Get Background Info - Reference Sources
Why use reference sources (encyclopedias, handbooks, dictionaries)?
- Background information - They provide a summary or overview of a topic, which puts your topic in context and gives you a working knowledge. This also can help you narrow your topic.
- Terms - Identify terms, jargon, key people and places provided by an expert. You can use in your searches.
- Scholarly Conversation - Many include a bibliography with key texts for further research
Option 1 - Search in online reference sources
Search your topic in these online encyclopedias (see list below). Try brainstorming different terms, from specific to broad.
For Example:
Oxford Reference Online Search confederate monument
You can filter results by Subject on the left. Look for entries with several words.
Multidisciplinary Encyclopedias and Reports (online)
- Oxford Reference Online (5 users) This link opens in a new windowContains almost 200 dictionary, language reference, and subject reference works published by Oxford University Press. Includes over 50,000 additional in-depth, scholarly articles from titles in the acclaimed Oxford Companions Series, plus all 20,000 quotations from the Oxford Dictionary of Quotations.
- CQ Researcher (1991 - ) This link opens in a new window44 reports per year. Explores a single "hot" issue in the news in depth each week, featuring comments from experts, lawmakers and citizens on all sides of every issue.
- Cambridge Companions Online This link opens in a new windowFull-text access to books in the Cambridge Companions in Literature and Classics and Cambridge Companions in Philosophy, Religion, and Culture series. Essays which are intended to serve as reference works for an inter-disciplinary audience. NOTE: WU Libraries do not subscribe to Shakespeare Survey. Please ignore those references in your results; you will not be able to get to the full-text.
- Cambridge Histories Online This link opens in a new windowComplete texts of the Cambridge Histories series. Volumes are grouped into topics enabling browsing by historical subject areas and includes extensive bibliographic referencing and other leading functionality.
Option 2 - Search the Catalog for Encyclopedias
Your topic* + encyclopedias in the WU Catalog
For Example:
"american art" encyclopedias
*TERM ALERT: Keep in mind that you are not searching the full text of the encyclopedias when you are searching the catalog.
- This means you will probably need to do a BROAD keyword search.
- You can start specific (confederate monument). If you don't get relevant results, try broader terms like "american art" or art.