Scholarly literature
This section guides you through finding writings by scholars who discuss literary works and their historical, cultural and social contexts. These are often known as secondary works.
There are two main ways to discover secondary works: via Library Search and specialist bibliographical databases.
Library Search
Library Search is the Library's main catalogue and a great starting point for your study and research. Use it to find individual books and journal articles, and books and journals on your subject.
For advice on using Library Search to find books and articles, refer to the tutorial below or contact me.
Bibliographical databases
Bibliographical databases, sometimes known as subject indexes, provide records of scholarly books, articles, conference papers and doctoral theses. They enable you to do deeper, richer research, and are particularly useful for longer essays and dissertations/theses.
Use of Library Search to find key books on your subject is recommended before you turn to bibliographies/indexes to do more in-depth research.
- MLA International Bibliography This link opens in a new window
- Oxford Bibliographies Online This link opens in a new window
Authoritative guides to scholarship on a wide range of subjects, written and reviewed by leading academic experts.
- International Medieval Bibliography (IMB) This link opens in a new window
An index of scholarly research on history, literature and culture from 400 to 1500AD. Geographical coverage includes North Africa, the Middle East and Europe.
- JSTOR This link opens in a new window
JSTOR is a digital library of academic journals, books, and primary sources.
- Project Muse This link opens in a new window
Covers literature and criticism, history, the visual and performing arts, cultural studies, education, political science, gender studies, etc. Contains current full text scholarly journals which cover these fields and a significant collection of recent scholarly books.
- International Bibliography of the Social Sciences (IBSS) This link opens in a new window
The International Bibliography of the Social Sciences (IBSS) is an essential online resource for social science and interdisciplinary research. IBSS includes journal articles and to books, reviews and selected chapters dating back to 1951. It is unique in its broad coverage of international material and incorporates over 100 languages and countries.
- EThOS (Electronic Theses Online Service) This link opens in a new window
UK’s national thesis service providing records of all doctoral theses awarded by UK Higher Education institutions and free access to the full text of as many theses as possible. Please note: UK theses not available on EThOS can be requested via the Inter-Library Loan service.
- ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global This link opens in a new window
Includes citations to dissertations and theses from 1861 to the present day. Full-text is available for most dissertations added since 1997. The official digital dissertations archive for the Library of Congress, it also includes UK & Ireland content.
Library Search tutorial
Locations of printed collections
Using the MLA International Bibliography
Bibliographical database tutorial
This interactive tutorial guides you through the process of using databases optimally to find information on your topic. It should take about 30 minutes to complete.
