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New Oxford Shakespeare Online

This guide discusses the features of the eResource New Oxford Shakespeare Online (Oxford Scholarly Editions), which comprises the Modern Critical Edition (with modern spelling), the Critical Reference Edition (with original spelling), and the Authorsh

New Shakespeare Online Features

The New Oxford Shakespeare Online interface allows you to:

  • Choose to read either edition, or read both, scrolling alongside each other
  • Customize your reading experience and see as many or as few of the different types of notes as you like, alongside the texts
  • Personalize the site with your own sets of plays to work within 
  • Search for words across the whole set of editions, and use the intelligent search to narrow down to just the play texts, or to a specific play, or to scenes written by a particular collaborator
  • Compare the edited text with linked images of the early editions
  • Navigate straight to any line, using familiar Act, Scene, Line terminology
  • Cross-referred passages in the notes are just a click away


Every play and poem has its own digital identifier, and every line its own URL, making citation from The New Oxford Shakespeare Online convenient and easy.