"Use reference books, also called reference or background sources, to get quick specific facts or information or an overview of a subject...Some examples of reference sources are: dictionaries, encyclopedias, bibliographies, almanacs, directories, atlases, and handbooks. These can be online or in print" (McKenzie, 2017).
Reference sources can also point to scholarly sources in their list of references or suggested resources for further reading.
In a print reference source, use the index located at the back of the book to see if there are any pages that discuss your topic. You may have to think about other ways your topic could be worded. For example, if you are looking up environmental justice, you may also need to look up environmental racism. eBooks will also have an index; the index may be searchable, but you can also run a search within the text of the eBook itself. The library also has databases that focus exclusively on reference material.
Over 8,500 online articles from the McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Science & Technology 10thedition. 110,000+ definitions from the McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific and Technical Terms.Biographies of more than 2,000 well-known scientists from the Hutchinson Dictionary of Scientific Biography .The latest news in science and technology from Science News and ScienCentral videos. Continuously updated, fully-searchable, media-rich content, terms, images and videos
EBSCO provides access to your librarys e-book collection.eContentis the digital version of books you can access 24 hours a days, seven days a week.
Regarded as the most scholarly of encyclopedias, the Encyclopedia Britannica provides access to hundreds or scholarly articles in multiple categories and subjects.
Specialized academic and encyclopedic material: find academic articles and definitions. Excellent beginning resource. Find the Career Information Center here!
Salem E-books are electronic versions of print reference books held in the Merced College Library.