Earlham Libraries Home: All Creative Writing: Doing Research

Books

The Art of Creative Research by Philip Gerard
Publication Date: 2017
Researching Creative Writing by Jen Webb
Publication Date: 2015
Going to the Sources: A Guide to Historical Research and Writing by Anthony Brundage
Publication Date: 2017

Library Guides

Librarians have put together a variety of guides on different subjects to help students with their research. If the background research for your creative writing piece falls under an area covered by one of these guides, they are great places to see what resources the library has on those subjects!

Find the Subject Guides at this link.

Reference Sources

Do background research for your projects or find information on literary terms, authors, and more.

Credo Reference This link opens in a new window
The academic alternative to Wikipedia! Provides access to nearly 500 encyclopedias and dictionaries. Search by concept map. Includes thousands of searchable images.
Oxford Reference Online This link opens in a new window
Contains the complete texts of over 100 Oxford University Press dictionaries, encyclopedias, and other reference titles.
Wiley Online Library (formerly Blackwell Reference Online) This link opens in a new window
Includes the complete texts of almost 300 encyclopedias, dictionaries, handbooks, and other reference works from Wiley Blackwell Publishing in the Wiley Blackwell Reference Online collection. Also contains description-only citations of over 21,000 other online books, journals and articles.
Literary Reference Plus This link opens in a new window
A comprehensive database that provides users with a broad spectrum of information on thousands of authors and their works across literary disciplines and time-frames. Specifically designed for undergraduate research.
American National Biography This link opens in a new window
Online version of the multi-volume set that provides scholarly biographies of important people in all walks of American life.
Biography Reference Bank This link opens in a new window
Offers the in-depth, original profiles from the Current Biography and World Authors series, the thorough periodical coverage of Biography Index and the specialist biographical content of Junior Authors & Illustrators. It provides biographical full-text articles, page images and abstracts from today’s leading magazines and journals.

Historical Research

Be sure to check out our History research guide and consult a librarian if you have any questions about doing historical research! See especially the Daily Life Reference page, which provides resources for what daily life was like for people in various historical periods. The following databases are also good bets when conducting historical research:

History Reference Source This link opens in a new window
The database features full text for more than 1,620 reference books, encyclopedias and non-fiction books from leading history publishers; more than 150 leading history periodicals; nearly 57,000 historical documents; more than 77,000 biographies of historical figures; more than 37,000 historical photos and maps; and more than 80 hours of historical video.
Daily Life Online This link opens in a new window
Online version of over four dozen print volumes that explore different cultures and everyday life around the world, past and present, including the Greenwood Encyclopedia of Daily Life.
America: History and Life This link opens in a new window
The definitive index of literature covering the history and culture of the United States and Canada, from pre-history to the present. Indexes over 1,700 journals dating back as far as 1910. Allows for searching by historical time period, a major advantage given the extensive range of its coverage.
Historical Abstracts This link opens in a new window
Covers the history of the world (excluding the United States and Canada), focusing on the 15th century forward. The standard history indexing tool for over 50 years, now including abstracts from more than 2,600 journals.