LibGuides: HOW TO: Get Started on a Research Project: Reference Sources

Using Background Readings

Reference sources such as specialized encyclopedias, dictionaries, and handbooks are good places to begin research on a topic. Articles and entries in these publications often are written by scholars in the field. These kinds of resources can provide: • background information • topic overviews • basic facts about a topic • definitions of related terms • lists of additional sources and recommended readings

This page provides links to several databases that are useful to locate reference sources.

Specialized Encyclopedias and Dictionaries

Credo Reference This link opens in a new window
Online reference library containing the full text of hundreds of reference titles, including dictionaries, bilingual dictionaries, thesauri, encyclopaedias, quotations and atlases, plus a wide range of subject-specific titles, featuring in-depth articles, images, sound files, animations, and videos. Full-text.
eBooks (Gale- previously GVRL) This link opens in a new window
1998 - Present. Multidisciplinary specialized encyclopedias and reference sources. Full-text. Gale
Oxford English Dictionary This link opens in a new window
Provides the meaning, history, and pronunciation of over half a million words, both present and past, traces the usage of words through 2.5 million quotations from international English language sources. Full-text.