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English and Literature Resources: Finding Articles

Important Databases

These databases focus on literature and are the best first places to search for journal articles and other criticism not published in books:

For additional articles from literary journals, you can supplement searches in these databases with searches in:

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English & Literature Databases

This is an excellent list of databases available to you to help jumpstart your English and Literature research.  You can access these databases 24/7 from anywhere with your WPU login information.  Contact the Reference Desk at (973) 720-2116 if you need help finding articles.

  • Academic Search Premier
    Large, interdisciplinary full-text database contains over 4,800 full-text publications, including academic journals, magazines, books, and trade publications. Offers broad subject coverage for a variety of disciplines, including anthropology, area studies, biology, chemistry, ethnic and multicultural studies, food science and technology, general science, geography, law, mathematics, music, pharmaceutical sciences, physics, psychology, religion and theology, women's studies, and many other fields. Funded by the the New Jersey State Library.
  • America: History and Life
    Bibliographic database contains over 450,000 citations and abstracts for journal and magazine articles, book and media reviews, and dissertations covering the world's scholarly literature about the United States and Canada from prehistory to the present. Includes material from over 1,820 journals and magazines written in over 40 languages, although the majority of items were published in English. Most of the items in the database were issued after 1954. Many records contain links to full-text articles in other Library databases. [1954 - present]
  • Bloom’s Literary Criticism eBook Collection New
    This electronic book collection features 1,183 titles, including the following series: Twentieth Century American Literature, Bloom’s Literary Themes, and Bloom’s How to Write About…, plus hundreds of volumes covering major writers, works, and literary themes.
  • Children's Literature Comprehensive Database
    Contains over one million fiction/non-fiction titles, hundreds of thousands of awards and professional reviews including author/title links, lesson plans and teaching guides. The search engine offers multiple options including 50 search filters for finding materials to determine interest and reading levels, selecting trade books based on standards, creating thematic and annotated biographies, interpreting reviews, developing classroom collections, book challenges and collection development. [1761 - present]
  • Communication & Mass Media Complete
    Full-text index to articles from over 200 periodical titles in the field of communications and mass media studies, with citations and abstracts for articles from over 100 additional periodicals.
  • Credo Reference's Academic Core
    The Credo Reference database is a portal to over 1,300 full-text reference titles from over 120 major publishers. Easy to search and browse, the Credo platform provides access to text, images, maps, statistics, and graphic concept maps to illustrate connections among and between topics. The titles, which range across subjects in art, biography, business, geography, history language, law, literature, medicine, music, philosophy, psychology, religion, science, the social sciences, and technology, are fully integrated through the Credo search platform, and the Credo database also provides numerous points for accessing other Cheng Library resources. Credo is a most useful starting point for general research on almost any topic.
  • FIAF International Index to Film Periodicals
    The International Federation of Film Archives (FIAF) brings together institutions dedicated to rescuing and preserving films. FIAF's editorial staff, along with its Affiliates, produces the International Index to Film Periodicals which offers in-depth coverage of film and media studies, theory and history from academic and popular film journals. This database contains FIAF's "Treasures from Film Archives," a detailed index of the silent-era film holdings of archives from around the world. [ 1972 - Present ]
  • Gale Ebooks (Gale Virtual Reference Library)
    Over 30 major reference titles covering subject areas including business, education, career skills, history, law, literature, medicine, science, and social science. The collection can be searched or browsed.e-book
  • Google Scholar (Full Text @ Cheng Library)
    Access full-text articles from the Library's subscription e-journals using the familiar Google search engine.

    For access to our subscription journals through Google Scholar, select the link above and then follow these steps:

    1. Click on the top-left corner menu on the screen

    2. Select "Settings" from the menu

    3. On the next page, select "Library links" from the menu on the left side of the screen

    4. Type "cheng" in the search field and run the search

    5. Select "David and Lorraine Cheng Library - Full Text@Cheng Library" and then click on the "Save" button



    This will enable you to see the "Full Text@Cheng Library" links displayed with your search results.
  • Grant Search
    Click GrantSearch. Comprehensive funding services and expertise for colleges and universities.
  • Grove Art Online
    Grove Art Online is a full-text portal to high-quality art reference sources, including the Grove Dictionary of Art, the Encyclopedia of Aesthetics (2nd edition), The Oxford Companion to Western Art, and The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Art Terms. The database also includes links to art image sources including ARTstor, Bridgeman Education, the British Museum, the Museum of Modern Art (New York), the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Art Images for College Teaching, Art Resource, Artists Rights Society, and numerous international art galleries and artists.
  • Historical Abstracts
    Bibliographic database contains over 640,000 citations and abstracts for journal and magazine articles, books and book chapters, conference papers, and dissertations covering the world's scholarly literature on modern world history (15th century-present), excluding the United States and Canada. Includes material from over 2,690 journals and magazines written in over 40 languages. Most of the items in the database were issued after 1954. Many records contain links to full-text articles in other Library databases. [1954 - present]
  • Independent Voices Periodical Collection (on the JSTOR Platform) New
    Independent Voices is an open access digital collection of over 20,000 issues of alternative press newspapers, magazines and journals, drawn from the special collections of participating libraries. These periodicals were produced by feminists, dissident GIs, campus radicals, Native Americans, anti-war activists, Black Power advocates, Hispanics, LGBT activists, the extreme right-wing press and alternative literary magazines during the latter half of the 20th century.
  • JSTOR Arts and Sciences Collections (I through IX, and XIV) and Life Sciences Collection
    Archive of over 1,650 major journals in the humanities, social sciences, business, education, area studies, mathematics and statistics, life sciences, and much more. Funding for the acquisition of the JSTOR Arts and Sciences V, VI, VIII, and IX Collections was provided by a generous gift from the Student Government Association. [18th Century - Present]
  • Linguistics and Language Behavior Abstracts (LLBA)
    Linguistics and Language Behavior Abstracts indexes the international literature in linguistics and related disciplines in the language sciences. The database covers all aspects of the study of language including phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax and semantics. The database provides abstracts and - where available - links to the full-text of journal articles, plus citations to book reviews drawn from over 1,500 publications, and it also provides abstracts of books, book chapters, and dissertations. [1973 - Present]
  • Literary Reference Source
    Full-text literary reference database contains over 27,000 plot summaries, synopses and work overviews; nearly 100,000 articles/essays of literary criticism; over 140,000 author biographies; over 569,000 book reviews; the text of 57,000 classic/contemporary poems and 14,500 classic/contemporary short stories; 4,700 author interviews; and over 7,100 classic literary texts. The database also contains full-text reference content from a number of literature encyclopedias.
  • Literature Resource Center
    Full-text database covering over 135,000 authors, with detailed biographical, bibliographical and contextual information about authors' lives and works. Also includes over 850,000 full-text articles, critical essays and reviews from over 390 scholarly journals and literary magazines, more than 75,000 selected full-text critical essays and reviews from the database publisher's many compilations of literary criticism, plus author interviews, links to web sites, and more. [Date coverage varies]
  • MLA Directory of Periodicals
  • MLA International Bibliography
    The MLA International Bibliography is a bibliographic database to journal articles, books, and dissertations relating to all forms of human communication. Coverage includes literature from all over the world - Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, and North and South America. Folklore is represented by folk literature, music, art, rituals, and belief systems. Linguistics and language materials range from history and theory of linguistics, comparative linguistics, semantics, stylistics, and syntax to translation. Other topics include literary theory and criticism, dramatic arts (film, radio, television, theater), and history of printing and publishing. The database currently contains over 2 million records back to 1926 and covers over 4,400 journals. Links to full-text articles are provided in the database where these are available. [1926 - present]
  • New York Times: Current File Search (1980 - present) is now part of ProQuest Newsstream
    Full text access to articles from the New York Times. [June 1, 1980 - present]
  • Open Access Theses and Dissertations (OATD)
    Open Access Theses and Dissertations is a resource for finding open access graduate theses and dissertations published around the world. Over 1,100 colleges, universities, and research institutions contribute data to provide access to over 6.9 million these and dissertations.
  • Oxford Music Online
    Oxford Music Online is a full-text portal to high-quality music reference sources, including the Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, containing over 50,000 articles on composers, performers, conductors, instruments and notation, forms and genres, and individual works. The database also includes the full text of The Oxford Companion to Music and The Oxford Dictionary of Music.
  • ProQuest Central
    ProQuest Central is a large multidisciplinary database indexing over 14,000 publications, the majority of them available in full text. Over 160 subjects areas are covered extensively in this product including business and economics, health and medical, news and world affairs, technology, social sciences, and more. The publications include over 6,500 scholarly journals, over 3,600 trade publications, over 2,000 magazines and newspapers, and over 800 industry reports, plus dissertations and theses, company annual reports, and videos.
  • ProQuest Ebook Central
    Full-text access to over 150,000 electronic books from a wide variety of academic publishers, covering every subject.

    [Ebook Central Overview and Searching (Video 2:37)] [Quick Start Guide (2 pages)]
    e-book
  • PsycARTICLES
    PsycARTICLES offers complete access to the full text of more than 80 landmark journals in behavioral science and related fields ranging from education, to nursing, to business, to neuroscience. The database currently contains over 160,000 articles from many of the most important journals in psychology, including 34 journals published by the American Psychological Association. Most titles feature complete content from the current issue back to volume 1, issue 1, with complete coverage of all subject areas relevant to psychological science including basic/experimental psychology, clinical psychology, developmental psychology, education and school psychology, health psychology, industrial/organizational psychology, social psychology and social processes. Articles in PsycARTICLES are also accessible through links in the (larger) PsycINFO database. [1894 - present]
  • Readers' Guide to Periodical Literature Retrospective, 1890-1982
    Access to citations from over 3 million articles from approximately 375 leading magazines spanning the period from 1890 to 1982. Includes articles from the most widely read popular periodicals of the day, journals of news and opinion, and a selection of research publications. [1890 - 1982]
  • Sage Premier E-Journal Collection (Sage Journals Online)
    Over 450 scholarly journals in a wide variety of academic disciplines published by Sage.
  • Salem History (Decades in America, Great Lives, Milestone Documents)
    The Salem History portal provides full-text access to several major series published by Salem Press, inclduing Decades in America (1920s-1990s), Great Lives from History, and Milestone Documents.
  • Salem Literature (Classics Reviewed, Critical Insights, and Masterplots)
    The Salem Literature portal provides full-text access to several major series published by Salem Press, including 600 Classics Reviewed, Critical Insights: Authors, Critical Insights: Works, and the 4th edition of Masterplots, which contains 2,200 brief summaries, critical analyses, and bibliographies for a wide variety of major literary works, including fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and drama.
  • Something About the Author Online (Volumes 200-361, 2009-2021)
    Something About the Author is a biographical reference database providing illustrated biographical profiles of children's authors and artists. Our online access to the series, which begins with Volume 200 (2009), currently covers more than 750 individuals, ranging from established award winners to authors and illustrators who are just beginning their careers. Entries typically cover: personal life, career, writings, works in progress, adaptations, and additional sources. Approximately 750 additional authors are added to the database each year. The database supports both searching and browsing. [2009 - Present]
  • SpringerLink E-Journals Collection
    Over 1,900 full-text scholarly journals in a variety of disciplines including behavioral sciences, biomedical and life sciences, business and economics, chemistry and materials science, computer science, earth and environmental science, engineering, humanities, social sciences and law, mathematics, medicine, physics and astronomy.
  • WorldCat - The OCLC Online Union Catalog
    WorldCat is the world's largest and most comprehensive union catalog, currently featuring over 450 million bibliographic records that represent more than 1 billion individual items held by participating institutions. WorldCat includes records for books, videos, serial publications, articles, recorded books and music, electronic books, sheet music, genealogical references, cultural artifacts, digital objects, Web sites and much more. The cataloged works span thousands of years and nearly every form of human expression, with materials in over 470 languages from 112 countries and territories.
  • YuJa (William Paterson University Media Library)
    The University's Media Library contains video produced by members of the University campus community as well as licensed video from third party vendors.streaming video
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English and Literature Databases

The Library also provides browsable and searchable lists of journals in language and literature in its Journals and Periodicals Directory. The Directory is most useful for checking the availability of a specific journal when you have a citation. The following links will take you to the directory's lists of journals in subject areas relevant to English language and literary studies:

Subject Guide

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Head of Reference

David & Lorraine Cheng Library

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