Reference Sources - What Are They?
Reference sources are tertiary materials that provide background information or a succinct overview of a topic. They can be used to clarify terms and concepts as well as to provide basic facts, statistics, and referrals to authoritative secondary sources. Reference sources typically include:
- summary information
- definitions
- synonymous terms to make searching easier
- names of individuals associated with an event
- dates and places
- data
- facts
- maps
- timelines
- bibliographies and sources for further reading
- biographical information
- addresses and locations
From The Information-Literate Historian.
Online Reference Resources (Fee)
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International Encyclopedia of the Social SciencesThe "International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences," (published in 2008), contains nearly 3,000 articles contributed by international experts in all social science disciplines. The HTML view includes links to related articles and topics. Individual articles can also be viewed and downloaded as pdf files. Readers can use the eTable of Contents to access an interdisciplinary annotated bibliography in vol. 9.
Online Reference Resources (Free)
Subject Guide
Forrest Link