Defining "Reference"
Reference works are tertiary sources that provide background information or a succinct overview of a topic. Use them 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
- names associated with event
- dates and places
- data
- facts
- maps
- timelines
- bibliographies and further readings
- biographical information
- addresses and locations
Source: The Information-Literate Historian (c2013) by Jenny Presnell (Humanities and Social Sciences Librarian, Miami University)
Selected Reference Works in Print (Gitenstein Library)
The Encyclopaedia of Islam by Call Number: Reference Collection DS37 .E523 Vol 1-12 plus IndexesISBN: 9004139745Publication Date: Leiden, Brill, 1960-"Considered by academics to be the standard reference work in the field of Islamic studies.... The most important and comprehensive reference tool for Islamic studies is the Encyclopaedia of Islam, an immense effort to deal with every aspect of Islamic civilization, conceived in the widest sense, from its origins down to the present day... EI is no anonymous digest of received wisdom. Most of the articles are signed, and while some are hardly more than dictionary entries, others are true research pieces – in many cases the best available treatment of their subject."
Encyclopaedia of the Qurʾān by Call Number: Reference Collection BP133 .E53 2001ISBN: 9004114653Publication Date: 2006Drawing upon a rich scholarly heritage, Brill's Encyclopaedia of the Qur'ān (EQ) combines alphabetically arranged articles about the contents of the Qur'ān. It is an encyclopaedic dictionary of qur'ānic terms, concepts, personalities, place names, cultural history and exegesis extended with essays on the most important themes and subjects within qur'ānic studies.
Encyclopedia of Islam and the Muslim World by Call Number: BP40 .E525 2016ISBN: 9780028662695Publication Date: 2016-01-27v. 1. A-K
v. 2. L-Z
Encyclopedia of Women & Islamic Cultures by Call Number: Reference Collection HQ1170 .E53 2003ISBN: 9004132473v. 1. Methodologies, paradigms, and sources
v. 2. Family, law, and politics
v. 3. Family, body, sexuality, and health
v. 4. Economics, education, mobility and space
v. 5. Practices, interpretations and representations.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and indexes.
Historical Atlas of Islam by Call Number: Reference Collection G1786.S1 R9 2004ISBN: 0674013859Publication Date: Harvard University Press, 2004.
