Free Literature Guides Online

Has Shakespeare got you in shambles? Is too much Twain hurting your brain? Time to check out these free literature note services online. Use them to help you while studying new material or reviewing for tests and assignments.

The classic Cliff’s Notes offers free guides with some of the best information you will find such as character analysis, visual character maps, critical essays, and detailed chapter by chapter summaries. If you want to cite the notes in your paper, just click on the “Cite” button and Cliff’s Notes will format it for you. Also available to download for about $10 are Cliff’s Complete, page by page complete text and analysis.

Spark Notes provides hundreds of free and thorough guides with the option to download pdf versions for a fee. Especially helpful are the summaries, character lists, and study questions. The quick print pdf versions are available for about $5 and contain only the information found freely on the website.

Grade Saver offers Classic Notes, a free collection of literature study guides written by Harvard students. Also provides related links and biographical information. Don’t forget to check out the many free guides for other subjects.

Book Rags gives students literature guides for free with the option to download more detailed guides (i.e. a 58 page guide to Huckleberry Finn) for about $8. There is also a $10 per month subscription service that allows access to unlimited detailed guides.

Book Wolf provides free chapter by chapter summaries and analysis for many books. If you’re not able to read a complete book, you can get the gist of it just by reading these guides. The one downside is the intrusive advertising.