InfoGuides: English Language and Literature: Find Books

Browse New Books

Find Books at Mason

Search Mason Catalog

Still can't find the item? Use Interlibrary Loan (ILL) to request books, media and articles from other libraries when they are not available at Mason or the WRLC. Start your research early if you want to take advantage of this wonderful service as it can take up to 2 weeks.

E-Book Collections

Ebook Central
Access multi-disciplinary scholarly content from hundreds of publishers. Discover, evaluate, and access titles; and utilize tools for note-taking, highlighting, and instant citing. Read online and check individual entries for offline reading options including DRM-free chapter downloads and full book downloads. Note: Merges EBL Ebook Library and ebrary Academic Complete. Mason login required.
View a tutorial on this database here.
Ebsco eBook Collection
Includes several thousand electronic books, or eBooks on a variety of subjects, including public access books. Please note some eBooks are only available to a single user or one-user at a time. If using a Mac, use the Safari browser for best results. View a tutorial on this database here.
ACLS Humanities E-Books
Searchable collection of scholarly books in the humanities by the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) in collaboration with thirty-one learned societies, over 100 contributing publishers, and the Michigan Publishing division at the University of Michigan Library.
Oxford Scholarship Online
- This link opens in a new window
Provides access to academic works published March 2015 onward, in subject areas across the humanities, social sciences, sciences, medicine, and law. View a tutorial on this database here.
Springer eBook Collections
- This link opens in a new window
Provides access to more than 45,000 titles in the areas of Behavioral Sciences, Biomedical and Life Sciences, Business and Management, Chemistry and Materials Science, Computer Science, Earth and Environmental Science, Economics and Finance, Education, Energy, Engineering, Humanities, Social Sciences and Law, Mathematics/Statistics, Medicine, Physics and Astronomy, and Professional and Applied Computing. Searchable down to the chapter level, and are integrated with available Springer online journals. View a tutorial on this database here. /searchhelp

Dictionaries and Reference Books

Oxford English Dictionary
- This link opens in a new window
The full text of the classic 22-volume Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd Edition, which provides information on the historical development of the language. View a tutorial on this database here.
Oxford Dictionaries - English
This integrated, smart-linked English language resource offers quick search access to definitions of words, phrases, and idioms, with guidance on style and usage, grammar, and spelling; and specialist guides for legal and technical writing. Tutorial for the Oxford Dictionaries database.
Gale Literary Sources
- This link opens in a new window
Integrates Literature resources from Gale and Literature Criticism Online into a single research environment. Includes: Dictionary of Literary Biography Complete Online, Gale Virtual Reference Library, Literature Criticism Online, Literature Resource Center, Scribner Writers Series, and Twayne's Authors Series.
Oxford Reference
Contains more than 300 Oxford University Press dictionaries and reference works. Texts are updated after new editions of the print book are published.
View a tutorial on this database here.

Call Numbers for English Language and Literature Books

Print literary criticism and original literary works in English are primarily located at Fenwick Library.

Here are some call numbers for literary criticism and original literary works in English:

PE English language and philology
PN General literature (includes anthologies, and genres and forms)
PR British and Commonwealth literature
PS American literature
PZ Children's literature

Note: Books by and about a given literary author are usually shelved together.