Subject Guides: Guide to Research: Background Research

Background Research

Reference sources like encyclopedias and indexes are the best places to start research about a topic you don't know a lot about. This kind of Background Research can help you:

Understand the scope of a topic or issue
Identify subtopics you can use to narrow down your research
Find books and articles

Digital Reference Sources

Britannica Academic
Encyclopedia Britannica content and more
Gale eBooks
Encyclopedias and other reference books on many subjects
Oxford English Dictionary
English dictionary that includes the history of words and when they were first used in print.
Oxford Reference
Subject-specific dictionaries, bilingual English dictionaries, encyclopedias and other reference tools.