The Library has lots of databases that will give you a wide variety of additional sources, beyond what you will find on LibrarySearch. Many databases focus on journal articles but others contain newspaper articles, reviews or audio-visual resources.
Some key databases for English Literature and Creative Writing are listed below. For further help on searching these resources, including video guides, check the section How to search databases
An archive of full-text articles from a range of academic journals with good coverage of literary journals. It also includes open access eBooks.
JSTOR research tools:
Key database for in-depth research in literary studies. Coverage is international. Can help you find articles, books & book chapters.
Mainly full-text database covering performing arts including theatre, film, TV and computer games. Good for articles on plays in performance.
A large multidisciplinary database, containing lots of full text articles. Good coverage of English Studies journals.
Collection of drama and theatre resources including essays, recordings of live performances and interviews with theatre practitioners.
02.11.22 - There are upcoming changes to Google Chrome that will require you to update your browser in order to continue watching content on Digital Theatre+. Please update by 6th December.
A multi-disciplinary collection of 583 journals, from 35 African countries, 306 of which are Open Access
OED online version of the Oxford English Dictionary.
Oxford Reference Online This is a collection of Oxford University Press reference books on a variety of subjects including Literature. Individual titles from the collection are also listed on LibrarySearch.
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography - an illustrated collection of essays providing the life stories of over 50,000 people who have shaped the history of the British Isles and beyond. Includes novelists, poets and playwrights.
The JSTOR Understanding series - this project currently gives free access to ALL Shakespeare plays and sonnets, plus other key works of British literature and the King James Bible.
Project Gutenberg is a good place to look for out-of-copyright literary works. All may be freely downloaded and read, and redistributed for non-commercial use.
Digital.Bodleian provides access to a wealth of digitized sources from the Bodleian Libraries' collection
If you want international news sources:
Factiva is an international news database. It covers national newspapers, local newspapers and web sources as well as a selection of magazines. It's a good place to find book and theatre reviews.
A guide to using Factiva to find newspaper articles (video)
If you want UK newspapers: you can use Factiva (above), or
Lexis+ is a law database which includes articles from UK national and regional news sources.
How to use Lexis+ - see the section 'How to search newspapers'
For more help with tracking down news sources and how to identify fake news, see our News sources webpage.
Check Referencing in MHRA for guidance on how to reference newspaper articles correctly.
Box of Broadcasts (BoB) is a service which gives you access to thousands of recorded TV, radio programmes and films from an online archive. Find out more about BoB.
Check Reference with MHRA: How to reference other sources for guidance on how to reference BoB programmes correctly.
You may want to find historical sources that are contemporary with an author you're studying. The Library has several online collections that may be useful:
The Guardian and The Observer 1791 - 2003 (via ProQuest). The complete digital edition of the Guardian (1821 - 2003) and the Observer (1791 - 2003) with all articles, advertisements and illustrations. Use the 'Publications' option to browse the different versions of these newspapers published over the years.
Times Digital Archive 1785-2007 (via Gale Databases). The complete digital edition of The Times (London), with all articles, advertisements and illustrations.
Seventeenth & Eighteenth century Burney newspapers collection (via Gale Databases) a digital archive of 17th and 18th newspapers, pamphlets, proclamations and newsbooks published in England, Ireland and Scotland, plus a selection of papers from British colonies in the Americas and Asia. Use the 'Browse' option to view which titles are included.
British Library newspapers (1800-1900) (via Gale Databases) - this collection covers contains digital editions of over 60 national and regional British newspapers from the 19th century. Use the 'Browse' option to view which titles are included. Note we have access to the collections 'British Library Newspapers, Part I: 1800-1900' and 'British Library Newspapers, Part II: 1800-1900'.
NewsVault (via Gale Databases) allows you to cross-search all of the Gale historical collections we subscribe to. This covers: Seventeenth & Eighteenth century Burney newspapers collection; British Library newspapers (1800-1900); Times Digital Archive 1785-2007; 19th Century UK Periodicals.
See the 'News sources and websites' section above if you want more contemporary newspapers.
Check Referencing in MHRA for guidance on how to reference newspaper articles correctly.
Historical Texts has the full text of over 350,000 books published in Great Britain from 1475-1900. It consists of 3 databases which can be searched individually or together:
Early English books online (EEBO) Contains digital facsimile page images of virtually every work printed in England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales and British North America and works in English printed elsewhere from 1473-1700. Full text.
Eighteenth century collections online (EECO) Contains digital images of 150,000 books published during the 18th Century. Full text.
British Library 19th Century collection Gives full-text access to over 65,000 19th Century books, covering philosophy, history, poetry and literature.
Free online books
The JSTOR Understanding series - this project currently gives free access to ALL Shakespeare plays and sonnets, plus other key works of British literature and the King James Bible.
Project Gutenberg is a good place to look for out-of-copyright literary works. All may be freely downloaded and read, and redistributed for non-commercial use.
Digital.Bodleian provides access to a wealth of digitized sources from the Bodleian Libraries' collection
History primary sources is a selection of primary sources, both online resources and print books which are anthologies of primary sources.
Please get in touch if you have any queries about:
I'm currently hybrid working, so will sometimes be on Headington campus and sometimes working from home. Please email jcooksey@brookes.ac.uk in the first instance. If you need a 1-to-1 appointment we can then arrange one either face-to-face or via Zoom or Google Meet. My usual working hours are 8.00 - 16.00, Monday - Friday.
Citing your sources (also called referencing) is an essential part of your academic work and is explained fully on our library referencing webpage.
If you are a student in English Literature, Drama or Creative Writing, you will need to use the MHRA referencing style in your assignments, projects and dissertation.
Check the guide Reference with MHRA which shows you how to create footnotes and bibliographies, and how to reference different types of sources.
Your module reading lists will tell you what sources you need to read before class and also provide further readings that may be helpful for assignments.
More about finding and understanding your module reading lists (Google slides)
Going to university is a huge step but there is lots of support available. Here are links to support services and useful resources for self-care:
Searching for books
Use LibrarySearch to look for books and eBooks available in Brookes Library. Just type in the author, title or subject that you are interested in. Limit your search results to books.
Check the video guide (right) for tips on how LibrarySearch works.
Finding print books
Print books have a 'call number' which tells you where the book is shelved in the Library, for example:
This book Mary Shelley: Frankenstein, edited by Berthold Schoene-Harwood is shelved at 823.7 SHE/S.
The main section for print books in English Literature, Drama and Creative Writing is on Level 4 in Zone D of the Headington Library.
Use LibrarySearch to look for books and eBooks available in Brookes Library. Type in the author, title or subject that you are interested in. If you want to just see eBooks, you can limit your results by using the filters on the left.
Here is an example of a library eBook: A Companion to Crime Fiction. Follow the 'View eBook' link to connect to it. Log in when prompted with your Brookes student number and password.
Our eBooks are on various web platforms, for example this one is on ProQuest Ebook Central. You'll see there are options to:
In order to download many of our eBooks - including ones on ProQuest - you need to have the Adobe Digital Editions programme or app on your computer/device. You can download this for free.
O'Reilly eBooks
O'Reilly is another eBook platform but it works differently to most other e-resources. If you need to access an O'Reilly eBook, check this quick guide to how to login; steps 4-6 show you what to do when you reach the O'Reilly site.
Find out more about accessing and downloading library eBooks
Academic journals are key sources for your literary studies.
This guide Anatomy of a Journal (PDF) from the Open University explains clearly what a journal is, and how they differ from books.
Peer reviewed journal articles
You will often be asked to consult peer reviewed articles for your research. These are high quality scholarly articles that have been checked by other experts in the field.
The peer review provides feedback so that researchers can revise and improve their papers before publication. It also acts as a quality check, ensuring that articles meet high standards expected in the discipline and required to maintain the reputation of the journal. Find out more about the purpose of peer review and how it works in this Explainer: what is peer review?
LibrarySearch is a good place to start looking for journal articles on a topic or literary work. Just type your keywords or a phrase in the search box. At the results screen, use the the filter options on the left to limit your search to peer-reviewed articles.
We recommend you also use databases, especially for more in-depth research because LibrarySearch doesn’t cover all of our e-resources and you may get better results on a more specialised database.
If you have the details of a specific article (for example from an author's bibliography) you may be able to find it through LibrarySearch by typing in some key words from the article title and an author. If the article doesn't come up, you'll need to look up the journal instead to see if we have it - see the section 'Look for a specific journal' below.
Looking for a specific journal
Looking for a specific article
You may want to do this if you're following up a reference found in a bibliography:
If we don't have the journal or issue you want, you can use the interlibrary loan service to request a free copy of the article.
It's a good idea to keep track of your sources as you find them, so that it's easier to reference them later.
For tips on good referencing practice, check:
Resources for Creative Writing- list of books and other resources about creative writing techniques
Resources for Creative Writing: Life writing: memoir and biography - list of books and some key journals specialising in life writing
Guides to writing about literary texts
Resources for Creative Writing: Writing about literary texts - a selection of resources on literary criticism that may be useful for writing a critical review or critical commentary.
How to find published critical sources on a text
If you want help or advice, please contact your Librarian.
The Oxford Brookes Poetry Centre Collection was set up in collaboration with the Poetry Centre to showcase contemporary poetry.
Much of the Collection comprises books that have been shortlisted for poetry prizes in the UK, Ireland and USA. It also includes the poetry pamphlets published by the award-winning ignitionpress, an imprint set up by the Oxford Brookes Poetry Centre.
All books can be borrowed.
The books can be found in the Headington Library on Level 4 (Zone D) and they can all be borrowed.
They don’t have a standard call number, instead they have a label indicating the year of the relevant poetry prize shortlist. The books are grouped by year on the library shelves.
The Collection also holds the poetry pamphlets published by ignitionpress, a poetry imprint set up by the Poetry Centre in 2018 with the aim of publishing poetry from emerging and established international writers.
The Poetry Centre is based within the School of English and Modern Languages at Oxford Brookes. It actively promotes poetry through its Weekly Poem initiative which showcases the work of independent presses and their poets. It also offers podcasts featuring local poets and hosts an annual programme of events including conferences, research seminars, workshops, exhibitions, readings, and community projects.
In February 2016 the Poetry Centre celebrated its inaugural International Poetry Competition with an event at Oxford Brookes and in 2018 it established the award-winning imprint ignition press.
Follow @brookespoetry on Twitter or on Instagram
Who can access: MA students and undergraduates doing dissertation or equivalent research (from the 2nd Semester of your 2nd Year) are eligible to apply for a Bodleian card .
What they hold: The Bodleian is a copyright deposit library, which means that a copy of all British publications should be deposited in its collections by the publisher under copyright law. Check their Library catalogue SOLO
How to apply: Check How to access the Bodleian and other libraries. Note that there are different procedures if you apply during the vacation
What you can access: You can use the main Bodleian Library of Oxford University.
Your Bodleian card gives you access to print and e-resources but only within their library buildings. You will be given a Bodleian Libraries username and password which allows you to log into SOLO, library PCs and the ‘Bodleian-Libraries’ Wi-Fi network as well as using their Print, Copy and Scan (PCAS) service. For full details, check their guide What access do I have as a Bodleian Reader card holder
Interlibrary loan service
You can use this free service to request a loan of a print book or to obtain a copy of a journal article that we don’t hold at Brookes. Find out more about the interlibrary loan service
More Books
Look out for the Library’s popular More Books scheme which allows you to to suggest books and eBooks you’d like the library to purchase (max. 5 books per student). When the scheme is running, full details will be available via the Library home page.
BA dissertations
Selected undergraduate dissertations are available from the English Literature homepage on Moodle in the section 'Dissertation information.'
To check whether other hard copy dissertations are available, contact the Programme Administrator for English, Drama and Creative Writing (Tel. 01865 48 3748. Tonge Building, Room T302)
MA dissertations
You can view some examples of past MA dissertations on the MA in English Literature Moodle page. - Look in the section 'Useful documents' for the folder 'Past dissertations'.
Recent dissertations are available online through the 'Student research' section of our repository RADAR - choose 'eDissertations' and then you can browse what's available.
The Library holds around 20 past MA English dissertations from 1999-2009 . These are all listed on LibrarySearch and can be requested them at the JHB Library Help Zone. To find them, do a search for MA English or MA Humanities (includes some older dissertations on literary topics).
MPhil and PhD theses
All Oxford Brookes University PhD and MPhil theses are held in the Library. They are listed on LibrarySearch and can be requested at the JHB Library Help Zone.
Recent theses are available online through the 'Student research' section of our repository RADAR - choose 'eTheses' and then you can browse what's available.
Beyond Brookes
You can look for online theses via the British Library's EThOS system. Search across 250,000+ theses for free and download / order full text where available. You will need to register and log in if you want to download a thesis or to order digitisation of a thesis.
The database Web of Science gives access to ProQuest ™ Dissertations & Theses Citation Index. On the Web of Science home page, click on the drop-down menu next to 'Search in: Web of Science Core Collection' and select 'ProQuest ™ Dissertations & Theses Citation Index'.
Explore Special Collections
The Special Collections Reading Room is located within the Headington Library. It holds unique collections of resources for teaching and research.
Check our Special Collections page for details for details of how to access the Reading Room and a link to the Archives catalogue.
Of particular interest to English Literature and Creative Writing staff and students is the Booker Prize Archive:
Other collections relating to publishing and literary prizes that may be relevant to English Literature and Creative Writing students are:
An archive of full-text articles from a range of academic journals with good coverage of literary journals. It also includes open access eBooks.
Problems accessing JSTOR? Check the JSTOR troubleshooting guide
JSTOR research tools:
Highly recommended for anyone studying Shakespeare is JSTOR's Understanding Shakespeare tool that lets you look up quotations from a Shakespeare play and find JSTOR articles that reference them.
Try the Text Analyser tool (BETA) available on the database home page. You can upload an article and the tool will find similar content in the database.
MLA International Bibliography is a key database for in-depth research in literary studies that can help you find articles, books and book chapters.
Academic Search Complete is a large database covering all subject areas. It contains lots of full text articles and is an excellent resource for any topic.
Search MLA + Academic Search Complete together
Both databases are on a web platform called EBSCO and look the same. You can access the databases separately or search them together to find more sources.
Performing Arts Periodicals Database is a mainly full-text database covering theatre, film, TV and computer games. It's recommended for Drama modules and is a good place to find reviews of plays in performance
BoB is an online service which gives you access to thousands of recorded TV, radio programmes and films from an online archive.
Follow the link to access BoB. Click on 'Sign in', then type Oxford Brookes University in the Where are you from? box. The first time you access BoB, you will be prompted to create an account.
On Bob you can create your own playlists or browse existing ones. Take a look at the links below for a selection of playlists created by your Librarian.
Find out more from the How to use BoB video guides produced by Learning on Screen.
For guidance check the section Referencing a TV or radio programme - viewed on BoB, on a streaming service of the MHRA guide.
Shakespeare (Oxford Brookes playlist) - Shakespeare productions and documentaries
Poetry (Oxford Brookes playlist) - selection of poetry resources
Discover contemporary poetry (Oxford Brookes playlist)- featuring Mary Jean Chan, Claudia Rankine, Hannah Lowe, Helen Mort, Kei Miller, Layli Long Soldier, Ocean Vuong, Terrance Hayes and many more.
Austen on Screen (Oxford Brookes playlist)
The Brontes on screen (Oxford Brookes playlist) - adaptations of novels by Charlotte, Emily and Anne Bronte, plus documentaries
Dickens on screen (Oxford Brookes playlist)
Eliot on screen (Oxford Brookes playlist) - adaptations of George Eliot's novels, plus documentaries
Gothic literature (Oxford Brookes playlist)
Hardy on screen (Oxford Brookes playlist)
Victorian novels on screen (Oxford Brookes playlist) - adaptations of a selection of 19th C novels by Elizabeth Gaskell, Wilkie Collins and Anthony Trollope
His Dark Materials (Oxford Brookes playlist) - BBC TV adaptation of Philip Pullman's trilogy
Wolf Hall (Oxford Brookes playlist) - TV series adaptation of Hilary Mantel's novels & related documentaries
Drama (Oxford Brookes playlist) - Selection of films, plays in performance, documentaries and interviews
OED online version of the Oxford English Dictionary
Oxford Reference Online This is a collection of Oxford University Press reference books on a variety of subjects including Literature. Individual titles from the collection are also listed on LibrarySearch.
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography - an illustrated collection of essays providing the life stories of over 50,000 people who have shaped the history of the British Isles and beyond. Includes novelists, poets and playwrights.
Check the Reference in MHRA guide for how to reference entries from online dictionaries and reference works
Newspapers can be a good source for interviews and book reviews if you're looking at a contemporary text. We have two newspaper databases you can search:
Factiva is an international news database. It covers national newspapers, local newspapers and web sources as well as a selection of magazines. It's a good place to find book and theatre reviews.
A guide to using Factiva to find newspaper articles (video)
Lexis+ is a law database which includes articles from UK national and regional news sources.
How to use Lexis+ - see the section 'How to search newspapers'
Check Referencing in MHRA for guidance on how to reference newspaper articles correctly.
Bridgeman Education - more than 3 million images on all subjects including photographs, art works, museum collections. It’s very good for images of plays in performance and rehearsal
JSTOR image search (incorporating ARTstor) - JSTOR is a key database for English Literature, containing academic articles and books, but it also offers an image search. Use it to find high-quality images from around the world, including artworks, maps, photographs, and more.
Using images in your English & Drama assignments (Google slides) - check this guide which covers:
Digital Theatre+ is a collection of drama & theatre resources including essays, recordings of live performances & interviews with theatre practitioners. It's a key resource for Drama students. NB If using Chrome, make sure you have the latest version.
If you want to develop your study skills, check these lists of books, web resources and other support.
Subject-specific:
Skills for assignments:
Digital skills:
Find out more from our Life and study balance page
