Subject Guides: Theory and Methods of English Studies: Home

Reference works (good for locating topics and getting recommendations of sources)

Credo Reference
Hundreds of authoritative dictionaries, encyclopedias, fact books, guides, companions and more from respected publishers across dozens of major subject areas.

Gale Literary Index This link opens in a new window
A master index to most of the literary biography sketchbooks listed below.

Wikipedia
A communally-written encyclopedia. Anyone can edit or contribute an entry, at any time. Excellent for locating controversies on a topic and getting ideas for research papers. The bibliographies often point to scholarly resources. Not itself a scholarly source per se, with no authority control. Compare with Scholarpedia.
Encyclopedia of Food and Culture
A respected starting place for scholarly study of foodways.
Oxford Companion to Food
Ref Collection 703 T948d
International Encyclopedia of Dance
Ref Collection
New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians
The standard music reference. Extensive bibliographies. Location: Trexler Library call no: Ref. 780.3 N532n
Dictionary of Art
Ref Collection 703 T948d

WorldCat This link opens in a new window
Search catalogs from libraries across the country and around the globe. Publication title level search only - no articles or chapters. Items owned by Trexler Library show a Muhlenberg College library icon. Request items not owned by Trexler Library directly through WorldCat using the Interlibrary Loan (ILL) button. Items generally take 4-14 days to arrive.

Academic Search Complete This link opens in a new window
(late 1980s to present) Mostly magazines and scholarly journals.

Reader's Guide to Periodical Literature (1900-present)
Reference Room Index Shelves, Level A, Trexler Library

Academic Search Complete This link opens in a new window
A subscription database. Good starting place for journals, and includes the full text of about 3000 journals. Limit to "peer reviewed" to find only scholarly articles. Back issues of journals begin as early as 1990. Recent issues may not be included yet, due to publisher agreement. Journals held in Trexler Library are marked accordingly.
Art Full Text This link opens in a new window
A subscription database. Standard index for art history, with indexing and abstracts from early 1900s-present. Some full text.

For tips on citing print and electronic sources, visit Trexler Library's Citation Guides for Print and Electronic Resources.

Or visit the Online Writing Lab at Purdue.

For automated citation, try the shareware Zotero. Directions for installing Zotero here.

For help with annotated bibliographies, visit Purdue's Online Writing Lab for definitions and format of an annotation.

Articles and books not found in Trexler Library can be ordered on interlibrary loan.