home: English Resources: English/Literature Databases

Literature Databases

Bloom's Literature (Facts on File) This link opens in a new window
Examines great writers, important works, memorable characters, and influential movements and events in world literature. Delivers premium performance videos.
Contains information and criticism on specific literary works—from poetry to plays.
Literary Reference Center (Ebsco) This link opens in a new window
Features plot summaries, synopses and work overviews, articles/essays of literary criticisms, book reviews, author bios and interviews.
Includes full text articles from reference works, books, literary journals as well as original content from EBSCO Publishing. Also offers full text classic and contemporary poems, short stories and other literary works.
ProQuest Research Library This link opens in a new window
Covers world, American and English literature as well as linguistics. Includes full text articles from literature and language publications.
Delivers a diversified mix of scholarly journals, professional and trade publications, important and general interest magazines.
Literature Criticism Online This link opens in a new window
Delivers centuries of analysis - the scholarly and popular commentary from broadsheets, pamphlets, encyclopedias, books and periodicals - in an online format that matches the exact look and feel of the print originals.

St. Xavier's collection includes:
Contemporary Literary Criticism
19th Century Literature Criticism
20th Century Literature Criticism
Short Story Criticism
Drama Criticism
Shakespearean Criticism

eBook Collections

Understand the historical, social and cultural context that shaped classic literature by accessing this rich collection of primary source material, collateral readings and commentary.

This series of ebooks provides online "companions" for a variety of contemporary writers. These sourcebook companions include: background on the author, character, plot, and theme analysis, alternative literary analysis, criticism, selected reviews, and an author bibliography.

Search All Our Collections with Ebsco Discovery Search

Streaming video resources

Drama Online Collection This link opens in a new window
Inspired and informed by the unique historic playing conditions of two beautiful iconic theatres, Shakespeare’s Globe’s diverse programme of work harnesses the power of performance, cultivates intellectual curiosity, and excites learning to make Shakespeare accessible for all.
Swank K-12 Streaming This link opens in a new window
Swank K12 Streaming provides streaming access to feature films and documentaries for educational use. Teachers can easily find and stream movies in the classroom, or they can assign to students for viewing outside of class (specifically during remote learning!).
Digital Theatre Plus This link opens in a new window
Digital Theatre + collaborates with renowned theater companies, actors and creatives to capture live performances in stunning quality and to bring you insights from behind the scenes.
" We curate the very best productions from over 50 of the world’s leading arts organisations; and we commission educational resources from leading practitioners and academics."

Resources include:
- classic, contemporary and international productions
- interviews exploring the dramatic, technical theatre-making process, as well as experimental, post-dramatic and applied theatre
- essays, documentaries, lectures, and study guides, covering theatre history, context, language analysis, encyclopedia entries, and practical techniques
Music & Performing Arts (Alexander Street) This link opens in a new window
Combines audio and video that spans all time periods, hundreds of thousands of seminal artists, composers, choreographers, and ensembles to provide an unparalleled learning environment for the teaching of music.
Be sure to investigate the tabs!
Classroom Video on Demand This link opens in a new window
A comprehensive (9,000+) collection of streaming video across the curricular content areas. Includes documentaries, filmed performances, interviews and archival newsreels.
Searchable by fully annotated segments.

Reference

Oxford English Dictionary This link opens in a new window
The last word on words - the definitive record of the English language.
Like its print version, the online OED is the accepted authority on the evolution of the English language over the last millennium. It is an unsurpassed guide to the meaning, history, and pronunciation of over half a million words, both present and past. It traces the usage of words through 2.5 million quotations from a wide range of international English language sources, from classic literature and specialist periodicals to film scripts and cookery books.
Gale Virtual Reference Library (ebooks) This link opens in a new window
Offers an online collection of specialized reference eBooks for multidisciplinary research. Provides context through superb content for deep background reading.
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Peer Reviewed Journals

Academic Search Premier (INFOhio Ebsco Host) This link opens in a new window
THE premier multidisciplinary research database for colleges and high schools. Provides access to 4600+ full-text peer-reviewed academic journals and premium popular magazines. Equally strong scholarly content for the humanities and the sciences.
Features:
*PDF backfiles to 1975 or further are available for well over one hundred journals.
*Exceptionally well-written abstracts and strong keyword indexing.
*Offers access to video content from the Associated Press, the world’s leading news agency. Videos relevant to the search terms appear in a carousel in the result list. With footage from 1930 to the present and updated monthly, this collection of more than 60,000 videos covers a wide variety of topics.
ProQuest Central Student This link opens in a new window
Delivers millions of articles from more than 8,000 full-text scholarly journals, magazines, and newspapers

English Resources: English/Literature Databases