Research Help: ENGL 2200: British Literature I (Tracy): Get Started

Literature Research and Analysis

Research Topics in English Literature
This blog post helpfully covers research topics and questions for English literature.
Common Types of Literary Analysis Papers
Specific assignments will vary depending on the class and the professor but this guide includes strategies and tips for writing some general types of papers you may encounter in literary studies.
What is literary criticism?
Lumen course on approaches to literary criticism.

Credo Reference This link opens in a new window
An easy-to-use database providing dictionary and encyclopedia entries on subjects in all academic disciplines; a scholarly alternative to Wikipedia. Provides access to over 1,000 reference books.
Encyclopaedia Britannica This link opens in a new window
The online edition of the oldest English-language general encyclopaedia.
Oxford English Dictionary This link opens in a new window
The definitive record of the English language.

The Cambridge History of English Literature by Edited by Sir A. W. Ward and A. R. Waller
Call Number: Ref. PR83.C22 1965 v. 1
Publication Date: 1967
British Writers by Ian Scott-Kilvert (Editor)
Call Number: Ref. PR85.B688 v.1
ISBN: 0684157985
Publication Date: 1979-01-01
This series provides detailed biographical information about an author along with a list of works and selected interpretations and criticisms. It is an excellent resource for learning more about an author or work to help you pursue further research.
Guide to British Poetry Explication by Nancy C. Martinez; Joseph G. Martinez
Call Number: Ref. PR311.M37 v.1
ISBN: 0816189218
Publication Date: 1991-02-01
This guide to poems written during the Old English and Medieval periods covers criticism from 1925 to 1990. There are 4500 explication on Chaucer, Beowulf, Piers Plowman, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and many other works. Sources include books, journals, articles, anthologies and dissertations, and the bibiography reflects a variety of critical methods: new historical;Marxist; psychological; linguistic; stylistic; deconstructionist; and rhetorical. Poems are listed alphabetically by title, while the critical sources are listed under individual poems, and are arranged alphabetically by author.

In Our Time | Beowulf
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the epic poem Beowulf, one of the masterpieces of Anglo-Saxon literature.
Chaucer
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Geoffrey Chaucer, often called the father of English literature.As well as the father of English literature, Chaucer was also a philosopher, bureaucrat, courtier and diplomat.So what do we know of Chaucer? How did he introduce the themes of continental writing to an English speaking audience? And why does his poetry still seem to speak so directly to us today? With Carolyne Larrington, Tutor in Medieval English at St John's College, Oxford; Helen Cooper, Professor of Medieval and Renaissance English at the University of Cambridge; Ardis Butterfield, Reader in English at University College London.
Medieval Death Trip
A podcast exploring the wit and weirdness of medieval texts.
Overdue Ep. 5 | Beowulf
Overdue is a podcast where the hosts discuss classic books they're finally reading for the first time.
Getting Physical
How people experienced their bodies in the Middle Ages

By Stephanie Bastek | November 22, 2019

Kanopy This link opens in a new window
Access to streaming films and documentaries across a wide range of disciplines and subject areas.

Why Are We Studying Early British Literature?
TEDEd Lesson created by Dr. Kisha Tracy
Take "the Other" to Lunch
There's an angry divisive tension in the air that threatens to make modern politics impossible. Elizabeth Lesser explores the two sides of human nature within us (call them "the mystic" and "the warrior”) that can be harnessed to elevate the way we treat each other. She shares a simple way to begin real dialogue -- by going to lunch with someone who doesn't agree with you, and asking them three questions to find out what's really in their hearts.
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight [Animated]
An animated dramatization of the Middle English poem.