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
Online Encyclopedias
The following are recommended encyclopedias in your field. You can read them online 24/7.
EconomicsCall Number: E-BookPublication Date: 2007Economics has the capacity to offer us deep insights into some of the most formidable problems of life, and offer solutions to them too. Combining a global approach with examples from everyday life, Partha Dasgupta describes the lives of two children who live very different lives in different parts of the world: in the Mid-West USA and in Ethiopia. He compares the obstacles facing them, and the processes that shape their lives, their families, and their futures. He shows how economics uncovers these processes, finds explanations for them, and how it forms policies and solutions. Along the way, Dasgupta provides an intelligent and accessible introduction to key economic factors and concepts such as individual choices, national policies, efficiency, equity, development, sustainability, dynamic equilibrium, property rights, markets, and public goods.
Everyday Finance: Economics, Personal Money Management, and EntrepreneurshipCall Number: E-BookPublication Date: 2008Provides a mix of basic and practical information on economics, personal money management, and starting a business.
Print Encyclopedias
Hutchins Library also has a large collection of print enyclopedias that you can access in person in the Reference area on the main floor. Here are a few of our favorites:
The American Marketplace by Call Number: 658.83 A512 2011 (Location: Reference)Publication Date: 2011Designed for convenience, The American Marketplace: Demographics and Spending Patterns draws on scores of government and proprietary sources to present a population provide of the United States in one handy volume. Its hundreds of tables are organized into 11 chapters covering attitudes, education, health, housing, income, labor force, living arrangements, population, spending, time use, and wealth.
The History and Methodology of Law and Economics by Call Number: 330 E56 2000 (Location: Reference)Publication Date: 2000Surveys the entire literature on law and economics. The entries consist of two elements: a review of the literature by an authority in the field and a bibliography which covers most of the published material in the particular area.
Financial Lexicon by Call Number: 332.03 B218f 2005Publication Date: 2005Financial Lexicon is intended as a comprehensive financial reference book that explains the formal and informal terminology of finance. Structured as a dictionary, the book will contain clear and detailed explanations of common banking, finance and investment terms. It will include formal corporate business terms alongside the jargon that has entered business life. Terms defined in TFL will be drawn from all of the major sectors in the international capital markets and the financial industry.
