BC1201: First Year English
Reinventing Literary History

Spring Semester

REFERENCE BOOKS

Library Research Guide
Reference Books for Fall Semester

Encyclopedias, dictionaries and other reference books are useful for:

  • an overview of a topic
  • background information
  • bibliographies
  • factual information

The reference books in this list are available in the Barnard Library Reference Area on the second floor.
 

General Reference Sources Call Number in Reference Area
Dictionary of Symbols and Imagery BL600 .V74 1976
Oxford English Dictionary: OED PE1617 .049 1993 & online 
Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Theory PN41 .C83 1998
Encyclopedia of the Novel PN41 .E487 1998
Handbook to Literature PN41 .H355 2003
Dictionary of Literary Themes and Motifs PN43 .D48 1988
Literature and Its Times PN50 .L574 1997
World Literature and Its Times PN50 .M625 1999-2004
Encyclopedia of Allegorical Literature PN56 .A5 L44 1996
Encyclopedia of Literary Modernism PN56 .M54 E53 2003
Johns Hopkins Guide to Literary Theory and Criticism PN81 .J554 2005 & online
Encyclopedia of Feminist Literary Theory PN98 .W64 E53 1997
Critical Survey of Poetry       PN1021 .C7 2002
Encyclopedia of Latin American Literature PQ7081 .A1 E56 1997 & online via CLIO
Cambridge Guide to Literature in English PR85 .C29 1993
Oxford Companion to Women’s Writing in the United States PS147 .O94 1995
Oxford Companion to African American Literature PS153 .N5 O96 1997
Oxford Encyclopedia of American Literature PS221 .E532 2004 & online
Oxford Encyclopedia of British Literature Butler Ref R820 Ox2 & online
Oxford Reference Online, compendium of reference sources online
Blackwell Reference Online, compendium of reference sources online
Cambridge Collections Online online
Reference Universe, compendium of reference sources online

 

Subject Encyclopedias and Handbooks Call Number in Reference Area
Encyclopedia of Psychology BF31 .E52 2000
Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy B51 .R68 1998 & online
Encyclopedia of the Enlightenment B802 .E53 2002
Oxford Encyclopedia of the Reformation BR301 .093 1996
Europe 1450 to 1789: Encyclopedia of the Early Modern World D209 .E97 2004
Encyclopedia of the Victorian Era DA550 .E527 2004
Twentieth Century Britain; an Encyclopedia DA556 .T835 2002
Oxford Classical Dictionary DE5 .O9 2003 & abridged edition online
Civilization of the Ancient Mediterranean: Greece and Rome DE59 .C55 1988
Encyclopedia of the North American Colonies E45 .E53 1993
Encyclopedia of American Cultural and Intellectual History E169.1 .E624 2001
Readers’ Companion to American History E174 .R43 1993 1991
Encyclopedia of African American Culture and History E185 .E54 2006
Encyclopedia of Latin American History and Culture F1406 .E53 1996
Encyclopedia of American Social History HN57 .E58 1993
Encyclopedia of European Social History HN373 .E63 2001
Oxford Encyclopedia of Women in World History HQ1121 .093 2008
Encyclopedia of Women in American History HQ1410 .E53 2001
Encyclopedia of the Romantic Era, 1760-1850 NX452 .R64 E53 2004
Feminist Encyclopedia of French Literature PQ149 .F47
Voltaire Philosophical Dictionary: From Hanover College online

 

Criticism Series Call Number in Reference Area
Literature Criticism Online, in list of Databases online
LC: Literature Criticism from 1400-1800 PN86 .L56 and online
CMLC: Classical and Medieval Literature Criticism PN681.5 .C57 and online
NCLC: Nineteenth-Century Literature Criticism PN761 .N56 and online
CLC: Contemporary Literary Criticism PN771 .C59 and online   
TCLC: Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism PN771 .G27 and online 
PC: Poetry Criticism PN1010 .P499 and online    
SSC: Short Story Criticism  PN3373 .S56 and online    
SC: Shakespearean Criticism      PR2965 .S43 and online     

 

Authors: Biography and Overview Call Number in Reference Area
Ancient Writers: Greece and Rome    PA3002 .A5 1982 
African Writers PL8010 .A453 1997
European Writers     PN501 .E9 1983 
Latin American Writers PQ7081 .A1 L37 1989
Latin American Women Writers online
British Writers     PR85 .B688
Oxford Guide to British Women Writers PR111 .S48 1993 & online
American Writers PS129 .A55
DLB: Dictionary of Literary Biography PS129 .D5 & online
American Women Writers   PS147 .A42 2000

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Last Modified 2/25/08
Karen Dobrusky, Lois Coleman, Jenna Freedman and Heidi Winston, Reference Librarians
Barnard College Library

 

 
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