ENGLISH RESOURCES
Reference Sources
- Arts and Humanities Through the Eras (To access, click on "Gale Virtual Reference Library")
- Biography in Context
- Major 21st Century Writers (To access, click on "Gale Virtual Reference Library"
Book Lists, Book News & Reviews, Award Winning Books, etc.
Books Online
- Bartleby.com: Great Books Online
- ePub Bud (This new site allows downloads of children's, teen's and even some adult's books onto an iPad or into an iTunes or IBooks account.)
- International Digital Children's Library (Over 4,500 free children's books in 54 languages that can be downloaded to a variety of devices including the iPad and iPhone.)
- Library to Go (British Columbia libraries' gateway to free downloadable electronic books in a wide variety of formats and for a wide range of devices.)
- Librivox (free audiobooks)
- Project Gutenberg (Over 33,000 books to either read online or download to your mobile devices and readers.)
- Sync: Sync YA Literature into Your Earphones (This site provides two downloadable YA best sellers per week between July 1 and September 1 every year.)
- World Book Online's E-Books Center (This is available only to Van Tech students and staff. Click on World Book Online, log in to the "Advanced" edition, (password details available in the library), and then click on the E-Books Center. This site provides free access to thousands of fiction and non-fiction titles.)
Canadian Literature
Creative Writing
- Teen Ink (Magazine, website and books written by teens.)
- YARN [Young Adult Review Network]--publishes work by both teen writers and well-known YA authors.
Dictionaries
- Definr (This very fast dictionary is based on a lexical database created by Princeton University's Cognitive Science Laboratory.)
- Merriam-Webster Online
Grammar
Literature
- Charles Dickens at 200 (The Guardian)
- Dickens in Context (British Library)
- Norton Anthology of English Literature: Norton Topics Online
- The Victorian Web Created by a professor of English at Brown University, this site is intended as an online version ofresource for students of Victorian literature.
Media Awareness
Mythology
Poetry
- American Verse Project
- Canadian Poetry Audio Archives (This archive presents thousands of Canadian poems in both text and audio formats.)
- Canadian Poetry Online (University of Toronto Libraries)
- The Claremont Review (a Canadian poetry magazine for teens)
- Electronic Poetry Center: E-Poetry
- EPC Comprehensive List of Author Links
- Favorite Poem Project
- Glossary of Poetic Terms--Poetry Foundatioin
- Glossary [of Poetic Terms]--Poetry Archive
- Glossary [of Poetic Terms]--RPO Online
- Poetic Forms and Terms (Poetry in Voice)
- Poetry Archive (If you are looking for poems on a specific theme, click on the "Study Poetry" link at the top of the page, then on the "Find Poems" link on the right-hand side of the page and finally on "Themes" in the left-hand column. You can also do a "keyword" search for a theme in the search box at the top of the page, but this method might not necessarily yield a poem on that specific theme.)
- Poetry Archives
- Poetry Foundation
- Poetry in Voice
- Poetry International Web
- Poetry Portal
- Poetry Resources for Teens
- Poets.org (Academy of American Poets)
- Representative Poetry Online (Maintained by the English Department at the University of Toronto, this database provides the full texts of poems from the time of Caedmon to the present. Key word searches allow you to find poems on specific themes.)
Quotations
- Bartlett's Familiar Quotations (quotations from the 1919 edition)
Shakespeare
- Complete Works of William Shakespeare
- Elizabethan Costume Page
- Encyclopedia Britannica's Guide to Shakespeare
- Folger Shakespeare Library
- Folger Shakespeare for Kids
- ISE: Shakespeare's Life and Times (This site, created at the University of Victoria, provides extensive information about Shakespeare's life, his works.)
- Life in Elizabethan England: a Compendium of Common Knowledge, 1558-1603
- MIT Global Shakespeare
- Official Site of the Royal Shakespeare Company (Click on the "Explore" tab to locate information about Shakespeare, his works, and his times.)
- Shakespeare Bookshelf (Links you to online versions of Shakespeare's works.)
- Shakespeare Links (Folger Shakespeare Library)
- Shakespeare Resource Center
- Shakespeare Uncovered (PBS)
- Shakespeare's Globe
- Sites on Shakespeare and the Renaissance
For English Teachers
- Flows of Reading: Engaging with Texts
- PoetryTeachers.com (Poet Bruce Lansky's site provides lessons (which are often funny) on writing poems in a wide variety of formats.