Using Reference Sources
Reference sources provide summaries of topics by distilling primary and secondary sources for the general reader. For this reason they are excellent starting points for a research project because they can provide a lay of the land for someone new to a topic. Additionally, reference sources provide useful bibliographies curated by experts in the field. Dictionaries, encyclopedias, and handbooks are all useful reference sources.
Print Reference Sources
The Cambridge Introduction to British Romantic Poetry by Call Number: Tisch Library PR590.F48 2012ISBN: 9780521769068Publication Date: 2012This book guides the new reader through this experience, focusing on canonical authors - Wordsworth, Coleridge, Byron, Keats, Blake and Shelley - whilst also including less familiar figures as well.
The Johns Hopkins Guide to Literary Theory and Criticism by Call Number: Tisch Library Reference PN81.Z99 J64 1994ISBN: 0801845602Publication Date: 1993The Johns Hopkins Guide to Literary Theory and Criticism is a major reference book designed to serve as an international, encyclopedic guide to the important figures, schools, and movements in this influential and expanding area of study.
Literary Research Guide by Call Number: Tisch Library Reference Z2011.H34 2008ISBN: 9780873528085Publication Date: 2008James L. Harner's Literary Research Guide, which Choice calls "the standard guide in the field," evaluates important reference materials in English studies.
MLA Handbook by Call Number: Tisch Library Reference LB2369.G53 2016ISBN: 9781603292627Publication Date: 2016The Modern Language Association, the authority on research and writing, takes a fresh look at documenting sources in the eighth edition of the MLA Handbook, the official guide to MLA format.
The Oxford Handbook of British Romanticism by Call Number: Tisch Library PR447.O94 2018ISBN: 9780199660896Publication Date: 2018The Oxford Handbook of British Romanticism offers a comprehensive guide to the literature and thought of the Romantic period, and an overview of the latest research on this topic.
The Oxford Handbook of European Romanticism by Call Number: Tisch Library PN603.O95 2016ISBN: 9780199696383Publication Date: 2016The Oxford Handbook to European Romanticism brings together leading scholars in the field to examine the intellectual, literary, philosophical, and political elements of European Romanticism.
Online Reference Sources
- British Romantic Prose Writers, 1789-1832 : First SeriesDeals with British Romantic prose writers who were born in 1775 or earlier, whose works were published in or between the years of 1789 and 1832 - years marked by revolution, war, and general political and social change.
- British Romantic Prose Writers, 1789-1832 : Second SeriesDeals with British Romantic prose writers who were born after 1775, whose works were published in or between the years of 1789 and 1832 - years marked by revolution, war, and general political and social change.
- The Cambridge Introduction to British Romantic PoetryThis book guides the new reader through this experience, focusing on canonical authors - Wordsworth, Coleridge, Byron, Keats, Blake and Shelley - whilst also including less familiar figures as well.
- A Dictionary of Critical TheoryThis is the most wide-ranging and up-to-date dictionary of critical theory available, covering the whole range of critical theory, including the Frankfurt school, cultural materialism, gender studies, literary theory, hermeneutics, historical materialism, and sociopolitical critical theory. Entries clearly explain even the most complex of theoretical discourses, such as Marxism, psychoanalysis, structuralism, deconstruction, and postmodernism.
- Gale Literature CriticismGale™ takes literature, history and culture to the next level with the largest, most extensive compilation of literary commentary available: Gale Literature: Criticism. Imagine centuries of analysis - the scholarly and popular commentary from broadsheets, pamphlets, encyclopedias, books and periodicals - delivered in an easy-to-use 24/7 online format that matches the exact look and feel of the print originals. The net result is tens of thousands of hard-to-find essays at your fingertips.
- Oxford BibliographiesHigh-level overviews of scholarship written by top names in the field get researchers and faculty up to speed quickly on topics beyond an area of expertise.
- The Oxford Handbook of European RomanticismThe Oxford Handbook to European Romanticism brings together leading scholars in the field to examine the intellectual, literary, philosophical, and political elements of European Romanticism.
- Poetry Foundation: An Introduction to British RomanticismAn essay on British Romanticism published by the Poetry Foundation. This resource also includes links to seminal poems as well as other resources
- Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and PoeticsThe Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics is a comprehensive reference work dealing with all aspects of its subject: history, types, movements, prosody, and critical terminology.
- Research Methods for English StudiesThis edition remains the leading guide to research methods for final-year undergraduates, postgraduates taking Masters degrees and PhDs students of 19th- and 20th-century Literary Studies.