OU Library Catalog--people can be searched as authors or as subjects. Works of literature can also be subjects--always preceded by the author's name.

World Cat--union catalog of libraries worldwide

MelCat--union catalog of many Michigan libraries; 1st stop to interloan books. When you search for a book in the Library Catalog and find that OU does NOT own it, a link to MelCat automatically appears.

Subject headings, a sampling

Marvell, Andrew, 1621-1678

English Poetry Early modern, 1500-1700

English Literature Early modern, 1500-1700

Literature and Society Great Britain 17th century

Politics and Literature Great Britain 17th century

Great Britain Intellectual Life 17th century

England Civilization 17th century

England Intellectual Life 17th century

Great Britain History Charles I 1625-1649

Great Britain History Civil War 1642-1649

Great Britain History Commonwealth and Protectorate, 1649-1660

Great Britain History 1660-1714

MLA Bibliography--the standard index for literature. Coverage begins in 1926 with earlier coverage for all JSTOR "language and literature titles." Includes citations to journal articles, books, chapters, and dissertations. Do NOT search "To His Coy Mistress" as a "descriptor"--works of literature were not always considered as descriptors/subjects in MLA.

Humanities Abstracts
covers all of humanities; indexes only journal articles; indexes from 1984, abstracts beginning in 1994.  Indexes far fewer journals than does MLA, but it tends to index more quickly and does include many more abstracts.  Journals indexed tend to be the most important/standard ones.  (Not on class handout--added it to the course page after the class session.)

Arts & Humanities Search--tool that enables you to discover what articles have been cited in a particular article [references], what articles share references [related records], and what articles have cited a particular article (cited reference); covers all of humanities; indexes only journal articles; indexes from 1977.

Year's Work in English Studies--Online from 1996. Bibliographic essays citing important titles published in a given year. Marvell is considered either in the final section of the "Milton and Poetry" chapter or in the poetry section of "The Later Seventeenth Century" chapter.  Great place to learn of the scholarship trends and to get a scholar's opinions about what is being published.

JSTOR--Online collection of many scholarly journals from volume 1 until 2 to 5 years ago. Full text of articles is searchable, but there are no descriptors/subjects. Use "advanced search."  Remember that JSTOR does NOT include all important literary journals!

ProjectMuse--online collection of many university press journals from current issues back 5 to 10 years. Full text of articles is searchable--and there are also descriptors/subjects! However, ProjectMuse has even few literary journals than JSTOR.

Google Scholar--Not the greatest place to search for materials initially. However, it is a good place to check for full text of some items--chapters in books, the occasional article in a journal OU does not have, etc.

Cambridge Companions Online--includes volumes on many literary authors and literary periods.  Several volumes have chapters on Marvell--just type in his last name in the "quick search" box.

Oxford English Dictionary--Now available online. The OED is a historical dictionary of English, covering the language from the earliest times to the present day and showing the development of meanings through time.

Dictionary of Literary Biography: Now available online. Volume with 20+ page section on Marvell is Seventeenth-Century British Nondramatic Poets, Third Series (Ref. PR 541 .S49 1993).  A slightly more recent essay on Marvell, with a selected bibliography,  can be found in the print reference set, British Writers [Ref. PR85 .B688 Retro. Suppl. 2].

A Concordance to the English Poems of Andrew Marvell  (Ref. PR 3546 .G77

Chronology of World History (Ref. D 11 .M39 1999 v. 2)--year by year listing of important events in politics, science, and the arts (including literature).  A quick way to get a picture of what was happening in Marvell's lifetime.

Two online titles for "quick reference" on literary topics:
The Cambridge Guide to Literature In English
The Bloomsbury Dictionary of English Literature
--Both of these titles come from Credo Reference which can be searched as a whole (i.e., all titles simultaneously).

 RefWorks--a reference management tool that allows you to create a personal database of references and automatically generate formatted bibliographies for your projects.

Step 2 —Export records from the MLA Bibliography. Instructions for exporting.

Step 3 —Create folder/folders for your bibliographic records.  (View “Organizing your references” tutorial.)

Step 4 —Put your imported references into appropriate folders.  A reference can be placed in more than one folder.

Step 5 —Export references from other sources—the Library Catalog [directions are for Firefox], JSTOR, and ProjectMuse (links take you to instructions).

Step 6 —Add references manually.  Sometimes you have references that you find in books and bibliographies that you need to add “by hand.” 

Step 7 —Share folders.  You can share folders with your fellow students, with your professor, or with anyone.  Be sure to click on “Allow users to post comments on references” when you share a folder with your instructor. 

Step 8 —Save a folder shared with you to your own RefWorks account.  This involves “exporting” the shared folder to your RefWorks. 

Step 9 —Create a bibliography from your references.

Potential Problems

1.Pop-ups. You may have to change your pop-up settings--in Google or Yahoo toolbar, in browser settings, and/or your internet security software (e.g., Norton).

2. You may get a screen indicating that "there is a problem with this website's security certificate." Click on "continue to this website."

3. When exporting a shared folder to your RefWorks from off campus, you will need to use the access code for OU (RWOakUniv) and log into RefWorks.

Does the library have access to a journal online? Easiest way to find out is to check the "E-Journals A to Z " from the library's "Find Articles" page.

Where do you find lists of databases and other online resources available at OU? The easiest way to find these is to check "Databases by Subject" or "Databases A to Z" from the "Find Articles" page.

MLA 2009 Formatting and Style Guide, from OWL, the writing center at Purdue University--The web site reflects the 7th edition of the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers.

When you are using the library's databases, be sure to click on the blue link when the article you want does not have a full text link in the database. will then take you to the article from another source or take you library catalog record for print holdings or take you to a form to request a copy of the article via interlibrary loan (Illiad).