Specialized reference works such as encyclopedias provide overviews and can give you a good sense of what's out there and what different approaches are being taken to a given topic. Most of our reference sources are located in the Reference Collection on the main floor of the library and some are available online. Below are examples of reference works that may be helpful for your research. Just ask a librarian for assistance locating reference works on your specific topic.
Encyclopedia of Romanticism: Culture in Britain, 1780s-1830s by 
Encyclopedia of Romantic Literature by 
Encyclopedia of Victorian Literature by 
Victorian Britain (Routledge Revivals) by The library collection includes introductions to authors and literary topics. These introductory sources often include terms such as companion to, encyclopedia of, introduction to, and handbook of.
The Cambridge Companion to Charles Dickens by 
The Cambridge Companion to Jane Austen by 
A Jane Austen Encyclopedia by 
The Oxford Handbook of Virginia Woolf by Tip: Look up your author of interest in the cumulative index to find the volume(s) that cover your author. Need assistance? Ask a librarian.
British Romantic Novelists, 1789-1832 (Dictionary of Literary Biography) by 
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography by This work is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
