Why Reference?
Question: What value has a reference book or e-book? Why, for example, consult a linguistics encyclopedia?
Answer:
- Reference works (or tertiary sources) help researchers to contextualize their topics. For example, use a scholarly encyclopedia to situate a primary work (e.g., Laamon's Brut) within its proper historical and literary context.
- Look up definitions of specialized vocabulary (e.g., lexicography, prescriptivism), learn the etymology of a word (e.g., Old English "belt"), and/or find overviews of disciplinary method and theory.
- Encyclopedia articles typically incorporate "further readings" that will lead researchers to the most important scholarly sources on their topics.
- Browse a linguistics encyclopedia to choose and/or refine your research topic.
In short, the reference works listed on this page are a great way to begin any research project.
Selected Linguistics Reference Books
An encyclopedia is a "book or numbered set of books containing authoritative summary information about a variety of topics in the form of short essays, usually arranged alphabetically by headword or classified in some manner. An entry may be signed or unsigned, with or without illustration or a list of references for further reading" (ODLIS).
Online:
Concise Encyclopedia of Applied Linguistics by Call Number: Gitenstein Library E-BOOKISBN: 9780080965031Publication Date: 2010-03-20
International Encyclopedia of Linguistics by Call Number: Internet Archive E-BOOKISBN: 0195139771Publication Date: 2003-05-01also available in print, General Collection, call # P29 .I58 2003
Print:
Concise Encyclopedia of Educational Linguistics by Call Number: P40.8 .C66 1999ISBN: 0080431631Publication Date: 1999-08-20
Encyclopedia of Bilingual Education by Call Number: LC3707 .E523 2008ISBN: 9781412937207Publication Date: 2008-06-05
Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics by Call Number: P29 .E48 2006ISBN: 0080442994Publication Date: 2005-12-06
Encyclopedia of Linguistics by Call Number: P29 .E483 2005ISBN: 1579583911Publication Date: 2004-12-27
Routledge Encyclopedia of Language Teaching and Learning by Call Number: P51 .R66 2000ISBN: 0415120853Publication Date: 2001-01-16
A companion is a "handbook intended to be used in connection with the study of a particular subject or field" (ODLIS). Companions are excellent sources of introductory essays and topic overviews.
Print:
The Cambridge Companion to Saussure by Call Number: P85.S18 C33 2004ISBN: 0521804868Publication Date: 2004-12-02
A Companion to the History of the English Language by Call Number: PE1072 .C56 2008ISBN: 9781405129923Publication Date: 2008-08-11
Routledge Companion to Semiotics and Linguistics by Call Number: P121 .R692 2001ISBN: 0415243149Publication Date: 2001-09-21
Routledge Companion to Philosophy of Language by Call Number: P106 .R75 2012ISBN: 9780415993104Publication Date: 2012-02-24
A handbook is a "single-volume reference book of compact size that provides concise factual information on a specific subject, organized systematically for quick and easy access" (ODLIS).
Print:
Handbook of Language and Ethnic Identity by Call Number: Internet Archive E-BOOKISBN: 0195124286Publication Date: 1999-04-01also available in print, General Collection (3rd floor), call # P35 .H34 1999
Handbook of Research in Second Language Teaching and Learning by Call Number: P118.2 .H359 2011ISBN: 9780415998710Publication Date: 2011-01-18
The Oxford Handbook of Applied Linguistics by Call Number: P129 .O95 2002ISBN: 019513267XPublication Date: 2002-01-17
The Oxford Handbook of the History of Linguistics by Call Number: P61 .O94 2013ISBN: 9780199585847Publication Date: 2013-05-19
The Routledge Handbook of Applied Linguistics by Call Number: P129 .R68 2013ISBN: 9780415658157Publication Date: 2013-03-01
The Routledge Handbook of Second Language Acquisition by Call Number: P118.2 .R68 2012ISBN: 9780415479936Publication Date: 2012-01-12
A bibliography is a "systematic list or enumeration of written works by a specific author or on a given subject, or that share one or more common characteristics (language, form, period, place of publication, etc.)" (ODLIS).
Online:
An Interdisciplinary Bibliography on Language, Gender and Sexuality (2000-2011) by Call Number: Gitenstein Library E-BOOKISBN: 9789027273154Publication Date: 2012-09-11
Linguistics: A Guide to the Reference Literature by Call Number: Gitenstein Library E-BOOKISBN: 9780313078101Publication Date: 2000-01-01Now dated but still useful for locating materials published prior to 2000.
Spanish and English of United States Hispanos: A Critical, Annotated, Linguistic Bibliography by Call Number: Internet Archive E-BOOKISBN: 0872810429Publication Date: 1975-01-01Now forty years out of date, this reference work can still be useful to students working on historical projects in which the scholarship of the early-to-mid twentieth century needs to be consulted. Also available in print, Reference Collection (1st floor), call # PC4826 T4 1975.
Print:
African American, Creole, and Other Vernacular Englishes in Education: A Bibliographical Resource by Call Number: Z1234.D5 A37 2013ISBN: 9780805860504Publication Date: 2012-10-05
Online:
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography by Call Number: DA28 .095 2004ISBN: 019861411XPublication Date: 2004-09-23The ODNB is the standard reference work for British biography. Extensive bibliographic essays accompany many of the biographical entries.- Portraits of Linguists: A Biographical Source Book for the History of Western Linguistics, 1746-1963 by Call Number: Internet Archive E-BOOKISBN: 9780253048776Publication Date: 1966also available in print, General Collection (3rd floor), call # P83 .S4.
Print:
American National Biography by Call Number: CT213 .A68 1999ISBN: 0195206355Publication Date: 1999-01-21The ANB is the go-to reference work for finding credible information about the lives of significant persons in American history. Locate Americans by "occupations and realms of renown" such as Animal Rights Activists, Black Nationalists, Civil Rights Leaders, Gay Rights Activists, Social Reformers, Suffragists, and many other occupations. Brief but highly useful bibliographic essays accompany each entry. These point researchers to the most important secondary biographies but also to repositories of collected papers and other primary source ephemera.- Linguistics in Britain: Personal Histories by Call Number: P83 .L564 2002ISBN: 0631234764Publication Date: 2002-06-28
Online:
The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Linguistics by Call Number: Gitenstein Library E-BOOKISBN: 9780199675128Publication Date: 2014-05-13- Dictionary of Historical and Comparative Linguistics by Call Number: P143 .T727 2000ISBN: 1579582184Publication Date: 2000-04-01
Garner's Modern English Usage (5th ed.) by Call Number: Gitenstein Library E-BOOKISBN: 9780197599051Publication Date: 2022
Longman Dictionary of Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics by Call Number: Gitenstein Library E-BOOKISBN: 9781138836907Publication Date: 2014-11-10
The Oxford English Dictionary by
(1150 CE- ) Documents the history of words in the English language including variant spellings, obsolete forms, combinations, derivatives, and definitions. More limited coverage of scientific and technical vocabulary, slang, jargon, and dialect. Meanings are arranged historically. Includes quotations from novelists, playwrights, journalists, scholars, scientists, legislators, politicians, diarists, saints, philosophers. Includes the full text of the 1989 Second Edition (20 printed volumes) and the 1993-1997 addition series (3 printed volumes). Advance release material for the projected 2010 New (Third) Edition is incorporated quarterly.
Call Number: E-BOOKISBN: 0198611862Publication Date: 1989-03-30
Print:
The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language by Call Number: P29 .C64 2010ISBN: 9780521516983Publication Date: 2010-06-03
Dictionary of Southern Appalachian English by Call Number: PE2927.A6 M66 2021ISBN: 9781469662541Publication Date: 2021-06-28
A Student's Dictionary of Language and Linguistics by Call Number: P29 .T69 1997ISBN: 0340652675Publication Date: 1997-05-02
Online:
The Atlas of Languages: The Origin and Development of Languages Throughout the World by Call Number: Internet Archive E-BOOKISBN: 0816051232Publication Date: 2003-05-01also available in print in an earlier edition, Reference Collection (1st floor), call # P106 .L67 1996
The Atlas of North American English by Call Number: PE2808 .L26 2006ISBN: 9783110206838Publication Date: 2005-01-01This classic atlas by the groundbreaking linguist, William Labov (University of Pennsylvania), is available on the Atlas Table, Reference Collection (1st floor), call # PE2808 .L26 2006.
Print:
Atlas of the World's Languages by Call Number: G1046.E3 A8 2007ISBN: 0415310741Publication Date: 2007-07-10
Open Web Bibliography
Penn State's Center for Language Acquisition compiled a 62-page, highly recommended Sociocultural Theory & L2 Learning Bibliography.
Also helpful is Resources for Researchers, consisting of lists of selected references (or bibliographies) on linguistics topics sponsored by the The International Research Foundation for English Language Education. Topics, not limited to English language teaching only, include Action Research, Anxiety in Language Learning and Assessment, Critical Pedagogy and Critical Research, Language Classroom Research, Pragmatics, Task Based Language Teaching, and many others. The lists are in Microsoft Word format.
Reference Databases
Best bets:
- Literature Online (LION) Gitenstein Library database One of the major draws of this databases is that it provides access to over 300 volumes in the Cambridge Companions series. Incorporates dictionaries, encyclopedias, and author biographies.
- Literature Resource Center Gitenstein Library database Access Contemporary Authors, Contemporary Literary Criticism, and Dictionary of Literary Biography. Use the Gale Literary Index (link at the bottom of the database's homepage) to find more information about authors in printed Gale literary series. Looking for reviews? LRC is also a good review source.
- Oxford Dictionary of National Biography by
The standard reference work for British biography. Extensive bibliographic essays accompany many entries.
Call Number: DA28 .O95 2004ISBN: 019861411XPublication Date: 2004-09-23
- The Oxford English Dictionary by
(1150 CE- ) Documents the history of words in the English language including variant spellings, obsolete forms, combinations, derivatives, and definitions. More limited coverage of scientific and technical vocabulary, slang, jargon, and dialect. Meanings are arranged historically. Includes quotations from novelists, playwrights, journalists, scholars, scientists, legislators, politicians, diarists, saints, philosophers. Includes the full text of the 1989 Second Edition (20 printed volumes) and the 1993-1997 addition series (3 printed volumes). Advance release material for the projected 2010 New (Third) Edition is incorporated quarterly.
Call Number: E-BOOKISBN: 0198611862Publication Date: 1989-03-30