LibGuides: English: Journals & Databases

Finding Journal Articles

The databases listed on this page will help you to find journal articles that have been published about your English Literature research topic. If you already have a citation for the article, then you can follow the instructions given in the column on the right to track down a copy. If we don't have access to the article in our library, then you can request a free copy using the Get It Interloan service.

Databases that will to help you find articles on English Literature

Choose a database, then enter your keywords to find articles on your research topic. The article may be available in PDF or HTML. If the full-text of an article is not available within the database, click on the Article Link button for links to the full-text, or follow the instructions given on the right, to find the article from a citation.

ABELL: Annual Bibliography of English Language & Literature
Lists books, journal articles, critical editions of literary works, book reviews, collections of essays and doctoral dissertations.
Literature Online
Criticism and reference material, including articles, essays, biographies and also some literary works. Database Guide.
Literature Resource Centre
Access biographies, bibliographies, and critical analyses of more than 120,000 authors from every age and discipline.
MLA International Bibliography
Find scholarly books and articles on modern languages, literatures, folklore, and linguistics. Includes MLA's Directory of Periodicals. Database Guide.
Proquest Literature & Language
Combined search across several Proquest databases relevant to Language and Literature, including dissertations and theses.

These databases cover journals from several disciplines, including English Literature.

The article may be available in PDF or HTML. If the full-text of an article is not included, click on the Article Link button for links to the full-text, or follow the instructions given on the right, to find the article from a citation.

Academic OneFile
Peer-reviewed, full-text articles from journals and reference sources. Covers a range of subjects, including English literature.
JSTOR
Digitized journals, with coverage ranging from as early as 1665. You can limit by date range (e.g. 1837-1901 for the Victorian Era).
Periodicals Index Online: PIO
Multidisciplinary index to over 6,000 journals (with 850 literature journals). An excellent resource for finding primary sources, with complete runs of titles indexed (up to 1995). Database Guide.
Project MUSE
Complete, full-text access to over 400 high quality, peer-reviewed humanities and social sciences journals, from over 120 publishers, including many university presses and scholarly societies.

Google Scholar (off-campus access only)
Google Scholar will help you to discover journal articles (also books and conference papers), including those freely available on the internet, and those available through library databases. Look for Otago Article Link in your results list to access the article through our library databases (you may need to adjust your Google Scholar settings to display these links under Library Links find and then select University of Otago - Otago Article Link).
JURN
A curated academic search-engine. Search millions of free academic articles, chapters, and theses across a wide range of academic disciplines, including english literature.

These databases specialise in listing articles published in NZ publications. The full-text is not always available, but you can use the information in the citation/reference to track down a copy. Use Library Search | Ketu to see if we hold the journal/newspaper the article was published in, then browse by year, volume, issue, page number to find a copy of the article.

Australia/New Zealand Reference Centre
A full text collection including leading regional and international newspapers, magazines, journals, reference books, and biographies. Also includes photos, maps, flags & video.
findNZarticles
Provides access to New Zealand content, including material by or about New Zealanders, from a range of New Zealand newspapers and journals.
Index New Zealand
Indexes the content of NZ and Pacific newspapers, magazines, and academic journals. Useful for finding articles on contemporary NZ and Pacific authors, that may only be available in print. Search Library Search | Ketu for the Source title to find print holdings.

New Zealand Literature File
Provides references to biographical and critical material about New Zealand and Pacific authors' work.

Some of these more specialised databases may also be relevant for your research topic.

Cambridge Edition of the Works of Ben Jonson
A fully searchable collection of Jonson's complete works (modern and annotated or old-spelling transcriptions) and some of the major manuscripts, along with essays, archives, a timeline, music scores, and hundreds of digital images. The interface enables on-screen comparison between versions.
International Medieval Bibliography (IMB)
Citations for works in all aspects of medieval studies from 450 to 1500 for Europe, the Middle East and North Africa (classified by date, subject and location).
Iter Bibliography
Lists research on the Middle Ages and Renaissance (400-1700), includes citations for books, journal articles, dissertation abstracts, essays in books, conference proceedings, festschriften, encyclopedias and exhibition catalogues.
Underground & Independent Comics, Comix, and Graphic Novels
Focusing on adult comic books and graphic novels, this database includes works of artists, alongside interviews, criticism, and journal articles documenting the continual growth and evolution of this artform.

Looking for a Specific Article?

If you already have a citation for the article that you are looking for,

e.g. Danner, B. "Speaking Daggers." Shakespeare Quarterly 54.1 (2003): 29-62.

Then you can use this to find a copy of the article. There are several ways to do this, but the most reliable way is using the journal title.

Search for the "Title of the journal" (within quotation marks). Once you have found a record for the journal, browse by year, volume, issue, page number to find a copy of the article.

Quickly Find a specific article using Library Search | Ketu

You can use Library Search | Ketu to find an article from a citation.

Search for the "Title of the article" (within quotation marks).

Quickly Find a Specific Article using Google Scholar

You can use Google Scholar to find an article from a citation:

Try searching Google Scholar for the "Title of the Article" (usually within quotation marks)
Look for Otago Article Link in your results list to access the article through our library databases
NOTE: You may need to adjust your Google Scholar settings to display these links under Library Links find and then select University of Otago - Otago Article Link.

Off-Campus? Access Google Scholar via this link:

Google Scholar: Off-Campus Access