• Indexes with a + (plus) preceding their name are available through that link only to St. Mary's students, faculty, and staff from off-campus, because of contractual restrictions from the vendors. For more information, read Restricted Databases Instructions. 

• For more information about the subscription databases listed to the left, see the Louis J. Blume Library Database Descriptions page. 

The print counterpart to the Literature Resource Center database and earlier material may be found in the following collected critical evaluations, containing portions of critical discussions about authors and their literary works. These collections should be considered a starting point only. Whenever possible, try to find the original source of the discussion or try to find additional background material (in journal articles and books, for example). 

Some collected evaluations are comprehensively indexed together and are published by Gale Research. 

1. Look in the author index in one of the last volumes of any of the series below.
2. After the author's name, abbreviations for the following titles (shown in parentheses) will appear followed by the volume numbers in which criticism of their works appear.
3. Each volume is arranged alphabetically by the author's last name.
4. Title indexes will indicate which volume(s) [in bold] and pages mention the work(s) of interest.

{see literary criticism example}

(BLC) Black Literature Criticism Ref PS 153 .N5 B556 1992

(CLC) + Contemporary Literary Criticism Ref PN 771 .C5 (volumes 1-132)

also has a separate cumulative title index Ref PN 771 .C59 Index

(DC) Drama Criticism Ref PN 1707 .D7 (volumes 1-12)

(HLC) Hispanic Literature Criticism Ref PQ 7081 .A1 H57

(LC) Literature Criticism from 1400 to 1800 Ref PN 86 .L5 (volumes 1-54)

(NNAL) Native North American Literature Ref PS 508 .I5 N38

(NCLC) Nineteenth-Century Literature Criticism Ref PN 761 .N56 (volumes 1-105)

also has a separate cumulative title index Ref PN 761 .N56 Index

(PC) Poetry Criticism Ref PN 1010 .P62 (volumes 1-36)

(SC) Shakespearean Criticism Ref PR 2965 .S43 1984 (volumes 1-3)

(SSC) Short Story Criticism Ref PN 3373 .S386 (volumes 1-47)

(TCLC) Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism Ref PN 771 .G27 (volumes 1-113)

also has a separate cumulative title index Ref PN 771 .G27 Index

Additionally, the following biographical and literary sources are indexed in the above series: 

(CA) + Contemporary Authors Ref CT 220 .C61

(CANR) Contemporary Authors New Revision Series Ref CT 220 .C62

(CAAS) Contemporary Authors Autobiography Series Ref CT 220 .C63

(CAP) Contemporary Authors Permanent Series Ref CT 220 .C6

(DLB) + Dictionary of Literary Biography Ref PN 451 .D54

(DLBY) Dictionary of Literary Biography Yearbook Ref PN 451 .D542

(HW) Hispanic Writers Ref PQ 7081.3 .H5 1991

(MAICYA) Major Authors and Illustrators for Children and Young Adults Ref PN 451 .M37 1993

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+ Contemporary Authors is a bio-bibliographical guide to current writers in fiction, general nonfiction, poetry, journalism, drama, motion pictures, television, and other fields. Provides complete biographical and bibliographical references for nearly 100,000 authors from the U.S. and around the world.

+ Contemporary Literary Criticism--Select "presents significant published criticism on the works of novelists, poets, playwrights, short story writers, and other creative writers now living or who died after December 31, 1959. A strong emphasis is placed on including criticism of works by established authors who frequently appear on syllabi of high school and college literature courses. Each entry contains the following: a biographical essay that discusses the author's life, works, and critical importance; critical essays or excerpts taken from books, magazines, literary reviews, newspapers, and scholarly journals; and, where available, interviews with featured authors. A complete bibliographical citation prefaces each critical essay and most essays are introduced by a brief annotation that establishes a context and purpose for the criticism. Entries also provide suggestions for further reading." 266 entries from the most-studied authors who appear in volumes 1-94 of the print version are included, as well as representation of authors who appear in volumes 95+.

+ Dictionary of Literary Biography "outlines the lives and careers of authors from all eras and genres and summarize the critical response to their work. This is the electronic version of a print series that comprises more than 200 bound volumes." 

Internet Public Library Online Literary Criticism Collection contains 4492 critical and biographical websites about authors and their works that can be browsed by author, by title, or by literary period. Freely available resource.

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The following are examples of sources that provide some biographical information as well as citations to critical evaluations: 

American Playwrights Since 1945 Ref PS 350 .A25 1989

American Writers Ref PS 129 .A55

American Women Writers Ref PS 147 .A4

Biography Index (Index Tables, Main Floor)

Black Women in America Ref E 185.86 .B542

Contemporary Dramatists Ref PR 737 .C57

Latin American Writers Ref PQ 7081 .A1 L37 1989

Modern Black Writers Ref PN 841 .M58

Twentieth Century Science Fiction Writers Ref PS 374 .S35 T89

• American Drama Criticism Ref PS 332 .E35
• American Short Fiction Criticism and Scholarship Ref PS 374 .S5 W4
• Contemporary Novel Ref PN 3503 .A34
• English Novel Explication Ref PR 821 .P3
• European Drama Criticism Ref PN 1721 .P3
• Guide to American Poetry Explication Ref PS 221 .G84
• Index to Criticisms of British and American Poetry Ref PR 89 .C5
• Modern Drama: A Checklist of Critical LiteratureRef PN 1861 .A35
• Poetry Explication Ref PR 502 .K8
• Twentieth Century Short Story Explication Ref PN 3373 .W3

+ Academic Search Complete (covers 1975 [or further back in some cases]-present). More than 5,300 full-text periodicals, including 4,400 peer-reviewed journals. In addition to full text, this database offers indexing and abstracts for more than 9,300 journals and a total of 10,900 publications including monographs, reports, conference proceedings, etc. The database features PDF content going back as far as 1865, with the majority of full text titles in searchable PDF format. Designed specifically for academic institutions, this scholarly database is multi-disciplinary.

+ MLA International Bibliography (covers 1963-present). Includes citations to journal articles, book chapters, and dissertations. No abstracts are provided. Links to full-text items in other Ebsco databases.

Biographical information is available through many of the above resources. The following resources may provide additional information:

+ Gale Virtual Reference Library includes searchable full-text of several encyclopedias including the Encyclopedia of World Biography, American Women Writers: A Critical Reference Guide from Colonial Times to the Present, and Feminism in Literature: A Gale Critical Companion.

+ LEXIS-NEXIS Academic is a full-text legal and news database available to the St. Mary's University community. This service allows users to access newspaper, magazine, and news wire information, as well as other reference sources. Coverage of sources is generally from the mid-1980s to the present.

• Under Reference, the Biographical Information category may provide background information about the author.
• The General News Topics category may provide biographical information about contempory authors as well as reviews of contemporary works.

• Subject Browse: Type the name of the author (last name, first name) or the genre or topic in literature. You will see an alphabetical listing of subject headings. For example: