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Reference Resources
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Free resource
Bartleby.com
Bartleby.com publishes the classics of literature, nonfiction, and reference free of charge. Search the Columbia Encyclopedia, American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Roget’s Thesauri, quotations, and English usage, style & composition.

Free resource
FindArticles
LookSmart's FindArticles is a vast archive of published articles that you can search for free.

In library only
FirstSearch
Databases: ArticleFirst, Electronic Collections Online, ERIC, GPO, MEDLINE, PapersFirst, Proceedings, RILM Music Abstracts, UnionLists, WorldAlmanac, and WorldCat.

Free resource
Gale Free Resources
Gale Free Resources including: Black History Month, Hispanic Heritage, Poet's Corner, Women's History, and Literary Index.

Requires library card
Gale InfoTrac
Includes General Reference Center Gold and OneFile - Full-text news and periodical articles.

Requires library card
Grolier Online
Grolier Online includes Encyclopedia Americana and Nueva enciclopedia Cumbre en línea.

Requires library card
Literary Reference Center
Literary Reference Center is a full-text database that includes plot summaries, synopses and work overviews, Literary criticism, author biographies, literary journals, book reviews, poems, short stories, classic texts, author interviews, and more. [Database Coverage List]

Free resource
LitFinder
LitFinder delivers up to a million examples of full-text, indexed and excerpted literature — along with thousands of citations, biographies, explanations, overviews and images to enhance understanding. [Fact Sheet]

Requires library card
Wilson Web
Wilson's Biography Reference Bank contains more than 95,000 biographies and obituaries and more than 26,000 photographs.

See all of our Reference Resources.
Google Scholar Search

Google Scholar searches for peer-reviewed papers, theses, books, abstracts, and articles.

Google Scholar
Internet Guide

Looking for something good to read?  See our Reading Guide.

Access full-text literature articles and databases using Reference Resources.

Books

abebooks.com - Search for used books, The Reading Room, featured subjects, news, and awards.

Alibris - Search or browse for used books, message boards, articles and features, and booksellers.

AllReaders.com - Search by plot, theme, character, and setting, book reviews, discussions.

Amazon.com Books - Search and browse new and used books.

Barnes & Noble.com - Search and browse new and used books.

BookFinder.com - Search for new and used books, FAQ, and a glossary.

Directory of Publishers and Vendors - Publisher email addresses and websites directories.

Publishers' Catalogues - Search or browse directory of publishers by location, topics, or format.

Electronic Books

Alex Catalogue of Electronic Texts - Search or browse Western literature and philosophy.

Amazon E-Books & E-Docs - Search or browse by category, download free readers.

Bartleby.com - Great books online in reference, verse, fiction, and nonfiction, with an index.

Bookshare.org - Downloadable books for people with visual disabilities, fee required.

The Complete Works of William Shakespeare - Full text of all Shakespeare's plays.

eBooks.com - Title search, subject guide, featured titles, requires Adobe Acrobat eBook Reader.

eBooks N' Bytes - Directory for ebooks, e-text, readers, and compilers.

Electronic Text Center - SGML and XML-encoded electronic texts and images from UVA.

IPL Shakespeare's Bookshelf - Full text of all Shakespeare's plays and poetry with search.

NetLibrary - Search and borrow eBooks, Reading Room, and an online dictionary.

Online Literature Library - Classics by listed by author.

Project Gutenberg - Browse or search thousands of classic books for free download.

Read Print - Thousands of free books for students, teachers, and the classic enthusiast by author.

Short Stories - Stories can be read online, printed, or downloaded for hand-held devices.

Telltale Weekly - Search catalog or browse audiobooks, free audiobooks, bestsellers, FAQ.

Literature

African American Literature Online - Over 75 works of 20th century literature by decade.

Author Webpages - Directory of links to author webpages.

Bartlett's Quotations - Passages, phrases, and proverbs traced to their sources in literature.

Based on the Book - Over 1,000 books, short stories, and plays made into movies.

The Cambridge History of English and American Literature - Literary history and criticism.

ClassicNotes - Free literature summaries and analysis, and an online dictionary and thesaurus.

Classic Reader - Browse or search a free collection of online classic books, with forums and FAQ.

Database of Award-Winning Children's Literature - Developed by a librarian.

Fantastic Fiction - Search or browse bibliographies, awards, new books, coming soon, series.

Glencoe Literature Library - Commercial site with book and play descriptions and study guides.

IPL Literary Criticism - Browse critical websites by author, title, nationality, or literary period.

Juvenile Series and Sequels: Titles - Alphabetical index of series, also by subject, title, and author.

Literature-Map - 'The tourist map of literature', graphical display of similar writers.

MostlyFiction - Book reviews by genre, Top 25 Authors, Top Picks, awards, alphabetical indexes.

Mostly Fiction: Booklists! - Annotated links to selected booklists by genre and topic for all ages.

Online Literature Library - Alphabetical list of authors, biographies and literary works, ebooks.

Wright American Fiction 1851-1875 - Over 2,800 texts of 19th century American fiction.

Poetry

The Academy of American Poets - Find a poet or poem, listen, forums, events, awards, exhibits.

American Verse Project - Search by word and phrase, browse the texts, and bibliography.

Bartleby.com Verse - Search a collection of verse, read online poetry anthologies and volumes.

Poetry Magazine - Current and upcoming issues, featured poets, and poetry awards and winners.

Representative Poetry Online - Indexed poets and poems with search, timeline, calendar, glossary.

Writing Resources

The Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation - Grammar and punctuation rules and helpful links.

Chicago Manual of Style Documentation - A guide to the Chicago Manual of Style, must register.

Citation Style for Research Papers - APA, Turabian, MLA, Chicago, and AMA Styles.

Dictionary.com - Online dictionary and thesaurus, tools, games, translator, and writing resources.

The Elements of Style - Search plain English style for rules of usage and principles of composition.

Florida Writers Association - News, member and author sites, meetings, events, book reviews.

iTools! Language Tools - General and specialized dictionaries, thesaurus, and translators.

MLA Online - MLA Style manual.

OneLook Dictionaries - Search for a word from many online dictionaries or translate a word.

Thesaurus.com - Search Roget's Thesaurus, antonyms, browse by headword or category.

worksCited4U - Creates MLA formatted works cited pages and bibliographies for you.

yourDictionary.com - Quick lookup, foreign language dictionaries, grammar, thesaurus, and tools.

SCPL del.icio.us tags for Literature