LibGuides: English Resources: Research

Databases for Literature Research

MLA International Bibliography This link opens in a new window
Articles, book chapters and more.
JSTOR This link opens in a new window
Limit to the Literature journal group once within the advanced search page.
Research Library: Literature & Language This link opens in a new window
When searching authors as subjects, put their last name then a comma, then their first name into search box, drop down the menu to the left to SUBJECTS:Named Person
Credo Reference This link opens in a new window
Choose Language and Literature in the SUBJECTS box on the homepage in Credo. Also, the Mind Map is a great tool within Credo, try it out!

Hyper-Concordance "The Hyper-Concordance covers, Victorian, British, Irish and American authors and reports the total number of text lines, the total word count and the number of occurrences of the word or phrase searched. The full text of the book is displayed in a box at the bottom of the screen. Each line of the text is numbered, and the line number and the term(s) searched provide a link to the full text.
WorldCat
A database of millions of books stored in libraries all over the United States. Fruitful if you need something obscure and we can Interlibrary Loan (get) it for you.
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Ask a SAU Librarian for help! librefdesk@sau.edu

Nexis Uni This link opens in a new window
News articles on Authors, Book reviews and more. Be sure to click on NEWS before entering search terms.

Helpful web sites

MLA Style Guide
These resources will help you learn how to use the Modern Language Association (MLA) citation and format style. This section contains citation examples. Explore the menu for more on paper formatting and in-text citing.
MLA Formatting: List of Works Cited -- Youtube video
You may find this video helpful while writing a bibliography.
Setting up MLA format in Google Docs
a 5 min video with clear directions.
MLA Works Cited Page: Hanging Indent
The dreaded hanging indent! Microsoft Word directions to succeed found here in easy video viewing. Pause at will.
In-Text Citation for MLA
A very clear guide.
Works Cited page entry: Personal interview, film, tv program
Interviews, Film, DVDs, TV, Visual Art, and Lecture or Spoken Conference Presentation.
Purdue OWL video playlist for MLA Style
Quick MLA style guide
from the George Mason University writing center
How does the ninth edition of the MLA Handbook compare with the eighth edition?
Changes in MLA 8th edition: What's new and different.
These are the NEW standards for MLA style - Please note the small changes in your papers and projects citations.

Browsing the shelves at SAU Library

Library Central discovery tool: Books at SAU, Articles and more!

Library Central This link opens in a new window
Library Central combines SAU's book catalog and most of our databases into one unified searching interface. Use Library Central if you're looking to find a wide variety of sources with a minimum amount of searching. The sheer volume of results can be overwhelming, however, so use lots of search filters!

Other sources

Films on Demand This link opens in a new window
This streaming video database contains over 38,000 streaming video titles and almost 300,000 video clips. The titles are educational in nature, but address a variety of subjects and topics.

Free ebooks by Project Gutenberg: homepage
Shakespeare in Project Gutenberg
Archive of Recorded Poetry and Literature
From the Library of Congress.
The Poetry Foundation
"The Poetry Foundation, publisher of Poetry magazine, is an independent literary
organization committed to a vigorous presence for poetry in our culture. It exists to discover and celebrate the best poetry and to place it before the largest possible audience."
Walt Whitman papers in the Charles E. Feinberg collection, 1763-1985
Digitized Whitman papers archived in the Library of Congress
"Life and Adventures of Jack Engle" a novel by by Walt Whitman
From the Walt Whitman Quarterly Review,Volume 34, Number 3 (2017)
Special Double Issue: Walt Whitman’s Newly Discovered “Jack Engle”
Numbers Three/Four Winter/Spring 2017.
It includes the newly discovered novel by Walt Whitman and more.
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The University of Iowa Press has also published a print copy of the novel.
Online Etymology Dictionary
"This is a map of the wheel-ruts of modern English. Etymologies are not definitions; they're explanations of what our words meant and how they sounded 600 or 2,000 years ago."

Kanopy This link opens in a new window
Kanopy is an video streaming service that provides access to over 30,000 feature films, documentaries, and educational videos across a wide variety of subjects. Can be viewed on-and-off-campus and is completely free for the SAU community.

Developing a Research Question

Reference Hours when classes are in session

Monday-Thursday, 7:45 a.m. - 9:00 p.m.
Friday, 7:45 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.

Saturday, No reference services; building open 1-5pm
Sunday, 1pm - 9:00 p.m.

Reference Desk 563/333-6245
Email at : librefdesk@sau.edu

A note to users concerning database searching

If you are not an St. Ambrose University user, your local public library may have access to various databases that are subscription based. Call and ask your public library for details.

English Resources: Research

Contact your librarian for help.