General Resources for English Language and Literature

Australian Literature

Larrikin's Lair
Created by Perry Middlemiss, this site is devoted to promoting an awareness of Australian literature.
Links to Australian authors, literary prizes, favourite Australian poetry and books.

OzLit
From VicNet, more than 500 pages of Australian literary information as well as more than 1100 entries in a fully searchable Books & Writers Database in which you can search for either Authors, or Book Titles.

SETIS Australian Literature Database.
A collection of digitised full text 19th and early 20th century Australian literary, historical and political works from the Univeristy of Sydney

Danny Yee's Book Reviews
Over 700 book reviews, covering all kinds of books -fiction and nonfiction, with a broad range of genre and subject. The emphasis is on Australian works.

Radio National Book Talk
Transcript of the radio program hosted by Jill Kitson. Book Talk provides a mix of reviews, critical discussion and a look at the latest developments in publishing.

AustLit: Australian Literature Getaway
Free Author Browse service which allows all web users to access information on about 1,500 authors.

Classic Works of Literature

AboutCom - Classic literature
An Internet guide for classic literature, with feature articles, Website links, and discussion forums. Topics covered include banned literature, bestsellers, folklore, and regional breakdowns of authors and literature.

The Cambridge History of English and American Literature
Comprehensive and searchable encyclopedia starts with the Cycles of Romance, covers Medieval and Renaissance literature upto the Victorian Age in Britain. The American section covers Colonial and Revolutionary Literature and later National Literature.

The Harvard Classics and Shelf of Fiction
"The most comprehensive and well-researched anthology of all time comprises both the 50-volume '5-foot shelf of books' and the the 20-volume Shelf of Fiction. Together they cover every major literary figure, philosopher, religion, folklore and historical subject through to the twentieth century."

Great Literature Online
Collection of literary works and information about their authors which include Louisa May Alcott, Hans Christian Andersen, Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, Mary Shelley, Leo Tolstoy, Mark Twain, and H. G. Wells.

Literary Resources on the Internet
From Rutgers University, the categories indexed start from Classical and Biblical and extend to Contemporary Literature.

Language guides: Dictionaries, thesauri, other language tools

Merriam Webster's Dictionary and Thesaurus.
Look up a word, get spelling help, check a pronunciation, and learn how to cite dictionary, thesauri and other online sources

Rhetorical Figures
From alliteration to zeugma, all the figures of speech figure in here.

Roget's Thesaurus
The internet edition of this classic. Search for words or browse alphabetically and by word category.

Rhyming Dictionary
Enter a word and find a corresponding list of words which rhyme, along with synonyms, homophones and other similar or related words. Also find definitions, quotes and Shakespearean works containing the word.

The Phrase Finder
Large searchable thesaurus of English phrases and sayings. Consult this to find phrases related to a particular word, or learn the meaning or origin of a phrase.

Online books, electronic texts and quotations

Bartleby - Great Books Online
Browse classics of literature, fiction, non-fiction and verse. You can also search Bartleby for dictionaries, encyclopaedias, thesauri, books of quotations and English usage guides

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations
This tenth edition of 1919 contains over 11,000 searchable quotations and was the first new edition of John Bartlett’s corpus to be published after his death in 1905

Bibliomania
Collection of fiction, poetry, classic texts and study resources

English Server
Collection of online texts, journals, fiction, drama, philosophy and history.

Online Books
From the Digital Library, University of Pennsylvania. Listing over 20,000 free books on the Web - searchable by author, title, subject.

Project Gutenberg
Project Gutenberg is the brainchild of Michael Hart, who in 1971 decided that it would be a really good idea if lots of famous and important texts were freely available to everyone in the world. Since then, he has been joined by hundreds of volunteers who share his vision.

Style and writing guides

The Elements of Style
Online publication of William Strunk Jr's classic guide to the English language

Common Errors in English
A useful guide to help you differentiate between correct and incorrect use of the English language. By Paul Brians, Professor of English at Washington State University

Guide to Grammar and Style
From an English language professor at Rutgers University, these notes are on grammatical rules and explanations, comments on style, and suggestions on usage put together for students

AS Guru - BBC Education
Units in Literature and language addressing common student difficulties regarding interpretation of texts, a variety of genre, language in context and systematic language frameworks as well as hints on original writing.

The American Heritage Book of English Usage
A practical and authoritative guide to contemporary English

EssayInfo: Essay Writing Centre
Help for students in writing essays. Basic essay composition, writing tips, style guide, different essay types and sample essays.

Writing Centre: Writer's Handbook
From the University of Wisconsin, helpful advice on common types of writing assignments, proofreading, grammar and punctuation, improving your writing style and citing references.