University of Essex
The Albert Sloman Library
Database Guide
Literature Online
Literature Online (referred to as LION hereafter) is a fully searchable library of English and American literature. It contains over 350,000 works of poetry, prose and drama in full text, written between 600 A.D. and the present day. It also includes secondary information, such as biographies of major writers, access to the Annual Bibliography of English Language and Literature and the MLA International Bibliography, and the full text of over 330 literature journals.
1. Accessing LION
LION is available from the E-Resource and Database menu on The Albert Sloman Library website.
Search for LION as Resource Name or select from the alphabetical list and then click on the title to access.
N.B. This database can be accessed from either on- or off-campus. See also the Guide to Accessing E-Resources page on the website for further login information.
2. Beginning your search
LION has three main search options, which are listed in the panel at the left-hand side of the home page. To search for information on a particular author, such as biography, links to texts by that author and texts about the author, click on the Authors link. To search for texts in general, click on the Texts link. To search for criticism about a particular author or work, click on Criticism & Reference. In addition, you can view the Complete Contents of the database or a listing of the Full-Text Journals by clicking on the relevant links.
2.1. Search screens
Once you have chosen a relevant search option, a search screen will appear. These differ from one option to another, but all have the same general format and follow the same conventions. To do a simple search, enter your information into the relevant box and click Search. It is possible to refine your search by selecting Advanced search options. For example, the Authors search has options to limit your search by date, gender, nationality, ethnicity, literary movement or literary period. The Texts and Criticism & Reference searches also give you the opportunity to alter what section of the database you are searching. For the Texts search, you can choose to limit your search to poetry, drama or prose. For the Criticism & Reference search, you can choose to limit your search to the Annual Bibliography of English Language and Literature and the MLA International Bibliography, including links to full-text articles (by selecting Criticism), a selection of reference works (by selecting Reference) or a selection of websites (by selecting Web Sites). Each of these options can then be limited further, using the options provided.
2.2. Search terms
Searching can be done at a very simple level or it can be more complex. The Texts and Criticism & Reference searches contain boxes for searching by keywords if, for example, you were looking for texts or criticism on a particular subject but did not have a certain author or work in mind. Single keywords can be entered into these boxes, or a combination of keywords for more directed searching. Keywords can be combined in a number of ways.
2.2.1. Boolean operators
Use AND to retrieve items that include more than one specified word.
Example: Shakespeare AND masculinity
(N.B. If you have entered search terms in more than one search box, LION treats them as if they were combined using the AND operator.)
Use OR to retrieve items that include either or both of two specified words. (Useful for synonyms, alternative spellings or abbreviations.)
Example: Women OR female
Use NOT to retrieve items that include a specified word, but do not include a further specified word. (Useful for words which are used in more than one context, where one of the contexts is not relevant to your search.)
Example: Pope NOT Dunciad
2.2.2. Wildcard operators
Use an asterisk (*) to search for variations on a specified word. The asterisk represents a character or characters which follow a main stem of a word. For example, searching for creat* will find items that contain the words create, creation, creator, creature, etc.
Example: Made in he* (to search for phrases such as made in heaven, made in hell, etc.)
Use a question mark (?) to search for words that have any character or no character in a certain position in a word. For example, colo?r will find items containing both color and colour.
Example: Wom?n (to search for both women and woman.)
(The Texts search includes an option to search for variant spellings, which may be useful when looking for texts where the spelling may have altered over time.)
2.2.3. Phrase searching
It is also possible to search for specific phrases, by simply entering the exact phrase into the search box.
Example: Heart asks pleasure first
2.3. Selecting from a list
There are options to select search terms from a list on many of the search screens. Clicking on Select from a list takes you through to an alphabetical list of terms (e.g. of authors, or keywords) which you can then select as part of your search.
3. Displaying your results
When you have submitted your search, a results screen will appear. Depending on whether you have searched all of LION or have limited your search to a particular subset, the number of results retrieved by your search will appear in one or more categories at the top. Each number is expressed first as a number of entries found which meet your criteria, and then as a number of hits within those entries, for example, Poetry (466 entries, 499 hits). The list of results showing on the page below these numbers comes from the category highlighted in red. To view results from a different category, click on that particular heading.
The list of results is in alphabetical order by author for Texts and Authors. To view any of the results in full, click on the title, which is highlighted in gold. At the top of the page there is a link which reads Jump to First Hit in Text. This allows you to see where your search terms appear in the text, each indicated by a red square followed by double arrows. You can move between occurrences of your search terms in the text by clicking on the double arrows.
3.1. Displaying results (Criticism & Reference)
The results screen for a Criticism & Reference search has some additional information. The list of results is in chronological order, with more recently published articles at the top. Each entry in the summary of results is preceded by one or more icons described in the Key at the top of the page. Where there is access to the full text of an article, a page icon will be present . Entries where only the citation details are available are marked by an index card icon.
To add any results to the Marked List, click in the box next to each relevant entry and then click on Marked List.
4. Exporting results
It is possible to print items from LION by using the Print button of the web browser, or the Print View/Print this page option. You can also save searches and selected records to your own archive. The first time you do this, you will need to create an account.
4.1. Emailing results (Criticism & Reference)
When using the Criticism & Reference search, it is possible to email records to yourself by adding them to the Marked List (see above). When you are at the Marked List screen, you can review your choices, and then click on Email records. You then need to enter your email address; you can add notes beside your choices if you wish. Click Send and the results should appear in your email inbox shortly.
Where the full text of an article is available, it is possible to email the whole article to yourself by clicking on the Email Full Text link at the top of the article itself. You will again be prompted to enter your email address, and you can add notes if you wish. Then click Send.
5. Ending your search
It is important to end your session properly. To close your session on LION, simply close your browser window when you have finished.
6. Getting help
Online help can be accessed through LION by clicking the Help link at the top right of most pages. In addition, there is a step-by-step demonstration, and other useful information on LION in the Information Centre, accessible from the menu at the left of the screen.
If you require further assistance in using this database, please contact:
Esther Wilkinson
Telephone extension: 3181
E-mail: ewilkin
If you experience technical difficulties when using this database, please contact:
Caroline Checkley
Telephone extension: 3181
E-mail: checkc
See also the Guide to Accessing E-Resources page on the Library website.
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