Literature Databases
- MLA International BibliographyThe major index for publications on all languages and literatures, from the Middle Ages to the present. Indexes articles, books, series, translations, scholarly editions, websites, and dissertations. Other topics indexed include literary theory and criticism, dramatic arts (film, radio, television, theatre), history of printing and publishing, linguistics, rhetoric and composition, and folklore.
- Literature OnlineA fully searchable Library of literary works of English and American poetry, drama and prose, plus biographies, bibliographies, key criticism and reference resources.
- Gale Literature CriticismAn extensive compilation of literary commentary, including analysis from book excerpts, periodicals, and more. Covers Short Story Criticism, Dictionary of Literary Biography, Twentieth (20th) Century Literature Criticism, Nineteenth (19th) Century Literature Criticism, Classical & Medieval Literature Criticism, Shakespearean Criticism, Contemporary Literary Criticism, Literature Criticism 1400-1800, Poetry Criticism, Children's Literature Review, Something About the Author, and Drama Criticism.
- Oxford BibliographiesContains bibliographies for American Literature, British and Irish Literature, as well as other related topics.
- World Shakespeare Bibliography OnlineProvides annotated entries for books, articles, book reviews, dissertations, theatrical productions, reviews of productions, audiovisual materials, electrical media, and other scholarly and popular materials related to Shakespeare.
- American Literature in the JSTOR Understanding SeriesPart of the JSTOR Understanding Project, in which you can use the text of a growing number of works of American Literature to navigate into the scholarship written about them—line by line. Each article title links to the full-text on the main JSTOR website, which is available to University of Kentucky authorized users.
- British Literature in the JSTOR Understanding SeriesCollaborative project between JSTOR and the Studies in English Literature at Rice University, in which you can use the text of a growing number of works of British Literature to navigate into the scholarship written about them—line by line. Each article title links to the full-text on the main JSTOR website, which is available to University of Kentucky authorized users.
- Literary IndexMaster index to the major literature products published by Gale and the imprints Charles Scribner's Sons, St. James Press, and Twayne Publishers. Provides access to biographical and critical information.
General Databases with significant literature content
- Academic Search Complete This link opens in a new windowMultidisciplinary database which includes many articles on literature topics. Often a good place to begin your research. You can choose to limit to academic (peer-reviewed) sources.
- Arts and Humanities Citation IndexMultidisciplinary index covering over 1,700 arts and humanities core journals plus selected articles from social science and scientific publications that are relevant to arts and humanities topics. Topics include Linguistics, Literary Reviews, Art, Literature, Asian Studies, Music, Classics, Philosophy, Dance, Poetry, Folklore, Radio, Television, Film, History, Religion, Language and Theatre. Links to Cited References and Times Cited (with links to the citing article if it is included in the database) are available in each record.
- Dissertations and Theses Global (ProQuest)As the official digital dissertations archive for the Library of Congress, PQDTGlobal includes millions of searchable citations to dissertations and theses from 1861 to the present day together with over a million full-text dissertations.
- Google Scholar This link opens in a new windowEnables you to search specifically for scholarly literature, including peer-reviewed papers, theses, books, preprints, abstracts and technical reports from all broad areas of research. Use Google Scholar to find articles from a wide variety of academic publishers, professional societies, preprint repositories and universities, as well as scholarly articles available across the web.
- JSTORSearchable full-text journal backfile collection that includes numerous journals in literature, film studies, folklore and many other areas.
- Periodicals Archive Online (PAO)Over 700 journal backfiles. Full-text from the first volume to 2000. Completely full-text. Comparable to JSTOR.
- Project MuseSearchable full-text access to over 300 humanities, arts, and social sciences journals from 60 scholarly publishers. Available from Johns Hopkins University Press.
Related Humanities Databases
- America: History and LifeProvides access to citations and abstracts of journal literature, reviews, and dissertations on the history and culture of the U.S. and Canada from prehistoric times to the present. Covers over 2,000 journals published worldwide, including selected historical journals from major countries, state and local history journals, and a targeted selection of hundreds of journals in the social sciences and humanities.
- Historical AbstractsCovers events from 1450 to the present (excluding the United States and Canada). The database provides annotated bibliographic entries from 2,000 journals published worldwide.
- International Medieval Bibliography (IMB)Indexes the journal literature (some 4,500 periodicals) covering the European middle ages (c. 300-1500). Limited to three simultaneous users.
- Philosopher's IndexIndexes books and journals of philosophy and related fields, covering the areas of ethics, aesthetics, social philosophy, political philosophy, epistemology, and metaphysic logic as well as material on the philosophy of law, religion, science, history, education, and language. Limited to four simultaneous users.
How to Get Full-Text
When searching for journal articles, you will notice the View Now button on many of your search results. Clicking on the View Now button will lead you to the article itself, links to the full text of the article, or it will let you know that we do not have full text of the article.
If the full text is not available, you can search InfoKat Discovery for a print copy of the article. If we do not have a print copy, you can request an interlibrary loan (ILL). For articles, these usually arrive pretty quickly.
Have questions? Ask Us for help.
Cited Reference Searching
The Cited Reference search in Web of Science Core Collection or Academic Search Complete searches the footnotes of journal articles. This is very helpful when you need to track down the references to a particular author or article.