About Background Information
Encyclopedias, handbooks, and subject dictionaries are good places to locate background information on your topic.
| Quick tip: Use background resources to identify keywords you can use when searching. Especially note: |
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In addition to building your keywords strategy, check the bibliography or list of references for sources you can use in your own paper. The books and articles cited in the encyclopedias are usually written by scholars and are an excellent place to expand your research.
Resources for Background Information
- Credo Reference This link opens in a new window Credo Reference is a general knowledge database providing articles, images, charts, maps and other materials on thousands of topics. With 750+ searchable, full-text titles, Credo Reference places particular emphasis on subject encyclopedias, dictionaries, atlases, and reference handbooks. Also included are more than 1,100 short reference videos, more than 475,000 high-resolution art images, photographs, and maps across all subject areas.
- History Reference Source This link opens in a new window Full text for more than 1,990 reference books, encyclopedias and non-fiction books from leading history publishers. Covering both U.S. and world history topics, History Reference Source is a full-text database featuring historical reference books, magazines, journals and thousands of primary source documents. View the EBSCO Search Tutorial Video
- In Context: Opposing Viewpoints This link opens in a new window Opposing Viewpoints offers material to support differing views to help develop critical thinking skills on thousands of current social topics in the forms of primary source documents, statistics, websites and multimedia. Find overviews, news, and opinions on hundreds of today's important social issues, including racism, capital punishment, global warming, and voting rights with reference sources, newspaper and magazine articles, scholarly journals, court cases, government documents, viewpoints, maps, images, audio, video and websites.
- In Context: US History This link opens in a new window Gale in Context: U.S. History is an online experience for those seeking contextual information on hundreds of the most significant people, events and topics in U.S. History. Topics range from the arrival of Vikings in North America all to the way to the first stirrings of the American Revolution and on through the Civil Rights movement, 9/11, and the War on Terror. Content includes reference works, millions of news and periodical articles, and more than 5,000 rare and vital primary source documents that range from slave journals to presidential papers.
- CQ Researcher This link opens in a new window CQ Researcher offers in-depth, unbiased coverage of political and social issues, with regular reports on a wide range of topics including: health, international affairs, education, the environment, technology, the U.S. economy, crime, and civil liberties. This acclaimed and award-winning weekly publication provides a balanced view of today's most pressing social, political, and economic issues. Each weekly report covers the given topic in a non-sensationalized manner, and many reports feature a pro/con debate, highlighting both sides of the argument. Access over 700 hot topics with pros and cons for your research papers and projects.