Finding Background Information on Your Topic
Encyclopedias, Dictionaries, and Other Reference Sources
Encyclopedias, dictionaries and other reference sources are a great way to get started and to find background information on your topic from various perspectives. If you want to search for a specific topic or concept across various disciplines to get different perspectives try the following online collection of reference books.
Online Reference Collections
- Credo Reference This link opens in a new windowAllows you to search for articles from over 600 different electronic reference books and also works as a gateway to a very wide array of other information sources, including images, audio and video. It is a really excellent place to begin research with 'Topic Pages' offering authoritative overviews and a Mind Map feature to assist in narrowing and focusing research and identifying keywords for database searching.
- Gale eBooks This link opens in a new windowProvides the full text of over 200 subject encyclopedias, handbooks, dictionaries, and directories.
- Oxford Reference This link opens in a new windowA collection containing over 120 dictionaries and reference titles covering a broad spectrum of subjects from general reference and language to science and medicine, and from humanities and social sciences to business and professional.
Dictionaries & Encyclopedias
Encyclopedia of Religion in America by ONLINE REFERENCE BOOK
Encyclopedia of Global Religion by ONLINE REFERENCE BOOK
Science, Religion, and Society by Call Number: BL240.3 .S37 2007PRINT ONLY - Find it in the library at the call number above
Encyclopedia of Politics and Religion by ONLINE REFERENCE BOOK
News and Current Events Sources
- The New York TimesUse this link to search the Library's subscription site (via LexisNexis Academic) to the New York Times, which reports regularly on topics related to Religion. Using this link gets you access to the full-text of NYT articles that you can't get on the public NYT site.
- Nexis Uni This link opens in a new windowThis database provides the full text online of articles published in more than 1,000 newspapers from the U.S. and around the world. Years of coverage vary but for some newspapers extend back to the 1970s.
- Newspaper Source This link opens in a new windowFull-text and transcripts for more than 240 newspapers and other sources, including USA Today, The Christian Science Monitor, The Times (London), CBS Evening News, 60 Minutes, O'Reilly Factor, National Public Radio, etc.
When to Use Google and Wikipedia
Using Google and/or Wikipedia when you are trying to get general background on a topic is ok as long as you are using them wisely. Here are some tips for 'smart' searching the open web:
- Think of yourself as a journalist - confirm any facts and information you find in another source. Don't just take what you find at face value.
- It is almost always a bad idea to cite a Wikipedia entry in your research. If you find a key fact you want to use, confirm it in a peer-reviewed reference or scholarly source and cite those sources.
- So pay attention to the references/footnotes in a Wikipedia entry. Those may be the sources (or clues to lead you to the sources) to investigate further.
- Always think critically about any source you discover. For example, when you discover a source, ask yourself the following:
- Is it accurate? Who wrote it? What qualifies them as an authority? Is there valid contact information for the person or organization?
- Is it objective or is there a bias? What opinions is the author/organization expressing? Is there an abundance of advertising? Who does the intended audience for the information seem to be?
- Is the information current? When was the page last updated? Do all the links work, or are some broken? Does any content appear to be outdated?