Literary Biography series; you'll find it in the Barr Smith Library Reference collection at Call Number 920 D548 326.
- The National Book Awards
- On 16 March 1950, a consortium of book publishing groups sponsored the first annual National Book Awards Ceremony and Dinner at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City. Their goal was to enhance the public's awareness of exceptional books written by fellow Americans, and to increase the popularity of reading in general. Since then, The National Book Awards have become the nation's pre-eminent literary prizes. The Awards are given to recognize achievements in four genres: Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, and Young People's Literature.
There's a handy List of past winners from 1950 to date.
- The Pulitzer Prizes
- The Pulitzer Prize for Fiction has been awarded since 1948 for distinguished fiction by an American author, preferably dealing with American life; it replaced the Pulitzer Prize for the Novel which was first awarded in 1917.
This official site lets you search for Pulitzer Prize winners by year, category, author or explanatory text.
- Literary Prizes and Awards
- Divided into sections, Children's Literary prizes, New Zealand prizes and International Literary prizes. This comprehensive site is maintained by the Christchurch City Council.
- Australian literary awards
- Information about Australian literary awards: the The Australian/Vogel Award and The Miles Franklin Award, is on my Australian literature and culture resources page.
Proofreading symbols
- Proofreaders' and editors' symbols
- A handy list of the standard proofreading and editing marks.
This page is maintained by Jennifer Osborn
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