English - HSC

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander visitors are kindly advised that this website includes images, sounds and names of people who have passed.

All users should be aware that some topics or historical content may be culturally sensitive, offensive or distressing, and that some images may contain nudity or are of people not yet identified. Certain words, terms or descriptions may reflect the author's/creator's attitude or that of the period in which they were written, but are now considered inappropriate in today's context.

Key to library resources

Access anywhere with a library card In the Library (or anywhere with a Library card for NSW residents)
Available to access in the library Only in the Library
Publicly available online Publicly available

Starting your research

Introduction to your texts and key concepts

These eresources are a good starting point for your research, as well as a place to find overviews of major writers, literary movements (eg. romanticism), genres (eg. gothic novels), periods and detailed definitions.

Search tips for using eresources

  • Use “quotation marks” for exact phrase searching eg "social media" 
  • Use ADVANCED search options to combine words using AND, OR,  NOT
  • Use asterisks * for wildcards - alternative endings of words eg. poet* = poet, poets and poetry
  • Select Full Text search options to find only full text articles
  • Vary your search terms: try synonyms for your topic words eg. youth = teenagers, adolescents, young adults
  • Refine your results by limiting to scholarly or peer-reviewed (for academic level journals evaluated by experts)

Watch your spelling – both for accuracy and American spelling variations.

Featured journal: mETAphor

mETAphor is published by the English Teacher's Association NSW. Find full text articles through Informit database by entering the journal title in Citation Search. Whilst published for teachers, the journal has many relevant articles for HSC students, including close analyses of texts and genres, creative writing skills, essay writing tips, and a wide range of useful book reviews from many different genres.