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Reference Sources for Literature

This page singles out some of the basic reference works in Carnegie Mellon University Libraries that are relevant to the study of British and American literature.

• Research Guides
• Dictionaries, Encyclopedias, and Handbooks

Research Guides

Baker, Nancy L., and Nancy Huling. A Research Guide for Undergraduate Students: English and American Literature. 4th ed. New York: Modern Language Association of America, 1995.
HUNT REF-1 807 B16R4

Harner, James L., ed. Literary Research Guide: A Guide to Reference Sources for the Study of Literature in English and Related Topics. 2nd ed. New York: Modern Language Association of America, 1993.
HUNT REF-1 016.8 H28L2

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Dictionaries, Encyclopedias, and Handbooks

Abrams, M. H. A Glossary of Literary Terms. 6th ed. Fort Worth: Harcourt Brace, 1993.
HUNT REF-1 803 A16G6

Blain, Virginia, Patricia Clements, and Isobel Grundy, eds. The Feminist Companion to Literature in English: Women Writers from the Middle Ages to the Present. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1990.
HUNT REF-1 820.9 F329

Brunel, Pierre, ed. Companion to Literary Myths, Heroes and Archetypes, trans. Wendy Allatson, Judith Hayward, and Trista Selous. London: Routledge, 1992.
HUNT REF-1 398.2 D554

Davidson, Cathy N., et al., eds. The Oxford Companion to Women's Writing in the United States. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995.
HUNT REF-1 810.9 O98

Dictionary of Literary Biography. Detroit: Gale Research, 1978-.
HUNT REF-1 928 D55
Features substantial articles on the lives and works of a wide range of British, American, and international authors from a variety of historical periods. A good place to find information on lesser-known authors. Each volume contains an index that covers all previous volumes.

Drabble, Margaret, ed. The Oxford Companion to English Literature. 5th ed., rev. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995.
HUNT REF-1 820.3 O98A5AA

Hart, James David. The Oxford Companion to American Literature. 6th ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995.
HUNT REF-1 810.3 H32A6

Ousby, Ian, ed. The Cambridge Guide to Literature in English. Rev. ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993.
HUNT REF-1 820.3 C1782a

Preminger, Alex, et al., eds. The New Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1993.
HUNT REF-1 808.103 P957A

Scott-Kilvert, Ian, ed. British Writers. 8 vols. and supplements. New York: Scribner, 1979-.
HUNT REF-1 928.2 B86

Shattock, Joanne. The Oxford Guide to British Women Writers. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993.
HUNT REF-1 016.8 S530

Smith, Valerie, Lea Baechler, and A. Walton Litz, eds. African American Writers. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1991.
HUNT REF-1 810.9 A2583

Todd, Janet, ed. British Women Writers: A Critical Reference Guide. New York: Continuum, 1989.
HUNT REF-1 820.9 B862

Unger, Leonard, ed. American Writers: A Collection of Literary Biographies. 4 vols. and supplements. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1974-.
HUNT REF-1 928 A51

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