LibGuides: Literature: Reference

Print Resources

Reference materials are a wonderfully quick way of looking up quick facts and terms. They are brief and easy to find with just browsing the shelves.

Encyclopedia of the novel / editor, Paul Schellinger ; assistant editors, Christopher Hudson, Marijke Rijsberman.
Call Number: REF PN41 .E487 1998
ISBN: 1579580157
Cyclopedia of literary characters.
Call Number: online
ISBN: 0893564389
The Oxford dictionary of phrase and fable / edited by Elizabeth Knowles.
Call Number: PN43 .O94 2005 ONLINE
ISBN: 0198609817
Access is available to current Cairn students, faculty and staff.
The Hutchinson encyclopedia of literature
Call Number: Online
ISBN: 9781859865613
Publication Date: 2006
Access is available to current Cairn students, faculty and staff.

ORO search box

Enter a search term in the box below to search selected dictionaries and encyclopedias from Oxford University Press:

Online Reference

Artemis This link opens in a new window
The Artemis platform integrates full-text literary content with metadata and subject indexing and provides workflow tools to analyze information. You can research authors and their works, literary movements and genres. Search across your library's Literature databases to find full text of literary works, journal articles, literature criticism, reviews, biographical information and overviews.
Cambridge Companions Online: Complete Collection This link opens in a new window
The Cambridge Companions Online: Complete Collection is a fully searchable, full text collection of from the renowned Cambridge Companions series. The Complete collection includes: The Companions to Literature and Classics; The Companions to Philosophy, Religion and Culture; and, The Companions to Music.
Complete Prose of T.S. Eliot This link opens in a new window
The Complete Prose of T. S. Eliot gathers for the first time in one place the collected, uncollected, and unpublished prose of one of the most prolific writers of the twentieth century. When complete, this eight-volume critical edition will dramatically expand access to material that has been restricted or inaccessible in private and institutional collections for almost fifty years.
The result of a multi-year collaboration among Eliot's Estate, Faber and Faber Ltd., Johns Hopkins University Press, the Beck Digital Center of Emory University, and the Institute of English Studies, University of London.
Dictionary of Literary Biography Complete Online This link opens in a new window
An essential resource for literature students and scholars, Dictionary of Literary Biography Complete Online provides authoritative information while placing writers in the larger perspective of literary history.
Dictionary of Literary Biography Complete Online This link opens in a new window
An essential resource for literature students and scholars, Dictionary of Literary Biography Complete Online provides authoritative information while placing writers in the larger perspective of literary history.
Biography in Context This link opens in a new window
Biography In Context is built on a foundation of more than 650,000 biographical entries covering more than 400,000 international figures from all time periods and areas of study. Providing coverage of the most-searched and studied people, Biography In Context includes more than 4,500 portal pages on the world’s most remarkable contemporary and historical names.
Some titles included in Biography in Context: Contemporary Authors, Contemporary Black Biography, Contemporary Musicians, Encyclopedia of World Biography, Newsmakers, and Writer’s Directory
Oxford English Dictionary (OED) This link opens in a new window
The accepted authority on the evolution of the English language over the last millennium. It traces the usage of words through 2.5 million quotations from a wide range of international English language sources.