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.
"Germany" in Countries and Their CulturesCall Number: E-BookPublication Date: 2006Presents the cultural similarities within a country that set it apart from others. Surveys each country's shared values, behaviors and cultural variations from foods and rituals to pastimes and arts.
"Germany" in Worldmark Encyclopedia of the NationsCall Number: E-BookPublication Date: 2012Presents easy-to-understand information on countries and dependencies from around the world. Entries discuss a variety of topics in detail, from banking and securities to climate, from government data to demographic statistics.
Print Encyclopedias
Dictionary of Modern Theological German by Call Number: 203.31 Z65d (Location: Reference)Publication Date: 1982Helmut Ziefle's Modern Theological German equips students with a unique tool for learning theological German. This hand reference combines a revised edition of the author's accessible German reader with his Dictionary of Modern Theological German. The revised reader contains several new selections and is divided into two parts. The first part offers readings from the German Bible, enabling students to gain confidence by beginning with familiar texts. The second part presents more difficult readings drawn from the writings of several German theologians, including Martin Luther, Albert Schweitzer, Karl Barth, Helmut Thielicke, Adolf Schlatter, and Rainer Riesner. The dictionary, previously published as a separate volume, contains over 20,000 terms. Many of these terms are part of the specialized theological vocabulary not generally found, or given but slight treatment, in standard German dictionaries.
Das Grosse Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache by Call Number: 433 G878 (Location: Reference)Publication Date: 1976-1981"An unabridged German dictionary containing selective etymologies, parts of speech, pronunciation, and usage labels. The entries are rich in illustrative quotations from the 'classical' German literary tradition, referenced to an extensive source bibliography in the last volume." - Guide to Reference
Deutsches Woerterbuch by Call Number: 433 P324 1992 (Location: Reference)Publication Date: 1992"A standard work containing substantive historical and regional analyses of German vocabulary and etymologies, with extensive references to sources. An unusual feature is the author's inclusion of a topical index to the dictionary, in which the vocabulary of specific geopolitical and historical usage is enumerated under those headings in a special fore-section of the dictionary: e.g., 'Nationalsozialismus,' 'österreichisch,' and many other groupings." Guide to Reference- The Oxford-Duden Pictorial German-English DictionaryCall Number: 433.2 O98 (Location: Reference)Publication Date: 1979"A cooperative effort of two highly reputable publishers.... The intention is to help the reader visualize the object denoted by a given word or term. Terms are grouped by 11 broad categories, which are further subdivided into many smaller subjects. The subjects are then illustrated in some 384 plates (chiefly line drawings), with the German terms and English equivalents given on the same or facing page. Detailed analytic German and English indexes allow the dictionary to be used as either German-English or English-German. Covers a wide range of technical and everyday vocabulary." - Guide to Reference
Routledge German Technical Dictionary by Call Number: 433.1 R869 (Location: Reference)Publication Date: 1996This volume consists of headwords in both German and English, including abbreviations. Terms are drawn from the whole range of modern applied science and technical terminology. Expertly compiled by an international team of subject terminologists, 65 subject areas are covered, including in-depth treatment of the more established subject areas such as: mechanical engineering, transport, production engineering, electrical engineering, chemistry, computer technology, data processing, physics, electricity, construction, food technology, railway engineering and automotive engineering.- The New Cassell's German Dictionary by Call Number: 433.2 B565n 1971 (Location: Reference)Publication Date: 1971"Betteridge's 1st ed. of this work, entitled The new Cassell's German dictionary (1958) was an almost completely rewritten edition of the work edited for many years by Karl Breul. This publication ... is an expansion and revision of the 1958 edition. Gives phonetic transcriptions of headwords. [T]his is a household name among the useful bilingual dictionaries," - Guide to Reference
Collins German-English, English-German Dictionary by Call Number: 433.21 C713 (Location: Reference)ISBN: 9780062755117Publication Date: 1993This German dictionary contains over 280,000 references and offers comprehensive coverage of current German and English. Examples and phrases are provided to illustrate constructions and usage. A feature of this book is a 72-page section at the back of the book entitled "Language in Use", which is a grammar of communication in German and English, arranged thematically, to facilitate self-expression in the foreign language. Emphasis is placed on current German and English, with treatment of the basic vocabulary of each language, different meanings and context signposted throughout, style levels marked to provide advice and warnings to the non-native user, pronunciation in IPA, and full treatment of English phrasal verbs and US English coverage.Five-Hundred One German Verbs Fully Conjugated in All the Tenses by
Call Number: 438.1 S927f (Location: Reference)Publication Date: 1982The most common German verbs, alphabetically arranged, one verb per page, conjugated in all tenses
