LibGuides: Writing, Literature and Performance: Databases

Academic Search Complete (EBSCO) This link opens in a new window
Find articles from academic journals as well as magazines. Covers all subject areas.
Art Full Text (EBSCO) This link opens in a new window
Full-text articles from academic journals and magazines on everything to do with Art, including a focus on artists and their individual works. Contains books too. Invaluable resource as it has full-text articles from hundreds of Non-Open Access periodicals.
Bloomsbury Applied Visual Arts Core Collection This link opens in a new window
A collection of e-books which combine visual inspiration with practical advice on idea generation, research techniques, portfolio development and more, across the main visual arts disciplines including Fashion and Textiles, Design and Illustration, Photography, Film and Media, Architecture and Interiors, and Marketing and Advertising. After logging in, select your area from "Explore Disciplines" to browse e-books by key topics and the different aspects of your discipline.
Cambridge Companions Online This link opens in a new window
Access all the Cambridge Companions, from Abelard to Zola. Browse the list of writers, artists, philosophers, or search by topic.
Cambridge University Press Journals This link opens in a new window
This is a digital archive of journals published by Cambridge University Press. Full text articles from journals we subscribe to in the humanities and social sciences.
Communication And Mass Media Complete This link opens in a new window
Covers full-text journal articles in all aspects of communications and mass media; including radio, television, journalism and digital media.
Complete Works Of William Shakespeare This link opens in a new window
This site offers Shakespeare’s plays and poetry to the Internet community since 1993.
Drama Online: Aurora Metro Books This link opens in a new window
With over 125 plays, the Aurora Metro Books collection offers a highly contemporary list of new drama with a focus on women’s drama, international drama, drama in translation, and drama by black and Asian writers.
Drama Online: National Theatre Collection 1 This link opens in a new window
It is part of Drama Online and it is a high quality online research tool for drama and literature. It streams 30 National Theatre productions.
Drama Online: Nick Hern Books This link opens in a new window
Nick Hern Books is one of the UK’s leading specialist performing arts publishers, with a vast collection of plays, screenplays and theatre books in their catalogue.
Electronic Poetry Center This link opens in a new window
It has an innovative and contemporary literature with hundreds of full-text works.
Humanities International Complete (HIC) This link opens in a new window
Find journal articles and book references on all aspects of the humanities. The most recent years are not in full text.
IngentaConnect This link opens in a new window
It has a range of full text electronic journals with full text articles to only subscribed titles.
JSTOR Journals and E-books (including Artstor Images) This link opens in a new window
A digital archive of journals, often starting with the very first issues. Subjects covered include Art, Visual & Performing Art, African American Studies, Asian Studies, and Literature. Contains books too.
JSTOR is an archive service for journals and therefore does not include the most recent three years for each journal on the platform.
Oxford Journals Archive This link opens in a new window
This is a digital archive of journals published by Oxford University Press. Full text access to journals we subscribe to in the humanities and social sciences.
Project MUSE Humanities Collection This link opens in a new window
Provides full-text access to humanities, arts, literature and theatre e-journals. Contains freely available e-books.
Screen Studies : Filmmaking Collection This link opens in a new window
Filmmaking on Screen Studies offers a dedicated collection of over 100 practical eBooks from Focal Press and Bloomsbury. It provides coverage across key areas of filmmaking including production, screenwriting, cinematography, direction, and the business of film.

Click on Explore Collection under Filmmaking to see the entire collection
Taylor And Francis Online Journals This link opens in a new window
Full-text access to journals covering humanities, theatre and literature.
Web of Science This link opens in a new window
Part of the Web of Science Core Collection. Indexes books and journal articles in the Arts & Humanities. Select holdings to link to our catalogue records.

If you have issues with searching after logging into a personal account on Web of Science, try clicking on your name on the top-right, click 'End Session' and then re-access Web of Science from the link above.
Wiley Online Library: Journals This link opens in a new window
The database provides access to the full text of Wiley and Blackwell Science journals. Subject areas include Art and Humanities including Theatre and Literature – and NOT only the sciences.

The Library subscribes to many more databases across all subject areas, here is an A-Z list of all databases.

BoB : On Demand TV And Radio For Education This link opens in a new window
Watch and listen to TV and radio programmes from the archive, create clips, and compile your favourite shows into playlists.

(initial registration required where you need to enter your university email address)
LinkedIn Learning This link opens in a new window
LinkedIn Learning (formerly Linda.com) is an online learning platform to help people learn business, software, technology and creative skills to achieve personal and professional goals through access to a searchable video library of courses.
Credo Reference Academic Core Premium Collection This link opens in a new window
Encyclopaedias and reference books – wide range of topics and subject areas. Gives an overview and introduction to topics. (Full text)
Lexis+ This link opens in a new window
Newspaper articles, UK broadsheets and tabloids. 1980s-present day. Once you’ve accessed this database, make sure you select News on the menu bar near the top of the screen.
OnlineNewspapers.com This link opens in a new window
Online newspaper directory covering thousands of newspapers listed by country and region.
EThOS: E-Theses Online Service This link opens in a new window
Search for theses submitted in the UK. Search by topic, institution or author. Create an account and download digitised theses in full text.

Bridgeman Education This link opens in a new window
It is an excellent image database of free and copyright-cleared images and artwork in museums, galleries and private collections, for use in education with worldwide coverage of the visual art culture of civilisations from prehistoric times to the present.

For further information see the User Manual or the Subjects Guide
Artstor This link opens in a new window
It features millions of high-quality images and media from some of the world’s top photo archives, museums, libraries, scholars, and artists, including rare materials not available anywhere else. All content is rights-cleared for education and research.
Visual Arts Data Service (VADS) This link opens in a new window
A collection of over 100,000 images covering advertising, architecture, art history, crafts, design, dress, fashion, fine art, graphic design, industrial design, jewellery, painting, photography, posters, public monuments, textiles, sculpture, shoes, stained glass. The image resources are free and copyright cleared for use in UK Higher Education.

Flickr Creative Commons
The area within Flickr where users have chosen to upload their content with a Creative Commons licence.
Smithsonian Open Access image collection
More than 2 million 2D and 3D images from the Smithsonian collections, made available for use and sharing on a Creative Commons licence. This includes images and data from across the Smithsonian’s 19 museums, nine research centres, libraries, archives, and the National Zoo.

When using images, you must be mindful of copyright. You can find out more about finding and using images on our copyright webpages.

Writing, Literature and Performance

Key subject collections