Reference Books
What is a reference work?
A book (such as a dictionary, encyclopedia, handbook, etc.) intended primarily for consultation rather than for consecutive reading. Usually, these contain short, fact-driven entries.
How do you find reference works?
Perform a simple BANC search using your keywords and then limit to "Reference Collection"
- OR -
Use a database of reference books, such as Gale Virtual Reference, linked to below
- 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.
- Opposing Viewpoints This link opens in a new windowWith over 20,000 pro/con viewpoints, approximately 19,000 reference articles, interactive maps, infographics, and more, students will be prepared to argue any side of the issue. A wide range of media rich content offers differing views making it an ideal resource for debaters. Students can dive deeper with periodical content that covers current events, news and commentary, economics, environmental issues, political science, and more. [Publisher description]
Published Books
How do you find books at Hutchins?
- Hutchins Library CatalogA link to our library catalog, where you can search for print books, ebooks, streaming videos, DVDs, and journal articles from 34 of our 134 databases!
Newspapers & Magazines
To ensure you retrieve periodicals when you search, limit your search results to "magazines" or "newspapers".
- Chronicle of Higher EducationThe Chronicle of Higher Education has the nation’s largest newsroom dedicated to covering colleges and universities.
- Newspaper Source This link opens in a new windowNewspaper Source provides cover-to-cover full text for more than 40 (U.S.) & international newspapers. The database also contains selective full text for 389 regional (U.S.) newspapers. In addition, full text television & radio news transcripts are also provided.
Academic Journals
To ensure you retrieve scholarly, peer-reviewed articles when you search, limit your search results to "scholarly" and "peer-reviewed"
- Education Research Complete This link opens in a new windowEducation Research Complete is the definitive online resource for education research. Topics covered include all levels of education from early childhood to higher education, and all educational specialties, such as multilingual education, health education, and testing.
- Academic Search Complete This link opens in a new windowAcademic Search Complete is the world's most valuable and comprehensive scholarly, multi-disciplinary full-text database, with content in nearly every subject.
Evaluating Internet Sources with the CRAAP Test
Finding Credible Websites with Google Advanced Search
What are academic websites?
A website created by an academic institution (or their faculty) that addresses specific areas of research. This is NOT the same as a peer-reviewed article found in an online database.
What are government websites?
A type of website created and designed for a government entity to communicate accurate governmental data, facts, statistics, and information members to the public.
How do you find these sites?
Use Google's Advanced Search Feature to limit your results to only these sites by searching for sites ending in the extensions ".edu" or ".gov"
- Google Advanced SearchLimit your search to a specific domain.
For this assignment, limit your results to the domain ".edu" to insure that you only receive academic sites.
