Outline of this guide: Reference Works Books Articles

Other useful links: Course Reserves/E-Reserves for this class Book Review Sources Film Review Sources Narrowing or Broadening a Topic RefWorks: A Guide Research Log Research Planner Scholarly Articles: How to Identify Them

• Biographical Works
  • Biography Reference Bank. H.W. Wilson, 2003- .
  • British Writers. Ed. Ian Scott-Kilvert et al. New York: Scribner's, 1979- .
    Reference R 820.9 B8621
    To locate relevant entries in this set, consult Gale's Literary Index.
  • Dictionary of Literary Biography. Detroit, MI: Gale, 1978- .
    Reference R 928.1 D554
  • Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. ed. H.C.G. Matthew and Brian Harrison. 60 vols. New York: Oxford Univ. Press, 2004.
    Reference R 920 N2111
  • Who's Who in Stuart Britain. C.P. Hill. Chicago, IL: St. James Press, 1988.
    Reference R 942.06 H645w
• Bibliographies
  • The Essential Shakespeare: An Annotated Bibliography of Major Modern Studies. Larry S. Champion. 2nd ed. New York: G.K. Hall, 1993.
    Reference R 016.82 S527ch
    Davidsoniana Room D 081 C452es, 1993
  • Richard III, An Annotated Bibliography. Comp. James A. Moore. New York: Garland, 1986.
    Reference R 016.82 S527ri
  • Shakespeare: An Annotated Bibliography. Joseph Rosenblum. Pasadena, CA: Salem Press, 1992.
    Reference R 016.82 S527ro
  • Shakespeare and Feminist Criticism: An Annotated Bibliography and Commentary. Philip C. Kolin. New York: Garland, 1991.
    Reference R 016.82 S527k
  • Shakespeare and Minorities: An Annotated Bibliography, 1970-2000. Parvin Kujoory. Landham, MD: Scarecrow, 2001.
    Reference R 016.82 S527ku
  • Shakespeare and the Classical Tradition: An Annotated Bibliography, 1961-1991. Comp. Lewis Walker. New York: Routledge, 2002.
    Reference R 016.82 S527wa
  • The Shakespeare Folio Handbook and Census. Comp. Harold M. Otness. New York: Greenwood, 1990.
    Reference R 016.82 S527ot
  • The Shakespeare Index: An Annotated Bibliography of Critical Articles on the Plays, 1959-1983. Ed. Bruce T. Sajdak. 2 vols. Millwood, NJ: Kraus, 1992.
    Reference R 016.82 S527sa
  • Shakespearean Criticism: Excerpts from the Criticism of William Shakespeare's Plays and Poetry, from the First Published Appraisals to Current Evaluations. Detroit, MI: Gale, 1984- .
    Reference R 822.33 DS5275
    To locate relevant entries in this set, consult Gale's Literary Index.
  • Shakespearian Bibliography and Textual Criticism: A Bibliography. T.H. Howard-Hill. 2nd ed. Signal Mountain, TN: Summertown, 2000.
    Reference R 016.82 S527h2
  • Which Shakespeare? A User's Guide to Editions. Ann Thompson. Philadelphia, PA: Open Univ. Press, 1992.
    Reference R 822.33 ET468w
• Shakespeare Dictionaries
  • A Dictionary of Sexual Language and Imagery in Shakespearean and Stuart Literature. Gordon Williams. 3 vols. Atlantic Highlands, NJ: Athlone Press, 1994.
    Reference R 820.9 W7231d
  • A Dictionary of Shakespeare's Sexual Puns and their Significance. Frankie Rubinstein. 2nd ed. New York: St. Martin's, 1995.
    Reference R 822.33 GR896d
  • A Glossary of Shakespeare's Sexual Language. Gordon Williams. Atlantic Highlands, NJ: Athlone Press, 1997.
    Reference R 822.33 DW723g
  • Music in Shakespeare: A Dictionary. Christopher Wilson and Michela Calore. New York: Thoemmes, 2005.
    Reference R 822.3 W746m
  • The Oxford English Dictionary (OED). Ed. J.A. Simpson and E.S.C. Weiner. 2nd ed. 20 vols. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1989.
    Reference R 423 O98m
    The online version also contains entries being prepared for the third edition.
    The first edition of the OED is still a useful resource; see A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles, edited by A.H. Murray et al. (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1888–1928), shelved at Reference R 423 O98.
  • Pronouncing Shakespeare's Words: A Guide from A to Zounds. Dale F. Coye. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1998.
    Reference R 822.33 GC881p
  • The Shakespeare Name Dictionary. J. Madison Davis and A. Daniel Frankforter. New York: Garland, 1995.
    Reference R 822.33 GD262s
  • Shakespeare's Legal Language: A Dictionary. B.J. Sokol and Mary Sokol. New Brunswick, NJ: Athlone Press, 2000.
    Reference R 822.33 GS683s
  • Shakespeare's Military Language: A Dictionary. Charles Edelman. New Brunswick, NJ: Athlone Press, 2000.
    Reference R 822.33 GE21s
  • Shakespeare's Theatre: A Dictionary of his Stage Context. Hugh Macrae Richmond. New York: Continuum, 2002.
    Reference R 822.33 GR532s
  • Shakespeare's Words: A Glossary and Language Companion. David Crystal and Ben Crystal. New York: Penguin, 2002.
    Reference R 822.33 GC957s
• General Works
  • All Things Shakespeare: An Encyclopedia of Shakespeare's World. Kirstin Olsen. 2 vols. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 2002.
    Reference R 822.33 GO52a
  • The Bedside, Bathtub & Armchair Companion to Shakespeare. Dick Riley and Pam McAllister. New York: Continuum, 2001.
    Reference R 822.33 GR573b
  • Biblical References in Shakespeare's Plays. Naseeb Shaheen. Neward, DE: Univ. of Delaware Press, 1999.
    Reference R 822.33 S525b
  • Encyclopedia of the Renaissance. Ed. Paul F. Grendler. 6 vols. New York: Scribner's, 1999.
    Reference R 940.2 E56
  • English Historical Facts, 1485-1603. Ken Powell and Chris Cook. Totowa, NJ: Rowman and Littlefield, 1977.
    Reference R 942 C771e 1485-1603
  • English Historical Facts, 1603-1688. Chris Cook and John Wroughton. Totowa, NJ: Rowman and Littlefield, 1980.
    Reference R 942 C771e 1603-1688
  • Europe 1450-1789: An Encyclopedia of the Early Modern World. Ed. Jonathan Dewald. 6 vols. New York: Scribner's, 2004.
    Reference R 940.2 E89
  • The Harvard Concordance to Shakespeare. Marvin Spevack. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press, 1973.
    Reference R 822.33 GS752h
  • Historical Dictionary of Stuart England, 1603-1689. Ed. Ronald H. Fritze and William B. Robison. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1996.
    Reference R 942.06 H673
  • Historical Dictionary of the Elizabethan World. John A. Wagner. Phoenix, AZ: Oryx, 1999.
    Reference R 942.05 W133h
  • Historical Dictionary of Tudor England, 1485-1603. Ed. Ronald H. Fritze. New York: Greenwood, 1991.
    Reference R 942.04 H673
  • The Longman Companion to the Tudor Age. Rosemary O'Day. New York: Longman, 1995.
    Reference R 942.05 O22L
  • The Oxford Companion to Shakespeare. Michael Dobson. New York: Oxford Univ. Press, 2001.
    Reference R 822.33 GO98
  • Penguin Shakespeare Dictionary. Ed. Sandra Clark. London: Penguin, 1999.
    Reference R 822.33 GH975 1999
  • Routledge Who's Who in Shakespeare. Peter Quennell and Hamish Johnson. London: Routledge, 1995.
    Reference R 822.33 GQ3r
  • Shakespeare A to Z: The Essential References to his Plays, his Poems, his Life and Times, and More. Charles Boyce. New York: Laurel, 1991.
    Reference R 822.33 GB7891s
  • Shakespeare: A Hundred Years on Film. Eddie Samons. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow, 2005.
    Reference R 791.43 S189c
  • Shakespeare on Screen: An International Filmography and Videography. Kenneth S. Rothwell and Annabelle Henkin Melzer. New York: Neal-Schuman, 1990.
    Reference R 016.791 R848s
  • Shakespearean Concepts: A Dictionary of Terms and Conventions, Influences and Institutions, Themes, Ideas, and Genres in the Elizabethan and Jacobean Drama. Simon Trussler. London: Methuen, 1989.
    Reference R 822.33 GT873s
  • Shakespeare's Books: A Dictionary of Shakespeare Sources. Stuart Gillespie. London: Athlone, 2001.
    Reference R 822.33 FG478s
  • Shakespeare's World and Work: An Encyclopedia for Students. Ed. John F. Andrews. 3 vols. New York: Scribner's, 2001.
    Reference R 822.33 GS527
  • Tudor England: An Encyclopedia. Ed. Arthur F. Kinney and David W. Swain. New York: Garland, 2001.
    Reference R 942.05 T912
  • William Shakespeare: A Documentary Volume. Ed. Catherine Loomis. Detroit, MI: Gale, 2002. [Dictionary of Literary Biography vol. 263]
    Reference R 928.1 D554 v.263
    Note: the contents of this volume are not online; you'll need to use the print set.

• To find books at Davidson, search the following:
  • Library Catalog
    Includes information about books, government documents, and journals, magazines, and newspapers in the Library.
    • To locate videos, do a keyword search and limit your search by the format "video materials (VHS/DVD)."
    • To locate appropriate Library of Congress Subject Headings, start with a keyword search and then browse records.
      Useful subject headings include:
      • Shakespeare William 1564-1616
      • Shakespeare William 1564-1616 Julius Caesar
      • Shakespeare William 1564-1616 political and social views
      • Great Britain history Elizabeth
      • Great Britain history James I
      • Great Britain history Stuarts
      • Great Britain history Tudors
      • Theater and Society England History
      • Theater audiences England
      • Theater England history
      • Theater England London history
      • Theater Great Britain history
    • To locate works about a person, do a subject search for the person's name (last name first).
    • To locate bibliographies on a person or topic, do a keyword search and add the following: su bibliography.
    Search Syntax:
    • Truncation: use a dollar sign $
    • Phrase searching: use double quotation marks " "
    • Wildcard: use a question mark ?
  • Early English Books Online (EEB0) (1475-1700)
    Includes over 125,000 books, pamphlets, broadsides, proclamations, almanacs, and other publications printed in Great Britain, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, and British North America from the fifteenth through the seventeenth centuries.
    Note: Does not include periodicals or newspapers.
    To print more than one page of a document, you need to "Mark" the document, view your "Marked List," and then click on the "Download Document Image sets in PDF format" link (not the link to download the record). Once the document is downloaded, you can print out a range of pages or the entire document using the print function in Adobe Acrobat Reader.
  • Shakespeare in Quarto: The British Library's Digital Copies Online
    Provides digital images of 93 copies of the 21 Shakespeare plays that were printed in quarto before 1642. Also includes background information and a glossary.
• To find information about books that might be available from other libraries, search the following:
  • WorldCat
    Indexes books, periodicals, and other materials held by libraries around the world. Search WorldCat to identify additional books on your topic and then order the books on interlibrary loan.
    Note: It can be helpful to identify relevant Library of Congress Subject Headings in the Library Catalogue first; you can then do a subject search in WorldCat to find additional items with these subject headings.
    Search Syntax:
    • Truncation: use an asterisk *
    • Phrase searching: insert a "w" between the words in a phrase (for example, "cold w war")
    • Wildcard: use a question mark ?

• Starting points
  • Academic Search Premier
    (1975 to present) Indexes popular and scholarly articles in a broad range of subject areas; also includes citations to book reviews and citations to articles in several national newspapers.
    Search Syntax:
    • Truncation: use an asterisk *
    • Phrase searching: use double quotation marks " "
    • Wildcard: use a question mark ?
  • OmniFile Full Text Mega
    (1982 to present) Indexes articles from over 3,000 scholarly and popular periodicals in the humanities, social sciences, and sciences; also includes the full text of selected articles from over 1,650 of these periodicals.
    Search Syntax:
    • Truncation: unnecessary when using "All - Smart Search"; otherwise, use an asterisk *
    • Phrase searching: use double quotation marks ""
    • Wildcard: do not use with "All - Smart Search"; otherwise, use a question mark ?
• Core Resources for English
  • Annual Bibliography of English Language & Literature (ABELL). Cambridge: Bowes & Bowes, 1924 - .
    Reference R 016.82 M689a
    Indexes journal articles and books published from 1920 to present; also includes citations to book reviews. ABELL is particularly good source of information about books published in the U.K. Many of these works do not appear in the MLAIB.
  • MLA International Bibliography
    (1926 to present). Indexes journal articles, books, and doctoral dissertations in the fields of English, American, European, Asian, African, and Latin American linguistics, modern languages and literatures, film studies, and folklore.
    Search Syntax:
    • Truncation: use an asterisk *
    • Phrase searching: use double quotation marks ""
    • Wildcard: use a question mark ?
  • World Shakespeare Bibliography Online
    (1971 to present) Includes citations to articles, books, theatrical productions, and audiovisual materials related to Shakespeare; also includes performance reviews, books reviews, and film reviews.
    Search Syntax:
    • Truncation: use an asterisk *
    • Phrase searching: use double quotation marks "".
• Other Resources
  • Film Indexes Online
    (1893 to present) Contains both Film Index International (FII) and The American Film Institute Catalog (AFI). Includes full production and cast information for films from over 170 countries as well as plot summaries, production notes, and citations to reviews, criticism, and articles on film and film personalities.
    Search Syntax:
    • Truncation: use an asterisk *
    • Phrase searching: automatic
  • Film Literature Index
    (1973-2001) Indexes articles, film reviews, and book reviews from over 300 film and television periodicals; international in scope.
    Note: Information from 2002 to the present is only available in the print version of Film Literature Index, which is shelved in the Reference Index Area at call number R 050 F4873.
  • Humanities Abstracts
    (1907 to present). Indexes articles in over 500 English-language journals in the fields of archaeology, art, classics, communication, film, folklore, history, languages and literatures, music, philosophy, religion, and theatre. Also includes citations for book, theatre, and film reviews as well as interviews, obituaries, and some original creative works. Includes the full text of selected articles from 1995 to the present.
    Search Syntax:
    • Truncation: unnecessary when using "All - Smart Search"; otherwise, use an asterisk *
    • Phrase searching: use double quotation marks ""
    • Wildcard: do not use with "All - Smart Search"; otherwise, use a question mark ?
  • JSTOR
    Includes pdf copies of scholarly articles from a core collection of journals; also includes book reviews. Note:JSTOR does not contain articles from the most recent 3-5 years.
    Search Syntax:
    • Truncation: use a plus sign +
    • Phrase searching: automatic
  • Project Muse
    Includes pdf and HTML copies of journal articles published by university and scholarly presses.
    Search Syntax:
    • Truncation: use an asterisk *
    • Phrase searching: use double quotation marks " "