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ENGL 360: Modern Literature

Search Omni for Articles

Omni includes content from the various research databases to which QUL subscribes but not everything is included.

If you are looking for information on a very specific topic, or a topic that is subject specific, it is recommended that you search databases that specialize in that subject area for more thorough results.

Articles

Articles are smaller in scope than books and can therefore focus on more particular aspects of a given topic. Since articles are faster to produce and publish, the most up-to-date research often appears in this form.

Key Literature Databases

This is the standard bibliography for scholarly writing on literature, linguistics, drama, folklore, etc. Indexes over 4,000 international journals, as well as monographs, dissertations, and other publications.
 
Full texts of over 350 000 English literary works of poetry, drama and prose; video and audio of poetry readings; unabridged audio recordings of Shakespeare's plays; essential literary criticism journals and reference resources.. It includes the Annual Bibliography of English Language and Literature (ABELL).
 
The LRC is a complete literature reference database rich in biographical, bibliographical, and critical content.
 

Year's Work in English Studies

Online from 1921, YW is the qualitative narrative bibliographical review of scholarly work on English language and literatures written in English.

MLA vs LION

MLA

  • Coverage form 1926 onwards
  • Includes journal articles, books, book chapters, conference proceedings, theses...
  • International in scope
  • Includes some full text

Problems with MLA

  • Thematic subject headings and titles of literary works not used for indexing items from 1921 to 1980
  • Does not index book reviews
  • MLA indexes author by given name rather than pseudonym, e.g. C L Dodgson instead of Lewis Carroll
  • Works focused on classical Greek and Latin literatures, the Bible or Koran are excluded except if they relate to other literature or language topics

ABELL

  • Coverage of English language literatures from 1892 onwards
  • Better coverage of English language literature from 1892-1955
  • Includes journal articles, books book chapters, theses, book reviews, essays...
  • Indexes pseudonyms and authors given name

Problems with ABELL

  • Prior to 2001, no indexing of themes or titles of literary works
  • Does not include education and pedogogical subjects
  • No journal locator links

MLA is a more efficient resource to search for post 1980 publications. It is recommended that one search both MLA and ABELL to get the bulk of scholarship since 1921 since each database includes works omitted from the other.

Also Useful to Search

A multi-disciplinary database which provides indexing (with abstracts) to peer-reviewed journals, conference proceedings, monographs and reports.
 
JSTOR
This is a general interdisciplinary databases that covers many topics. It's not as complete as MLA but specializes in providing full text articles going back to the earliest issues of a journal. It has only scholarly journals, not popular magazines.

Why use an index?

Use an article index to find journal articles on your topic, as well as criticism and other materials related to literature. 

Some will contain the full text of the article and those that don't usually provide links to the full text if it is available via other databases in our collection.

Evaluate Articles

Articles are important in your research as they contain the most-up-to-date research in a given field and often focus on a particular aspect of a topic.

But not all journal articles will be useful for your essay so you will need to evaluate before you use them. 

Consult our guide, Distinguishing Scholarly from Non Scholarly Periodicals, to discover the difference.

MLA Bibliography Guide