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Locating
Background Information: Encyclopedias
General Encyclopedias
Specialized/Subject-Specific
Encyclopedias
Periodical
Articles from Full-text
Databases
Encyclopedias are useful for getting
background information and an overview
of current research on a topic. They
also provide a bibliography - a selected
list of additional reading materials,
chosen for their importance and comprehensiveness.
Often the most efficient way to get started
with research on a particular topic is
to consult an encyclopedia.
General
Encyclopedias
For more general background information,
you may wish to consult the online version
of Encyclopaedia
Britannica. Additionally, the Reference
Collection has a variety of general
encyclopedias in the 030 call number
area.
Specialized/Subject-Specific
Encyclopedias
To locate encyclopedias for specific
subjects, do a subject heading search
in the online
catalog for your subject, followed
by the word "encyclopedias."
For example, if you wanted to find encyclopedias
for philosophy, your search would look
like this: "philosophy encyclopedias."
There are hundreds of specialized encyclopedias. Subject
guides are available on the library's
home page. These guides identify
some of the specialized subject-specific
encyclopedias for each of the disciplines
listed.
Periodical
Articles from Full-text Databases
Sometimes articles in newspapers or
general interest periodicals (Newsweek,
Time, National Geographic, etc.)
can provide a quick overview of a subject.
Use one of the library's full-text databases
to find such articles. For more information
about locating articles in periodicals,
see Locating
Periodical Articles.
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