duPont Library: English 360: Renaissance Literature II: Search for Secondary Sources

Search for Books

Find books in the duPont Library that contain discussion and criticism of literary works and authors. Tip: do a keyword search for the author plus the word criticism.

Find examples of close reading

You can find examples of scholars reading texts very carefully and writing short interpretations of the texts. Review articles in this literary journal for good models of style and substance to follow for your papers.

1. Go to The Explicator journal

2. At the top of the screen, the search box is ready to search "within this journal."

3. Search the title of the work and the author's name to find examples of these close readings.

English Literature Databases

This is a selected list of databases that have a focus on English literature. Use them to search for literary criticism from journal articles and other sources related to your Renaissance Literature research.

MLA International Bibliography with Full Text This link opens in a new window
Subject index for books, articles and websites published on modern languages, literatures, folklore, and linguistics by the Modern Language Association (MLA), an organization dedicated to the study and teaching of language and literature.
Search interface: EBSCOhost.
Proquest One Literature This link opens in a new window
Collection of works of English and American literature from the eighth century to the present day, plus biographical and bibliographical information and key works of criticism and reference. Also includes links to literary web resources.
Includes: African American Poetry, American Drama 1714–1915, American Poetry, Annual Bibliography Of English Language And Literature, 1920– (Abell), Canadian Poetry, Early American Fiction 1789–1850, Early American Fiction 1789–1875, Early English Prose Fiction, Eighteenth-Century Fiction, English Drama (including Shakespeare), English Poetry, The Faber Poetry Library, King James Bible, Nineteenth-Century Fiction, Twentieth-Century African American Poetry, Twentieth-Century American Poetry, Twentieth-Century English Poetry.
Search interface: Chadwyck-Healey.

Also contains criticism (journal articles), Reference works, Biographies, Bibliographies, Websites, video clips of poets reading their own and other poets' work, Shakespeare audio plays.
Project MUSE This link opens in a new window
Full-text versions of peer-reviewed journals from many of the world's leading university presses and scholarly societies, as well as thousands of ebooks, with emphasis on humanities and social sciences. We subscribe to the "Standard Collection" of journals (which is over 300 titles, but not all of the journals on the site) and have purchased a small number of ebooks. You may want to limit your search to "Only content I have full access to."
JSTOR This link opens in a new window
Collection that includes over 200 scholarly journals in literature and languages, as well as select monographs and other materials valuable for academic work. Journals are always included from volume 1, issue 1 and include previous and unrelated titles.
Iter Bibliography This link opens in a new window
An index of sources about the Middle Ages and Renaissance (400-1700). Includes scholarly periodicals, reviews, review articles, bibliographies, catalogues, abstracts and discographies, monographs, and essay collections. Date coverage: 1943 to present. Updated daily. Citations only

Other Relevant Databases

Academic OneFile (Gale) This link opens in a new window
Provides millions of articles from scholarly journals and other authoritative sources with extensive coverage in key subject areas, such as biology, chemistry, criminal justice, economics, environmental science, history, marketing, political science, and psychology.

Specialized Journals

ELH
Issue online from 1934 to 2007.
ELH
Issues online from 1993 to present.
English Literary Renaissance
Online coverage from 1997 to present.
Essays in Criticism
Issues online from 1996 to present.
Philosophy and Literature
Issues online from 1976 to present.
Renaissance & Reformation
Online from 1964 to present.
Renaissance Quarterly
Online from 1967 to present in JSTOR.
SEL: Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900
Issues online from 1997 to present.
Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900
Issues online from 1961 to 2007.

BrowZine for Journals

BrowZine

Need a resource we don't have?

Sewanee ILL

Historical Context

Historical Abstracts This link opens in a new window
An index of sources of world history from 1450 to the present, excluding the United States and Canada. Covers scholarly periodicals, books, collections, and dissertations, from 1955 to present. Updated monthly. Citations and abstracts only. Up to 6 concurrent users.
Search interface: EBSCOHost.
Religion and Philosophy (Gale OneFile) This link opens in a new window
A collection of articles on religion and philosophy from popular and scholarly sources. Researchers will gain valuable insight about the impact religion has had on culture throughout history, including literature, arts, and language. Updated daily, Religion and Philosophy supports a broad range of topics from theological approaches to social issues. Coverage begins with 1980 for indexing, and 1983 for full text of some of the periodicals.
Search interface: Gale InfoTrac.

Jessie Ball duPont Library

English 360: Renaissance Literature II