English Research Guide: Home & Reference

Welcome to the home page of the Research Guide for English!  This resource guide is designed to help you find resources on English literature and language.  If you don’t find what you need, please feel free to use the Library Chat, Ask-A-Librarian, or email your library liaison Amber Spratlin.

Reference books are on the main level of Lewis Library, behind the reference desk.  For reference sources on authors, see this page.

Books on literature have call numbers beginning with P, for example:

• PE – English language (including dictionaries and thesauri)
• PN –  Literature (general) (including books on theatre and film)
• PR – British literature
• PS –American literature

See HERE for a fuller breakdown of call numbers in the P’s.

For reference books on literature, you can browse in the REF P’s, or ask the reference librarian to help you find what you need.  Here are a few sample books (you may find more on these topics with similar call numbers): 

·         The Oxford Encyclopedia of British Literature  (REF PR 19 .O95 2006)

·         The Oxford Encyclopedia of American Literature  (REF PS 21 .E537 2004)

·         Harlem Renaissance:  A Gale Critical Companion  (REF PS 153 .N500 H245 2003) 

·         The Oxford Companion to Irish Literature  (REF PR 8706 .O88 1996)

·         The Oxford Companion to Canadian Literature  (REF PR 9180.2 .O944 1997)

·         Encyclopedia of World Literature in the 20^th Century  (REF PN 771 .E500 1999)

·         Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms  (REF PN 41 .C67 2008)

·         The Johns Hopkins Guide to Literary Theory and Criticism  (REF PN 81 .J554 2005)

·         Encyclopedia of Rhetoric  (REF PN 172 .E522 2001)

·         Columbia Granger’s Index to Poetry  (REF PN 1022 .H39 2002)

·         Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations  (REF PN 6081 .B27 2002)

·         The Elements of Style (Strunk & White)  (REF PE 1408 .S772 1959)

·         Fowler’s Modern English Usage  (REF PE 1628 .F65 2004)

Dictionaries:  You’ll find dictionaries and thesauri in the PEs, including the 20-volume Oxford English Dictionary (REF PE 1625 .O87 1989).   You can also access the online version of the Oxford English Dictionary here or through GALILEO.

If you want a dictionary you can check out, we have several on the lower level with call numbers beginning PE 1625 to PE 1628.   Except for the Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (1999) and Oxford American Dictionary (1999), these are from the 1970s or earlier; the most recent dictionaries are in the Reference collection.

For dictionaries of slang and regional English, try:
    • Dictionary of American Regional English (5 volumes, REF PE 2843 ,D52 1985)
    • Historical Dictionary of American Slang (REF PE 2846 .H57 1994)
    • The Routledge Dictionary of Slang (REF PE 3721 .P323 2009)
    • A Dictionary of Slang (REF PE 3721 .P322 2002)

Please don’t hesitate to ask at the reference desk for assistance.