Find Background
Getting Started: Find Background Information
At the beginning of a research project, it's useful to you get an introduction to what's known about your topic, before you begin using scholarly articles or books to find more detailed discussion and perspectives. Use this page to find that information for your peace architect or issue.
Background Information: Peace Architects
You can use a specialized biography source to learn more about your peace architect. Select from the ones below.
- Association of Religion Data Archives: BiographiesBrowse and read biographies for individuals associated with particular events in American religious history.
- Gale eBooks This link opens in a new windowSearch over 200 specialized encyclopedias and handbooks for individuals or issues.
- Oxford Handbooks Online - Religion This link opens in a new windowSearch this set of handbooks for thorough introductions to topics and a critical survey of the current state of scholarship in fields that study religion and religious issues (including global religions and issues).
- Gale in Context: Biography This link opens in a new windowThis database contains full-text articles from a variety of subject encyclopedias and dictionaries on over 500,000 people from all times and places. Links are also provided to additional full-text biographical information in articles from magazines, newspapers, web pages, and multimedia resources. Updated daily.
- American National Biography This link opens in a new windowAmerican National Biography offers portraits of more than 17,400 deceased men and women - from all eras and walks of life - whose lives have shaped the nation. Updated quarterly.
Background Information: Social Issues
Two of the best sources for background information on social issues are Gale eBooks and CQ Researcher.
- Gale eBooks This link opens in a new windowProvides the full text of over 200 subject encyclopedias, handbooks, dictionaries, and directories.
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Within Gale eBooks, these are some of the encyclopedias you will find. You can either do a search across all of Gale eBooks, or for convenience I've also linked to some encyclopedias within it that are relevant to your topics. American Prisons and Jails: An Encyclopedia of Controversies and Trends Social Trends and Indicators USA Minorities: Race and Ethnicity in America Race & Ethnic Relations in America International Encyclopedia of Marriage and Family Encyclopedia of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgendered History in America Growing Up: Issues Affecting American Youth Abortion: an Eternal Social and Moral Issue Death and Dying: End of Life Controversies Encyclopedia of Crimes, Prisons, and Jails Sports in America: Recreation, Business, Education, and Controversy Alcohol, Tobacco, and Illicit Drugs Gun Control: Restricting Rights or Protecting People? Social Welfare: Fighting Poverty and Homelessness Weight in America: Obesity, Eating Disorders, and Other Health Risks |
- CQ Researcher This link opens in a new windowOnline version of this weekly publication, covering the most current and controversial issues of the day complete with summaries, insight into all sides of the issues, bibliographies and more. Full text of all articles published since 1991.
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Within CQ Researcher, you can browse by topics or search by keyword. This is a great tool, because for each social issue it provides some history, outlook, chronology, pro/cons, and next steps. Some of their more recent reports include: |