Why Use Encyclopedias?
Background sources like encyclopedias can provide context for your topic, or even help you choose one. They are great places to start because:
- they explain topics in simpler language than scholarly articles
- they are much shorter (often just a just a page or two, instead of the 20 pages or more found in a scholarly article or the hundreds of pages found in a book)
- they highlight important issues, figures, dates, and/or events that you may want to focus on in your paper or project
- they give you suggested sources for further research in the form of bibliographies or works cited
Digital Reference Database
- Gale Virtual Reference Library This link opens in a new windowGale Virtual Reference Library offers a wide variety of full-text interdisciplinary content on virtually any subject area to support assignments, papers, projects, and presentations. Includes the Scribner Writers Series.
Specific Encyclopedias
Encyclopedia of Gender and SocietyCall Number: E-BookPublication Date: 2009Covers the major theories, research, people, and issues in contemporary gender studies. Offers a cross-national/cross-cultural perspective that provides comparative analyses of the life experiences of men and women around the world..
A Handbook to Appalachia by Call Number: R 974 H236 2006Publication Date: 2006-05-01This is a collection of essays on key Appalachian topics written for the general reader. Students will find this a valuable resource with excellent bibliographies. Consult this work early in your research.
Encyclopedia of Appalachia by Publication Date: 2006“Intentional Communities” by Deborah Thompson (writer and section editor)
“Families and Communities” by Deborah Thompson (co-editor with Shirley Stewart Burns and Shaunna Scott)
“Music” section by Deborah Thompson
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