Bibliographies & Guides

Can’t find something on your topic?  Try a bibliography.

Reader’s Guide to Literature in English.
Gives an overview of some of the best works on a variety of literary topics and authors. 
REF PR85 .R32 1996      

Year’s Work in English Studies.
From Oxford University Press. Some volumes also available in WCU General PE58 .E5.

American Literary Scholarship.
From Duke University Press.  This journal gives an overview of the year’s major scholarship in American literature, particularly dealing with major American writers.
WCU GENERAL: PS3 .A47 (1963-2002) and Web Version (1998-.

Guide to American Poetry Explication, v.1 Colonial and Nineteenth-Century v. 2 Modern and Contemporary.
Lists critical articles appearing in books and journals. Arranged alphabetically by poet.
REF DESK PS201.Z9 G85 1989 

Guide to British Poetry Explication, v. 1 Old English, Medieval, v. 2 Renaissance, v. 3 Restoration-Romantic, and v. 4 Victorian, Contemporary. 
Lists critical articles appearing in books and journals. Arranged alphabetically by poet.
REF DESK  PR311.Z9 M34 1991

The Cambridge Bibliography of English Literature 1800-1900
WCU GENERAL PR83 .C35 1999 

Comprehensive Index to English-language Little Magazines, 1890-1970
Indexes things like Fire!! Devoted to Younger Negro Artists and Black Mountain Review, as well as some scholarly journals.
WCU REF INDEX TABLE

Encyclopedias & Reference Tools

Literature Resource Center.
“Provides access to biographies, bibliographies, and critical analyses of authors from every age and literary discipline.” The Literature Resource Center “covers more than 120,000 novelists, poets, essayists, journalists, and other writers, with in-depth coverage of 2,500 of the most studied authors.”

Oxford Reference Online: Premium Collection.  
Search many high-quality reference sources at once! Provides authoritative information from over 100 dictionary, language reference, and subject reference works published by Oxford University Press.  This includes titles such as the Oxford Companion to English Literature (and several others in the Companions series) and A Dictionary of Writers and their Works.

American Writers: A Collection of Literary Biographies.
Covers many major American authors and continues to add more. Each entry provides an excellent overview of an author's life and works as well as a selected bibliography.
REF PS15 .M52

British Writers.
Covers many major British authors over a large span of time. Each entry provides an excellent overview of an author's life and works as well as a selected bibliography.
REF PR85 .B688 

Dictionary of Literary Biography.
Lengthy entries about authors and their works.  Available for checkout! This resource is available within the Literature Resource Center, but the print versions have better lists of further reading. They are located in WCU GENERAL PN451 .D5 -- just use the index in the last volume to find your author and check out the volume you need.

Contemporary Authors.
Brief entries on a variety of writers (do not have to be famous or fiction writers). A great place to find information about up and coming authors and when you can't find a bio anywhere else!
REF PN771 .C583

Need more specifics? See also:

Specialized Reference Tools by...

Genre (Children’s Literature and Fairy Tales, Fantasy, Historical Fiction, Horror, Life Writing, Mystery, Nature Writing, Science Fiction, Travel Writing)
Author Ethnicity, Region, or Nationality (African American, Appalachian/Southern, Hispanic/Latino/Latina, Irish, Native American, Postcolonial/Commonwealth)
Literary Movement or Time Period (Renaissance, Elizabethan, and Stuart Literature & Shakespeare, Milton, and Chaucer, Enlightenment, Victorian, Romanticism, Modernism)