Library: Northwestern COMM 1301 Public Speaking: Background

Why Background Information?

Encyclopedias, dictionaries, and other resources to help you discover basic information—names, dates, definitions, summaries, etc. These materials--commonly known as reference books--are good places to start when narrowing or choosing your topic, and when beginning research on an unfamiliar subject.

Recommended Reference & Background Info

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.
Issues & Controversies This link opens in a new window Featuring a dynamic design and a wealth of features, Issues & Controversies helps researchers understand today's crucial issues by exploring hundreds of hot topics in politics, government, business, society, education, and popular culture. Issues and Controversies provides up-to-date, in-depth and objective information on prominent and hotly debated issues. It combines objective analysis with clear explanations of opposing points of view. Chronologies, illustrations, maps, tables, sidebars, bibliographies and contact information augment the balanced, accurate coverage of current and historical events.
Sage Reference This link opens in a new window Start your research with authoritative encyclopedias and handbooks in the social and behavioral sciences.  Provides access to hundreds of carefully selected reference titles on topics across the social sciences. Content includes handbooks, encyclopedias, dictionaries, and debates. 
Oxford English Dictionary This link opens in a new window The Oxford English Dictionary is the world's leading authority on the history and development of the English language since 1150. As a historical dictionary, the OED is very different from dictionaries of current English, in which the focus is on present-day meanings. You’ll still find present-day meanings in the OED, but you’ll also find the history of individual words, sometimes from as far back as the 11th century, and of the language—traced through 3.5 million quotations, from classic literature and specialist periodicals to film scripts, song lyrics, and social media posts. 
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.

Northwestern Campus Library

Northwestern COMM 1301 Public Speaking

Why Background Information?

Recommended Reference & Background Info