EMLS B1A: A Place to Stand: Finding Reference Books

Background information is very useful when narrowing down your topic, or when first learning about your topic. Background research (or pre-search!) is the first step in the research process. Getting background information on your topic allows you to learn enough about your topic to decide which specific aspect of that topic you wish to focus on, and gives you enough information about your topic for you to be able to talk about your topic for about a minute without repeating yourself.

The best way to complete background research is to use a reference book!

You cannot checkout print reference books in the green section of the library, however, we do have a collection of digital reference books available to you through Gale eBooks (Reference eBooks).  Click on the button below to explore the collection!

Here are some recommended Gale eBooks:

These encyclopedias are all online in our Gale eBooks database. Each book has hundreds of articles. You can click on the links and browse the table of contents OR you can input search terms in the box at the top.