English 225 - Taylor

The following resources will help you if you have a biographical question.

• Biography in Context (online):  A comprehensive database of biographical information on more than one million people from throughout history, around the world, and across all disciplines and subject areas.
• Oxford Music Online:  The authoritative standard for English-language music dictionaries, covering all aspects of music, including biographies, definitions of terms, musical examples, lists of works, links to sounds, etc.
• Dictionary of Literary Biography (online):  Contains full text essays outlining the lives and careers of American and British authors from all eras and genres and summarizing the critical response to their work.  Current Cumulative Edition.

The following resources will help you if you have a definition question.

• Oxford English Dictionary (online):    New web version of the most complete and authoritative dictionary of the English language.  It contains all items from the 2nd edition plus supplemental entries as the 3rd edition is being created.
• Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary: Online version of the largest, most comprehensive American dictionary of the English language.
• American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online):  Free, online edition from Yahoo! Education.  It is the 4th edition (2000).

The following resources will help you with general information question on historical events and biographical information.

• Gale Virtual Reference Library:  Provides online access to the complete full text of over 100 reference works.
• Encyclopedia Britannica (online):    Encyclopaedia Britannica's latest article database (including hundreds of articles not found in the print edition), Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary and Thesaurus, and the Britannica Book of the Year (1994- ), with thousands of web links selected by editors.  Current Academic Edition.

And for access to historical literature in full text use:

HathiTrust Digital Library

The following resources will help you with questions dealing with recent issues.

• Proquest Research Library (online):  Indexes over 3,800 journals and magazines covering all fields and topics, academic and popular, beginning as early as 1971.  See the Library Research Process Research Guide for tips on how to use Proquest.
• Newsbank (online):  Access to 11 databases from NewsBank, Inc.  Coverage varies.

Other places to go for help.

• Email or Instant Message a Librarian:  Librarians can be contacted through email or instant message at this web address.

Please feel free to chat, text or email if you have any questions!