Finding Critical Discussion in Literary Studies and Related Fields
The sources below will lead to critical discussion in journals, chapters in books, books, dissertations, and to articles in newpapers, both current and historic. Many more specialized sources are available in print and on-line. From E-Research, you can identify other useful on-line resources, by using the Subject tab in Find E-Resources
Core Sources for Literary Criticism
MLA International Bibliography
Gives citations to journal articles, chapters in
books, dissertations, books, etc. in literature, linguistics, folklore,
film. It is multi-lingual. The online version includes works from 1926- present. Use 
to link to journal articles in full text or to locate
journals in Harvard’s print collections.
Annual Bibliography of English Language and Literature
Covers anglophone literatures. Included in Literature Online's "Criticism and Reference" section. When used through this portal, it provides access to the full text of articles and to reviews of scholarly titles as well as to some literary reviews. Coverage goes back to 1920.
World Shakespeare Bibliography
"annotated entries for all important books, articles, book reviews,
dissertations, theatrical productions, reviews of productions, audiovisual
materials, electronic media, and other scholarly and popular materials
related to Shakespeare and published or produced between 1968 and early
2003." The scope is international. Over the course of a year, updates
add three years of retrospective and one year of prospective coverage.
Consult this excellent guide for detailed instructions on using WSB.
Using Citation Linker
Citation Linker and SFX/Find it at Harvard
This tool allows you to enter citations to articles and will search the electronic journal collections at Harvard for the text of the articles and will search the HOLLIS catalog for holdings of journals in Harvard libraries.
Useful General Indexes
Arts and Humanities Citation Index
A multidisciplinary database covering the journal literature of the arts and humanities. It indexes 1,100 of the world's leading arts and humanities journals, as well as covering individually selected, relevant items from over 7,000 major science and social science journals. Because the information stored about each article includes the article's cited reference list (often called its bibliography), you can also search the database for articles that cite a known author or work.
A retrospective index to journals in the humanities and social sciences from their first issues through recent years. Journals in English and other European languages are indexed. includes the complete table of contents for each issue of each journal. Coverage includes 19th and 20th century. Other indexes and sources of full text for 19th century publications include Wellesley Index to Victorian Periodicals 1824-1900 (Widener RR663.34 and CD-ROM RR 138), British Periodicals, and 19th century Masterfile.
Searchable Full Text E-Journal Collections
HOLLIS Classic catalog includes records for all journals, both print and electronic, in the libraries' collections. Select the Journals tab from the search screen. Another means of identifying e-journals is to use E-Research. Select Find E-Journals, to search by title words or by subject.
This collection includes an extremely useful searchable collection of digitized back files of scholarly journals a wide range of fields, including language and literature, as well as many of interest for literary studies.
Muse is a searchable full-text collection which includes recent years of many of the same journals included in JSTOR, as well as a significant and growing collection of other titles. Very interesting for interdiscipinary work.
(1681 - 1920) Page images and searchable full text for nearly 500 British periodicals published from the 17th through the early 20th centuries." Topics covered in the various titles include literature, philosophy, history, science, fine arts, social sciences, music, art, drama, archaeology, and architecture.
American Periodicals Series Online, 1740-1900
American magazines and journals that originated between 1741, when Andrew Bradford's American Magazine and Benjamin Franklin's General Magazine were launched, and 1900. The bulk of the collection dates from the 19th-century; periodicals that began publication before 1900 and continued into the 20th century are included through 1940.
A complete run of The Nation, America's oldest weekly magazine of reporting, commentary, and opinion on national and international politics, government, social policy, economics, arts, religion, and culture. Full text is delivered in Acrobat portable document format (pdf). Dates: 1865-present (annual 12-month archive update lags by one year)
Harper's Magazine Online Index
An index to the full run of Harper's Magazine, with links to full text and page images. Harper's (also known as Harper's New Monthly Magazine and Harper's Monthly Magazine)is the nation's oldest continuously published monthly magazine, publishing reports, essays, criticism, fiction, poetry, art, humor, and argument.
Godey's Lady's Book, 1830-1880 and other important historic magazines and newspapers are included in Accessible Archives
Indexed full-text of Godey's Lady's Book, one of the most significant American periodicals of the 19th century, which published a wide variety of fiction, poetry, essays, reviews, music, and illustrations, including fashion plates. Database includes digital images of illustrations, but does not contain images of text pages.
Finding Reviews
Finding Book Reviews lists many useful sources, including 18th and 19th century sources. You may want to use the library's on-line, full-text newspapers, as well as the indexes and resources below, to find reviews.
Book Review Index, v. 1- Jan. 1965- Detroit, Gale Research Co.
Lamont | REF.ROOM | Z1035.A1 B6
Widener | RR 675.3
Book Review Digest , 1906 Bronx, N.Y. : H.W. Wilson Co.
Lamont | REF.ROOM | Z1219 .C96
Widener | RR675.2.5
Multi-disciplinary database that includes citations and abstracts from over 4,500 scholarly publications (journals, magazines and newspapers). Full text is available for more than 3,500 of the publications and is searchable. Dates: Indexing and full text availability varies with title. Useful for recent reviews.
The Times Literary Supplement Centenary Archive includes complete page images of the Times Literary Supplement (TLS), a leading book review periodical, from its inception in 1902 to 1990. Searchable by: book author, review author, book title, subject, date, issue; full text is not searchable. Subject search terms are drawn largely from the printed TLS cumulative indexes. Prior to 1974, the book reviews were published anonymously. This electronic version supplies contributor names.
A retrospective index to articles in scholarly journals in the humanities and social sciences from their first issues (some from the 19th century). Journals in English and other European languages are indexed. It includes the complete table of contents for each issue of each journal.For more 19th century publications, use British Periodicals, Wellesley Index to Victorian Periodicals 1824-1900 (Widener RR663.34 and CD-ROM RR 138) and 19th century Masterfile.
CLC/Contemporary Literary Criticism
Excerpted criticism on works of selected novelists, poets, critics, dramatists, short story writers, and other creative writers now living or who died after 1959. Each entry contains a short biography, critical introduction, and excerpts from essays and book reviews taken from books, magazines, literary reviews, newspapers, and scholarly journals, and, if available, interviews with the author. Coverage is mixed, so this is a starting place, rather than an exhaustive source.
Finding Newspaper articles
Newspapers are useful for literary research; they are primary sources for reception study, often include appreciations of recently deceased authors written by critics of note, give social and contextual information, and include theater reviews, book notes, etc. Newspapers are accessible in print, in microform, and on-line. A very useful guide is available with more information on Finding Newspapers and Indexes, The list below is selective; to identify other on-line news resources of interest, go to Find E-Resources on the Harvard Libraries site, select the Subject tab, and click on NEWS.
Widener Library's Newspaper Microfilm Reading Room and Collection
Widener Library has a significant collection of American and foreign newspapers on microfilm. Print indexes to the newspapers are in the Newspaper Microfilm Reading Room. Information on the Reading Room and a searchable list of newspapers on microfilm is available.
Full-text Newspaper Resources
Text of thousands of news, business, legal, and medical publications and information sources, including: newspapers, newsletters, magazines, trade journals, wire services, and broadcast transcripts.Coverage begins in most cases c. 1980.
Includes 8,000 business and news publications, many with full text. Earliest dates are 1969 for newspapers, trade journals, newswires (Dow Jones, Reuters). Coverage is international.
The link above will lead you to a list of Harvard's digital holdings of The New York Times. Among them, ProQuest Historical Newspapers database contains issues of the newspaper from 1923 - 2009, in full text, full image forms, including news, illustrations, editorial matter, and advertising.
Contains all issues of the Times of London, 1785-1985, in full text and full image, including news, features, editorials and commentary, advertising, pictures and illustrations.
Early American Newspapers, 1690 - 1876
Searchable, full-text newspapers, the majority of which were published between 1690 and 1820, although issues of newspapers that continued publication beyond these dates are included, through 1876.
Pennsylvania Gazette, 1728-1800
Includes articles, editorials, letters, news items and advertisements cover the Western Hemisphere, from the Canadian Maritime Provinces, through the West Indies and North and South America, giving a detailed glimpse of issues and lifestyles of the times. Also included is the full-text of such important writings such as: the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, Letters from a Farmer, Thomas Payne’s Common Sense, The Federalist Papers, etc.
Nineteenth Century U.S. Newspapers
Full-text database of ca. 500 urban and rural U.S. newspapers, published between 1800 and 1899.
African American Newspapers - the 19th Century
Freedom's Journal, New York, New York (March 16, 1827 - March 28 1829)
The Colored American (Weekly Advocate), New York, New York (January 7, 1837 - December 25, 1841)
The North Star, Rochester, New York (December 3, 1847 - April 17,1851)
The National Era, Washington, D.C. (January 7, 1847 - March 22, 1860)
Provincial Freeman, Chatham, Canada West (1854-1857)
Frederick Douglass' Paper, Rochester, New York (1851-1859) (Completed through December 1852)
The Christian Recorder (1861-1902)
A full-text collection of the newspapers, magazines and journals of the ethnic, minority and native press from 1960 to present
Sources for History, Art, Music, Gender Studies, Film, Religion, Philosophy, and Anthropology
You will need to rely on the literatures of other disciplines, as well as on literary sources. This is a short list of significant sources in related fields. To find others, consult Find E-Resources, and select the Subject tab, choose a Subject, then select Type "Index to journal articles, etc." You may also want to consult a Research Guide from the many subject-based guides available.
A reference guide to the history of the world from 1450 to the present (excluding the United States and Canada, which are covered in America: History and Life).Currently over 2,000 journals published throughout the world are covered in the database, including key historical journals from virtually every major country. In addition to articles, Historical Abstracts includes citations to historical books and to dissertations completed worldwide of particular interest for historical research.
Covers the history of the United States and Canada from prehistory to the present. In addition to key English-language historical journals, it includes selected historical journals from major countries, state and local history journals, and a selection of journals in the social sciences and humanities. In addition to articles, the database includes book and media reviews and citations to dissertations
Gives bibliographic citations with author abstracts and covers major articles from anthologies and books written in English, Spanish, German, Italian, and French, as well as articles published since 1940 in more than 480 journals from 38 countries.
Film Index International is based on SIFT (Summary of Information on Film and Television), a database collated by the British Film Institute. It covers films from 170 countries with information on about 100,000 films and biographical details of 40,000 personalities, with references to periodical articles
FIAF International FilmArchive Database
The FIAF International FilmArchive Database is published by the Fédération Internationale des Archives du Film (FIAF) and contains several databases: the International Index to Film Periodicals, the International Index to Television Periodicals, the List of Periodicals Indexed, the Treasures from the Film Archives, the Bibliography of FIAF Members Publications and the International Directory of Film and TV Documentation Collections.
International Medieval Bibliography
A comprehensive, current bibliography of journal articles, essay collections and conference proceedings in this interdisciplinary field. Areas covered include Classics, English Language and Literature, History and Archaeology, Theology and Philosophy, Medieval European Languages and Literatures, Arabic and Islamic Studies, History of Education, Art History, Music, Theatre and Performance Arts, Rhetoric and Communication Studies
Indexes journal articles, essays, and book reviews in the field of religion. Citations cover all religions and all theological points of view.
"indexes articles in periodicals, monograph series, and edited works in archaeology, biological and physical anthropology, cultural and social anthropology and linguistics, and selectively in such related fields as: art, botany, demography, economics, ethnohistory, folklore, genetics, geography, geology, history, music, mythology, political science, psychology, religion, sociology"
Womens Resources International
Citations and abstracts are drawn from a variety of women's studies databases which range in coverage from classic works & core studies to recent scholarship in feminist research.
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