Creative Writing: Home
(image: Dave Morrison Photography, Creative Commons license)
As a creative writing student, you will need to use a variety of resources for a variety of reasons. You might want to find critical opinion on a piece of writing or author, you may want to research historical context for your own characterisation and you may need inspiration.
Creative Writing Books
A selection of our books on creative writing and authorship.
Writing Bestsellers by ISBN: 9781108663724Publication Date: 2021-09-23
Key Resources
- University of St Andrews LibrarySearch the University's Collections. Find print and electronic books, journal articles, rare books, archives, photographs, theses and research publications and museum items.
- British Library CatalogueSearch the main catalogue for books, journals, newspapers, printed maps, electronic resources and sound archive items held at the British Library
- WorldcatSearch over 2 billion records held at more than 10,000 libraries worldwide.
Below is a list of databases which provide access to literary texts. Additional resources for primary texts are listed on the Specialist Databases tab.
- Drama Online This link opens in a new windowaccess to the core collection of over 1700 playtexts from Methuen Drama, Arden Shakespeare, and Faber and Faber. Also includes access to over 650 Nick Hern Modern Plays.
- Early English Books Online (EEBO) via Proquest This link opens in a new windowdigital facsimiles of nearly every book published in England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales and British North America and other works in English printed from 1473-1700.
- Historical Texts This link opens in a new windowformerly known as Jisc Historic books, full-text; contains the full text or page images of over 350,000 books published in Britain from 1475 to 1900. The service draws together content from two of the best-known and long established early book collections: Early English Books Online (EEBO) and Eighteenth Century Collections Online (ECCO) plus 65,000 19th century books from the British Library collection
- ProQuest One Literature This link opens in a new windowFull text of poetry, drama and prose – includes more modern fiction (works published from 1477 to present)
Below is a list of the key databases for literature. These provide more functionality than Library search and are particularly useful if you want to look at a range of materials on a specific author or look at a literary period or literary movement.
- Annual Bibliography of English Language and Literature (ABELL) This link opens in a new windowListings of articles, books, reviews, etc., on British, American, and Commonwealth literature; selective full-text. Covers monographs, periodical articles, critical editions of literary works, book reviews, collections of essays, and doctoral dissertations published anywhere in the world from 1920 onwards. All aspects and periods of English literature are covered, from Anglo-Saxon times to the present day. British, American and Commonwealth writing are all represented. Coverage is international, including material in languages other than English.
Part of Proquest One Literature (Formerly part of LION)
- ProQuest One Literature This link opens in a new windowMore than 350,000 searchable works of English and American poetry, drama and prose. Includes more than 380 full-text journals as well as other key reference and criticism resources. This database allows you to search Literature Online and ABELL at the same time
- MLA International Bibliography (via EBSCOhost) This link opens in a new windowindex to papers, proceedings, dissertations, and bibliographies on literature, language, linguistics and folklore, from 1926 onward. Produced by the Modern Language Association of America
Subject Guide
University of St Andrews Library, KY16 9TR
Tel: 01334 462298