Research Guides: Introduction to Literature: Getting Started

Introduction to Literature

This guide is for students who are enrolled in Literature 100 or for those who are looking for an introductory guide to studying literature.

Reference Books about Literature

Reference books are an excellent way of getting background information on your topic. They're usually trustworthy because they've been written and/or reviewed by subject experts.

A New Handbook of Literary Terms by David Mikics
Publication Date: 2007
Offers a lively, informative guide to words and concepts that every student of literature needs to know. It sketches the derivation and history of each term, including especially lucid explanations of verse forms and providing a firm sense of literary periods and movements from classicism to postmodernism.
The Literature Student's Survival Kit by I. Littlewood
Call Number: PN43 .L585 2006; Reference Collection -- First Floor
ISBN: 1405122846
Publication Date: 2006
Provides biblical, classical, historical and academic information.
A Dictionary of Literary and Thematic Terms by E. Quinn
Call Number: PN44.5 .Q56 2006; Reference Collection -- First Floor
ISBN: 0816062439
Publication Date: 2006
This book gives readers not only a traditional literary vocabulary, but also the knowledge of related theoretical, historical, and cultural terms.
Ruffner's Allusions by Frederick G. Ruffner; Laurence Urdang; Sharon R. Gunton (Editor); Laurie Lanzen Harris (Editor)
Call Number: PN43 .A4 2010; Reference Collection - 1st Level North
ISBN: 9780780811706
Publication Date: 2010-10-15
A thematic dictionary, with almost 13,000 allusion entries organized under 730 thematic categories. Thematic categories are presented in alphabetical order; each thematic category is followed a list of allusions, including definitions, origins (nationality and genre), and sources.
The Cambridge Guide to Literature in English by D. Head (Editor)
Call Number: PR85 .C29 2006; Reference Collection -- First Floor
ISBN: 0521831792
Publication Date: 2006
The Guide covers everything from Old English to contemporary writing from all over the English-speaking world.