Primary Sources
See our literature research guide for online archives of historic books and manuscripts!
Online Databases and Guides
Writing a historical novel? Doing research for a character's background? These resources will help.
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Reference Universe This link opens in a new windowSearch hundreds of subject encyclopedias online and in print.
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Academic Search Complete This link opens in a new windowA general, multidisciplinary database. A good place to start, especially if you are interested in both scholarly and non-scholarly journals.
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Research GuidesUCLA Librarians have created hundreds of online guides for subjects and even specific courses. From theoretical physics to nineteenth-century literature, you'll find help here.
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ImagesIf you need images for inspiration or to check something for accuracy, this guide provides many resources.
Literature Databases
This is a very select list of available article databases. If you want to look for others, go to this page and click through to your discipline (political science, sociology, history, etc.). Here you will find a selection of the most useful databases for each discipline listed. Click on Humanities and then on Comparative Literature or English.
is your link to full-text! Note that some sources only index journal articles—they don't actually have the full text.
- Use the button to find the full text or search for the journal title in the UCLA Library Catalog.
- Request the article through interlibrary loan if UCLA does not own the full text.
For more tips, see our guide on database searching.
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Academic Search Complete This link opens in a new windowA general, multidisciplinary database. A good place to start, especially if you are interested in both scholarly and non-scholarly journals. Indexes major journals in many disciplines.
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International Medieval Bibliography This link opens in a new windowInterdisciplinary bibliography of Europe, North Africa and the Near East for the period 300-1500. Comprehensive current bibliography of articles in journals and miscellany volumes (conference proceedings, essay collections or Festschriften) worldwide.
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JSTOR This link opens in a new window
Full text back issues of core scholarly journals, browsable and searchable across multiple disciplines. Coverage starts with first issue, with moving wall for most recent 3-5 years. UCLA has access to selected JSTOR e-books only. JSTOR also includes primary source collections, including images from Artstor.
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Gale Literature Criticism This link opens in a new windowContains access to a wide range of literary criticism including biographical and bibliographic information on authors and their works.
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Gale Literature Resource Center This link opens in a new windowA multi-purpose electronic resource that provides access to biographies, bibliographies, and critical analysis of authors from every age and literary discipline.
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MLA International Bibliography This link opens in a new windowThis is a core article database for literary studies.
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Periodicals Index Online (PIO) This link opens in a new windowIndex to articles published in over 7,000 periodicals in the arts, humanities and social sciences, covering the period 1665-1995. Full text of many articles can be found in Periodicals Archive Online.
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Project MUSE This link opens in a new window
Full text of current issues (from about 1990) of scholarly journals published by university presses, chiefly in the arts, humanities and social sciences. Browsable by discipline and full-text searchable across all disciplines. UCLA has access to Muse e-books published from 2017-present, plus a selected number of other e-book titles.