Off-Campus (Remote) Library Services: Reference Sources
Guide to library services while working remotely.
Reference sources (dictionaries, encyclopedias, thesauri, etc.) are useful when you are starting your research for background information on a subject or an issue. As you continue your research, they can be used to define new terms or concepts. Wikipedia, while not generally accepted as appropriate for citing in bibliographies, is very useful for general information and an overview of topics.
Reference Sources
General
- Britannica Online Academic Edition This link opens in a new windowBritannica Online includes the complete encyclopedia, as well as Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary and Thesaurus, Britannica Student Encyclopedia and the Britannica Book of the Year. You can also use Britannica Online to search an Internet directory that includes more than 300,000 links to Web sites selected, rated, and reviewed by Britannica editors, and access articles selected by the editors. Also known as Encyclopedia Britannica.
- Merriam-Webster Online This link opens in a new windowIncludes both a dictionary and online thesaurus feature.
- Oxford English Dictionary (OED) This link opens in a new windowThe OED: provides authoritative definitions of over 500,000 words, traces the usage of words from their first recorded occurrence to the modern period through 2.5 million quotations from a wide range of international language sources, and offers etymological analysis and detailed listings of variant spelling.
Presented by the Hobby Foundation Endowment Fund.
Specialized Encyclopedias
Do a keyword search with your topic in the A-Z List of Databases. Be careful not to make your search too specific: e.g. use "Anthropology", not "Australopithecus".
Cross-searchable Collections of Reference Titles
- Gale Virtual Reference Library (GVRL) This link opens in a new windowThe current GVRL collection contains dictionaries and encyclopedias covering these areas: Arts, Biography, Business, Environment, General Reference, History, Law, Literature, Medicine, Multicultural Studies, Nation and World, Religion, Science, and Social Science.
- Oxford Reference This link opens in a new windowPremium Collection contains over 200 dictionary, language reference, and subject reference works published by Oxford University Press. It is a fully-indexed, cross-searchable database of these books, giving subscribers unprecedented access to a comprehensive information resource. Includes added functionality and more detailed information across a broad subject range from titles in the world-renowned Oxford Companions Series.
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