Browse general encyclopedias of English literature to begin gathering information about your topic. Examples of these are the "The Cambridge Guide to Literature in English" and "The Oxford Companion to English Literature."
Use more specific encyclopedias that cover a particular aspect of English literature. Some examples of these are "Dictionary of British Literary Characters 18th and 19th Century Novels," "The Oxford Companion to 20th Century Poetry in English," and "The Stanford Companion to Victorian Fiction."
Do a subject search in a library catalog to research biographical information about an author. Two helpful resources for biographies of English writers are "British Writers" and "Dictionary of Literary Biography."
Check periodicals for recent literary criticism pertaining to your topic. The MLA International Bibliography is a large database that contains references to scholarly journals, chapters in books, and dissertations. Other cumulative indexes are Reader's Guide to Periodical Literature and Annual Bibliography of English Language and Literature.
Browse the library's book shelves. The English literature section contains the classics and often biographies of their authors.
Use web resources. To read literature online, see the University of Pennsylvania's Digital Library Project. It has an index of over 17,000 online books. "The Norton Anthology of English Literature" has a web companion for looking up English literature topics.