AUTHOR       Patterson, Margaret C.
 TITLE        Literary research guide / Margaret C. Patterson.
 EDITION      2nd ed., 2nd rev. print.
 PUBLISHER    New York : Modern Language Association of America, 1984.
 NOTE         Subtitle: An evaluative, annotated bibliography of important
                reference books and periodicals on English, Irish, Scottish,
                Welsh, Commonwealth, American, Afro-American, American Indian,
                continental, classical, and world literatures, and sixty
                literature-related subject areas including bibliography,
                biography, book collecting, film, folklore, linguistics, little
                magazines, prosody, reviews, teaching resources, textual
                criticism, women's studies.
 Leyburn-Reference      PN43 .P3 1984                  
(explains the research process and the library tools [extensive annotation more than 1600 sources]. There are two "worked examples" of materials for specific research problmes: on Flannery O'Connor and Lord Byron [pp xvi-xxviii], well worth looking at)
 AUTHOR       Harner, James L.
 TITLE        Literary research guide : a guide to reference sources for the
                study of literatures in English and related topics / James L.
                Harner.
 EDITION      2nd ed.
 PUBLISHER    New York : Modern Language Association of America, 1993.
 Leyburn-Reference      PR83 .H34 1993 
(an expansion and updating of Patterson 1984, including many more sources; THE place to begin. "...intended as a vademecum for researchers --from advanced undergraduates to experienced scholars-- pursuing a topic at a more than superficial level..." [Introduction])
Another general guide:
 AUTHOR       Marcuse, Michael J.
 TITLE        A reference guide for English studies / Michael J. Marcuse.
 PUBLISHER    Berkeley : University of California Press, c1990.
 SUBJECT      English literature --Library resources.
              Bibliography --Bibliography --English literature.
              Reference books --English literature --Bibliography.
              American literature --Library resources.
              Bibliography --Bibliography --American literature.
              Reference books --American literature --Bibliography.
              Performing arts --Library resources.
              Bibliography --Bibliography --Performing arts.
 Leyburn-Reference      PR56 .M37 1990 

For Middle English:

 TITLE        A Manual of the writings in Middle English, 1050-1500 / by
                members of the Middle English Group of the Modern Language
                Association of America.
 PUBLISHER    New Haven : Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences, 1967-
 SUBJECT      English literature --Middle English, 1100-1500 --History and
                criticism.
              English literature --Middle English, 1100-1500 --Bibliography.
 Leyburn Library        PR255 .M3 v. 1 


And for American literature:
 
 TITLE        Literary history of the United States. Editors: Robert E. Spiller
                [and others]
 EDITION      4th ed., rev.
 PUBLISHER    New York, Macmillan [c1974]
 SUBJECT      American literature --History and criticism.
              American literature --Bibliography.
 Leyburn-Reference      PS88 .L522 1974 v. 1

There are 3 dictionary-style guides/companions to English literature, useful for short descriptions of characters, authors, works and specialized literary terminology. The overlap among the three is quite extensive, but each has entries not found in the others.
 AUTHOR       Drabble, Margaret, 1939-
 TITLE        The Oxford companion to English literature.
 EDITION      5th ed. / edited by Margaret Drabble.
 PUBLISHER    Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, 1985.
 Leyburn-Reference      PR19 .D73 1985                 
(An alphabetical catalog of persons real and fictional, titles, and topics likely to be encountered by a reader of literature.In the Preface, editor Margaret Drabble states the objective of the Companion to "quickly, easily, and clearly satisfy the immediate curiosity of the common reader, and direct that reader, where appropriate, to further sources of information".)
 TITLE        The Cambridge guide to English literature / [compiled by] Michael
                Stapleton.
 PUBLISHER    Cambridge [Cambridgeshire] ; New York : Cambridge University
                Press ; Feltham, Middlesex : Newnes Books ; Rushden, Northants
                : distributed for them by Hamlyn Pub. Group, 1983.
 Leyburn-Reference      PR85 .C28 1983                 
(Considerable overlap with The Oxford Companion)
 TITLE        The Cambridge guide to literature in English / edited by Ian
                Ousby ; foreword by Margaret Atwood.
 PUBLISHER    Cambridge [Cambridgeshire] ; New York, NY, USA : Cambridge
                University Press ; Twickenham, Middlesex : Hamlyn Pub. Group,
                1988.
 Leyburn-Reference      PR85 .C29 1988                 
 TITLE        The Feminist companion to literature in English : women writers
                from the Middle Ages to the present / [editors], Virginia Blain
                , Patricia Clements, Isobel Grundy.
 PUBLISHER    New Haven, CT : Yale University Press, c1990.
 Leyburn-Reference      PR113 .F45 1990                


 TITLE        Reference guide to American literature / introductions by Lewis
                Leary and Warren French ; editor, D.L. Kirkpatrick.
 EDITION      2nd ed.
 PUBLISHER    Chicago : St. James Press, 1987.
 Leyburn-Reference      PS129 .R44 1987                
(Nearly 600 pages of short biographical sketches [with bibliography of publications and critical studies], a further 100 pages of short essays on important works, and a chronology matching publication dates with historical events)
The most important guides to scholarly research in literature:
 TITLE        The Year's work in English studies.
 PUBLISHER    London : Published for the English Association by John Murray 
 PE58 .E6 Leyburn Library                                                 
  LIB. HAS: 1(1919/20)-   (Latest edition in Reference)                   
 
 
 TITLE        MLA international bibliography of books and articles on the
                modern languages and literatures.
 EDITION      Library ed.
 PUBLISHER    New York : Modern Language Association of America, c1970-
 REF. INDEXES Leyburn Library                                             
 LIB. HAS: 1969-1992