Research Guides: English & Literatures in English: Articles &amp; Databases

Finding Articles

Articles, in comparison to books, are shorter and usually discuss a more focused topic. Below are library resources that provide access to scholarly articles and other resources that are often unavailable on the open web.

Databases: See the subject-focused databases listed in this page, or search the Database Finder.
Journals:
- Journal Finder: Find journals by title, ISSN, or keyword.
- BrowZine: Search for or browse select scholarly online journals to which the Libraries subscribe.
Citation Linker: Use to find and access a specific journal article, journal or book.

If the Libraries do not have access to the article, please submit an interlibrary loan request by clicking the "Go to ILLiad" link on the Interlibrary Loan page.

Finding Articles through Library Databases

The library databases listed on this page provide access to find scholarly articles, as well as other types of information. If you don't see a Full Text link below the article citation, look for a button labeled "Get it!" This application will check for access to the full text of the article within the library's subscriptions.

If you see a message that we don't have access, choose the Campbell Library Interlibrary Loan Request link to order the article from another library. Often we can get an electronic copy of the article quickly.

Top Recommended Literature Databases

Literature-Specific Databases

MLA International Bibliography This link opens in a new window
The Modern Language Association's index to language and linguistics, rhetoric, folklore, film, literary theory & criticism, & dramatic arts.
Contains millions of citations from journals & series, as well as book publishers, dating back to the 1920s. The indexed materials coverage is international, and includes titles and full-text links from J-STOR and Project Muse, Wiley-Blackwell and Taylor & Francis. Subjects consist of literature, language and linguistics, folklore, film, literary theory & criticism, dramatic arts, as well as the historical aspects of printing and publishing. Listings on rhetoric and composition and the history, theory and practice of teaching language and literature are also included.
Literature (Gale) This link opens in a new window
Search across our entire collection of GALE literary criticism databases.
Offers an integrated research experience by searching across Gale's premier literary databases. These include is a Contemporary Literary Criticism Online, 19th Century Literary Criticism Online, 20th Century Literary Criticism Online, Shakespearean Criticism Online, Gale's Literary Resource Center and Gale's Lit Finder.
Literature Criticism (Gale) This link opens in a new window
Online version of the reference series Contemporary Literary Criticism.
Contemporary Literary Criticism--Select is an extensive collection of critical essays on contemporary authors. Each CLC--Select entry contains a biographical/critical introduction, listing of principal works and sources for further study.
Literary Reference Source This link opens in a new window
Information on authors and their works, plot summaries, book reviews, poems, short stories and more.
Literature Online This link opens in a new window
Works of poetry, drama and prose, with journal articles and criticism about them.
Literature Online This link opens in a new window
Works of poetry, drama and prose, with journal articles and criticism about them.
Literature Resource Center (Gale) This link opens in a new window
Collection of reference works about literature.
Includes access to content from Contemporary Authors Online, Contemporary Literary Criticism Select, Dictionary of Literary Biography Online, and a variety of other online sources of literary criticism and biography.
Literary Index (Gale) This link opens in a new window
Master index to the major literature products published by Gale. It combines and cross-references author names, including pseudonyms and variant names, and listings for titles of works into one source.

Humanities-Focused Databases

Project MUSE This link opens in a new window
Full text database of current scholarly journals in the arts, humanities, and social sciences.
JSTOR can also be searched simultaneously using the advanced search feature on the Project Muse page.
JSTOR This link opens in a new window
Archive of full-text scholarly journal articles and ebooks in a broad range of academic disciplines.

Academic Search Complete This link opens in a new window
Full-text journal, magazine, and news articles in all academic disciplines.
Humanities Source This link opens in a new window
Provides full text, indexing and abstracts for the most noted scholarly sources in the humanities.
Arts & Humanities Database This link opens in a new window
This database features hundreds of titles covering Art, Architecture, Design, History, Philosophy, Music, Literature, Theatre and Cultural Studies.
Humanities & Social Sciences Index Retrospective: 1907-1984 (H.W. Wilson) This link opens in a new window
Index to articles published 1907 – 1984 in the humanities and social sciences.
This database contains citations only, no full text.

Library Reference Tools

Bloom's Literature This link opens in a new window
Online encyclopedia of world literature.
Examines great writers, important works, memorable characters, and influential movements and events in world literature.
Dictionary of Literary Biography This link opens in a new window
Online version of Gale Dictionary of Literary Biography.
Provides biographical and critical essays on the lives, works, and careers of the world's most influential literary figures from all eras and genres.
MLA Directory of Periodicals This link opens in a new window
Directory of periodicals maintained by the Modern Language Association.
Contains all information available on the journals and series on the bibliography's Master List of Periodicals. The entries list editorial addresses, phone numbers, fax numbers, e-mail addresses, frequency of publication, descriptions of the periodicals' scopes, circulation figures, subscription prices and addresses, advertising information, and submission guidelines. The directory also provides statistics on how many articles and book reviews the periodicals publish each year, as well as how many are submitted.
Oxford English Dictionary This link opens in a new window
Online version of the Oxford English Dictionary.
The OED is the accepted authority on the evolution of the English language over the last millennium. It is an unsurpassed guide to the meaning, history, and pronunciation of over half a million words, both present and past. It traces the usage of words through 2.5 million quotations from a wide range of international English language sources, from classic literature and specialist periodicals to film scripts and cookery books. Use this online source for the latest information as we are no longer updating our print copies.
Something about the Author (Gale Literature) This link opens in a new window
Online version of Gale reference series Something about the Author.
Provides comprehensive online access to all volumes of Gale's Something About the Author series, which examines the lives and works of authors and illustrators for children and young adults.
Literature (Gale) This link opens in a new window
Search across our entire collection of GALE literary criticism databases.
Offers an integrated research experience by searching across Gale's premier literary databases. These include is a Contemporary Literary Criticism Online, 19th Century Literary Criticism Online, 20th Century Literary Criticism Online, Shakespearean Criticism Online, Gale's Literary Resource Center and Gale's Lit Finder.
Literature Criticism (Gale) This link opens in a new window
Online version of the reference series Contemporary Literary Criticism.
Contemporary Literary Criticism--Select is an extensive collection of critical essays on contemporary authors. Each CLC--Select entry contains a biographical/critical introduction, listing of principal works and sources for further study.
Literature Online This link opens in a new window
Works of poetry, drama and prose, with journal articles and criticism about them.
Literature Resource Center (Gale) This link opens in a new window
Collection of reference works about literature.
Includes access to content from Contemporary Authors Online, Contemporary Literary Criticism Select, Dictionary of Literary Biography Online, and a variety of other online sources of literary criticism and biography.

Primary Source Databases

Accessible Archives This link opens in a new window
Archives of searchable historical primary source materials. Note: This content has moved to the History Commons platform, but still contains the Accessible Archives collections subscribed to by Rowan University.
AM Explorer This link opens in a new window
Primary source collections across the entire portfolio of Adam Matthew Digital, spanning content from the 15th-21st centuries. Collections include Eighteen Century Drama; Eighteenth Century Journals; Literary Manuscripts Berg; Literary Manuscripts Leeds; Literary Print Culture; Shakespeare in Performance, and Travel Writing; Spectacle and World History, among others. See the Subcollections Guide for a list of collections.
Eighteenth Century Collections Online This link opens in a new window
Primary source documents from the Eighteenth Century.
Contains English and foreign language titles printed in the United Kingdom in the Eighteenth Century, including thousands of works from the Americas.
Nineteenth Century Collections Online (Gale Primary Sources) This link opens in a new window
Primary source materials about the Nineteenth Century. Collections include British Theatre, Music, and Literature; Children's Literature and Childhood; European Literature, 1790-1840: The Corvey Collection; and Photography: The World through the Lens, among others. See the Subcollections Guide for a list of collections.
Includes books, newspapers, periodicals, diaries and personal letters, manuscripts, photographs, pamphlets, maps and musical scores.
Nineteenth Century Collections Online (Gale Primary Sources) This link opens in a new window
Primary source materials about the Nineteenth Century.
Includes books, newspapers, periodicals, diaries and personal letters, manuscripts, photographs, pamphlets, maps and musical scores.
Primary Sources (Gale) This link opens in a new window
Search across multiple GALE databases of primary sources.
Primary Sources Collection (Proquest) This link opens in a new window
Three hundred multidisciplinary resources providing access to thousands of primary source documents, including archival collections, government documents, periodicals, newspapers, and video. View the extensive list of Collections under the Literature category. See the Subcollections Guide for a list of collections.

Theatre Databases

For a more detailed list of threatre resources, see the Theatre Research Guide.

AM Explorer This link opens in a new window
Primary source collections across the entire portfolio of Adam Matthew Digital, spanning content from the 15th-21st centuries.
American Drama 1714-1915 This link opens in a new window
Covers three centuries of rare and modern dramatic works that have formed American theater.
Black Drama: Third Edition This link opens in a new window
Full text of select plays written from the mid-1800s to the present by playwrights from North America, English-speaking Africa, the Caribbean, and other African diaspora countries.
Many of the works are rare, hard to find, or out of print. James Vernon Hatch, the playwright, historian, and curator of the landmark Hatch-Billops Collection, is the project’s editorial advisor. More than 40 percent of the collection consists of previously unpublished plays by writers such as Langston Hughes, Ed Bullins, Willis Richardson, Amiri Baraka, Randolph Edmonds, Zora Neale Hurston, and many others.
Digital Theatre+ This link opens in a new window
Unlimited access to some of the world's finest theatrical productions, unique backstage insights, practitioner interviews and written analysis.
English Drama This link opens in a new window
Plays in verse and prose from the late Thirteenth Century to the early Twentieth.
Offers exhaustive coverage of the prodigious dramatic literature of the Elizabethan and Jacobean periods, as well as Restoration plays, medieval morality plays and mystery cycles, and nineteenth-century closet dramas. In addition to works by major dramatists such as Ben Jonson, Aphra Behn, William Wycherley, Oliver Goldsmith, Richard Sheridan, Oscar Wilde and J. M. Synge. Includes the dramatic writings of many more neglected writers long inaccessible in print form.
Latin American Drama This link opens in a new window
Contains plays written by Latin American playwrights in the 19th-21st centuries.
The collection also supports the study of American history, ethnic diversity, immigration issues, and political history.
National Theatre Collection This link opens in a new window
Streaming video of world-class productions and unique archival material.
This collection offers a range of digital performance resources never previously seen outside of the National Theatre’s archive.
Nineteenth Century Collections Online (Gale Primary Sources) This link opens in a new window
Primary source materials about the Nineteenth Century.
Includes books, newspapers, periodicals, diaries and personal letters, manuscripts, photographs, pamphlets, maps and musical scores.
Performing Arts Periodicals Database (1864-current) This link opens in a new window
Formerly the International Index to the Performing Arts, contains journal articles for the study of the performing arts.
Provides indexing, detailed abstracts, and full text for articles covering a wide range of subjects in the performing arts, including dance, film, drama, opera, stagecraft, comedy, pantomime, puppetry, magic, and television, from 1864 to the present.
Primary Sources Collection (Proquest) This link opens in a new window
Many of the collections in this database include access to the full text of plays. See the Literature section, or see the Subcollections Guide for a list of collections.