English

Biographies | Books Online | Encyclopedias | Grammar | Literary Criticism | Literary Terms | Mythology and Folklore | Poetry | Quotations | Shakespeare | Vocabulary | Writing Help

Biographies
Biography.com
http://www.biography.com/
Features a searchable biographical database of 25,000 famous names, Born On This Day, Top 10 lists, TV listings, Biography Magazine features and crossword puzzle, discussion boards, trivia quizzes; and the Who Am I? game.

Books Online
Project Gutenberg
http://promo.net/pg/
A collection of 6267 eBooks available to the public as a free service.

Encyclopedias
Britannica
http://www.britannica.com/

Encyclopedia.com
http://www.encyclopedia.com/
Free encyclopedia that provides more than 57,000 articles from the Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. Each article is enhanced with links to newspaper and magazine articles as well as pictures and maps - provided by HighBeam Research.

InfoPlease
http://www.infoplease.com/
The world’s largest free reference site where you can find facts on thousands of subjects including sports, entertainment, technology, business, education, and health.

 

Grammar
Guide to Grammar and Writing
http://www.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/
From subject-verb agreement and conjunctions to writing thesis statements, this comprehensive site has everything you want to know about English grammar. Go to the quizzes to practice and improve your grammar skills.

OWL: Handouts: Grammar, Punctuation and Spelling
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/grammar/index.html
Handouts and exercises related to grammar. ESL learners should visit the special section just for you. From the Purdue University Online Writing Lab (OWL).


Literary Criticism
Internet Public Library Online Literary Criticism
http://www.ipl.org/div/litcrit
Contains 4637 critical and biographical websites about authors and their works that can be browsed by author, by title, or by literary period.

Literary Resources on the Net
http://andromeda.rutgers.edu/~jlynch/Lit
Hundreds of links in many categories selected and annotated by Jack Lynch, professor of English at Rutgers University.

Literary Terms
Handbook of Rhetorical Devices
http://www.virtualsalt.com/rhetoric.htm
Look up terms such as alliteration, personification, etc.

A Glossary of Literary Terms
http://www.virtualsalt.com/litterms.htm
Can't find your term in the handbook of rhetorical devices? Look here.

Mythology and Folklore
Aesop's Fables Online Collection
http://www.aesopfables.com/
All of Aesop's fables. Also includes text of Andersen's Fairy Tales.

Encyclopedia Mythica : Mythology, Folklore and Legends
http://www.pantheon.org/
Thousands of definitions of gods and goddesses, supernatural beings, legendary objects, creatures and places from around the world. Also includes images of deities.

 

Poetry
Academy of American Poets
http://www.poets.org/index.cfm
Poems, critical essays, biographies of poets, and RealAudio clips of poets reading their work. Check here, too, for information on poetry prizes and awards.

Barlteby.com
http://www.bartleby.com/verse/
Full text of English and American poetry from 1250 to 1920. Scroll down to the middle of the page for the Indexes to the Anthologies (search by author, title, first line, as well as chronological order). Also includes full text collections of works by individual poets, including Dante, Elliot, Frost, Keats, Yeats, Wilde and others.

Poetry 180 : A Poem a Day for American High Schools
http://www.loc.gov/poetry/180/
A poem for every school day, chosen by Poet Laureate Billy Collins

Representative Poetry On-Line
http://www.library.utoronto.ca/utel/rp/intro.html
Includes about 2,350 English poems by 368 poets from Caedmon, in the Old English period, to the work of living poets today

Poet’s Corner
http://www.galegroup.com/free_resources/poets/
Read biographies of well-received poets, take a quiz based on these poets and their works, follow a timeline of events that traces the poetry movement, and discover the poems and the concepts behind them

Quotations
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations
http://www.bartleby.com/100/
Online version of the 10th edition of Bartlett's. (Note: this is an old edition of Bartlett's and will not have many quotations from the 20th century).

The Quotations Page
http://www.quotationspage.com/
Over 21,000 quotations online from over 2,500 authors, and more added daily.

Quoteland
http://www.quoteland.com/
“Quotations on every topic, by every author, and in every fashion possible.”

Shakespeare
Literary Criticism: Shakespeare
http://www.ipl.org/cgi-bin/ref/litcrit/litcrit.out.pl?au=sha-9
The Shakespeare section of the Online Literary Criticism Collection of the Internet Public Library website.

Mr. William Shakespeare and the Internet
http://shakespeare.palomar.edu/
The best annotated guide to the scholarly Shakespeare resources on the Internet.

Shakespeare Illustrated
http://www.emory.edu/ENGLISH/classes/Shakespeare_Illustrated/Shakespeare.html
Explores nineteenth-century paintings, criticism and productions of Shakespeare's plays and their influences on one another.

The Complete Works of William Shakespeare
http://www-tech.mit.edu/Shakespeare/works.html
Shakespeare's plays and poetry from MIT’s The Tech.

Shakespeare’s Life and Times
http://ise.uvic.ca/Library/SLTnoframes/intro/introsubj.html
This Web site is a comprehensive resource of information on the life and times of William Shakespeare, renowned playwright and drama guru. The site is divided into ten book-like sections, each of which is divided into chapters. In addition, visitors can search the site using keywords to quickly access specific information.

 

Vocabulary
100 Words that All High School Graduates Should Know
http://www.houghtonmifflinbooks.com/booksellers/press_release/ahdcollege/ - words
Compiled by the editors of the American Heritage College Dictionary.

Vocabulary, Free Word Puzzles and Activities
http://www.vocabulary.com/
Improve your vocabulary and prep for the SAT at this fun site.

Vocabulary.com Most Important SAT Words
http://www.vocabulary.com/AOLtopsatwords12.html
Word puzzles to help you practice vocabulary on the SAT.

Writing Help
A+ Research & Writing - Links for Writing
http://www.ipl.org/div/teen/aplus/links.htm#writing
Need to write a research paper? Want to do an A+ job without going totally NUTS? Here's help!!

Thesis Builder
http://www.ozline.com/electraguide/thesis.html
Help in creating a clear thesis statement for a persuasive essay or assignment.

Essay Edge Admissions Essay 101
http://www.essayedge.com/college/essayadvice/course/
"Admission Essay 101". Lots of tips and samples.

Carleton College College Essay Tips
http://www.carleton.edu/admissions/essay/index.html
Advice from readers of college application essays on what to do and what not to do when writing your essay.