Library guides: Creative writing and literary studies: Get started

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Key resources

MLA Style Center
Writing resources from the Modern Language Association including guides for style, research and writing. It also has formatting information and sample papers in MLA style. Note: the 9th Edition.

The Cambridge Companion to Creative Writing by David Morley (Editor); Philip Neilsen (Editor)
Creative writing has become a highly professionalised academic discipline, with popular courses and prestigious degree programmes worldwide. This book is a must for all students and teachers of creative writing, indeed for anyone who aspires to be a published writer. It engages with a complex art in an accessible manner, addressing concepts important to the rapidly growing field of creative writing, while maintaining a strong craft emphasis, analysing exemplary models of writing and providing related writing exercises. Written by professional writers and teachers of writing, the chapters deal with specific genres or forms - ranging from the novel to new media - or with significant topics that explore the cutting edge state of creative writing internationally (including creative writing and science, contemporary publishing and new workshop approaches).
Key Concepts in Contemporary Literature by John Peck; Steve Padley
Key Concepts in Contemporary Literature offers a comprehensive overview of the literature and critical debates of the period since 1945. Setting texts in their historical, political and cultural contexts, it demonstrates how literature has dealt with and been shaped by the changing face of the modern world.
The Cambridge History of Australian Literature by Peter Pierce (Editor)
The Cambridge History of Australian Literature is the most comprehensive volume ever written on Australia's national literature. This authoritative guide spans Australian literary history from colonial origins, encompassing indigenous and migrant literatures, as well as representations of Asia and the Pacific and the role of literary culture in modern Australian society. Bringing together a distinguished line-up of contributors, this volume explores each of the literary modes in an Australian context, including short story, poetry, children's literature, autobiography and fiction. This book is an essential reference for general readers and specialists alike.

Reference resources

Macquarie Dictionary Online
The Macquarie Dictionary & Thesaurus Online features easy, comprehensive and interactive searching of over 121,000 headwords and phrases and over 210,000 definitions, with the ability to search either the dictionary, thesaurus or both.
Oxford Reference
Oxford Reference is the home of Oxford’s quality reference publishing, bringing together over 2 million entries, many of which are illustrated, into a single cross-searchable resource. Newly relaunched with a brand new look and feel, and specifically designed to meet the needs and expectations of reference users, Oxford Reference provides quality, up-to-date reference content at the click of a button. Made up of two main collections, both fully integrated and cross-searchable, Oxford Reference couples Oxford’s trusted A-Z reference material with an intuitive design to deliver a discoverable, up-to-date, and expanding reference resource.
The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature
Based on the bestselling Oxford Companion to English Literature, this is an indispensable guide to all aspects of English literature. Over 4,900 new and revised A to Z entries give unrivalled coverage of writers, works, historical context, literary theory, allusions, characters, and plot summaries.
Dictionary of Writers and their Works
An essential guide to authors and their works that focuses on the general canon of British literature from the fifteenth-century to the present. There is also some coverage of non-fiction such as biographies, memoirs, and science, as well as inclusion of major American and Commonwealth writers.
Oxford Handbooks Online. Literature
Complete searchable texts of the Oxford handbooks in literature. Oxford Handbooks Online (OHO), the home of scholarly research reviews, is an outstanding collection of the best Handbooks in 14 subject areas. The collection of Oxford Handbooks is one of the most prestigious and successful strands of Oxford’s scholarly publishing, containing in-depth, high-level articles by scholars at the top of their field. OHO brings together the world’s leading scholars to discuss research and the latest thinking on a range of major topics. Each Handbook offers thorough introductions to topics and a critical survey of the current state of scholarship in a particular field of study, creating an original conception of the field and setting the agenda for new research. The articles review the key issues and major debates, and provide an original argument for how those debates might evolve.

Researching, writing and referencing help

Study and assignment skills
Develop your study and digital skills and improve your researching, writing and editing.
Referencing
Self-help resources, including examples of how to reference in various styles.
Academic integrity matters
Introduces you to academic integrity and provides resources to support your commitment to academic integrity.
Systematic-style review
This web page will be of interest to anyone conducting or intending to conduct a systematic-style review (e.g., systematic, scoping, integrative, rapid, systematic quantitative literature review, etc.)