LibGuides: HI200: Film Project (Zajdband): Finding Book Sources

Reference Books

Why use Reference Books?

Locating background information in general and subject specific encyclopedias and dictionaries and other reference resources will help you put information in context.

Consulting reference materials will help you:

Get an overview of the subject.
Note key concepts/developments.
Identify significant authors.
See a chronology/timeline.
Discern connections/interrelationships with other developments.
Develop a list of search terms.
Obtain primary sources.
Use the bibliographies to locate other information on your topic.

Below are some suggested resources to get you started. Search the Library Catalog to find more titles of interest or Ask a Librarian who can recommend resources for your specific topic:

Encyclopedia Britannica
Encyclopedia Britannica is an authoritative general-knowledge database of thousands of articles written by field experts, a World Atlas, and the Merriam-Webster dictionary. Also included: primary source material, multimedia sources, biographies, journal and magazine articles, and Web sites selected by Britannica editors.
Gale EBooks
The Gale EBooks provides full-text access to electronic reference books, including titles in the arts, business, the environment, history, literature, medicine, multicultural studies, geography, and science. You will find entries from Europe Since 1914: Encyclopedia of the Age of War and Reconstruction of particular interest for this assignment.
Oxford English Dictionary
The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) provides the authoritative spellings, etymology and definitions for more than 500,000 words. The OED also traces word usage from first recorded occurrence to the modern period with more than 2.5 million quotations from a wide range of language sources. Search and browse by subject, part of speech, language of origin, region, and more.
Salem Press History
Salem Press History provides online access to historical information with an emphasis on, but not limited to, American events. Electronic books include encyclopedias that have world primary source documents.

Searching for Books and Chapters of Books.

The Library Catalog is the place to start. Books are a great place to find primary and secondary sources for your project.

Search tips are available to help you formulate a more relevant search query.

Many History Projects require you to use Primary Sources. Here are some tips you can use to find them in books:

Possible keywords you can use to find primary sources include: Sources, Personal Narratives, Diaries, Correspondence, Documentaries, Interview(s), Letters OR Testimony.
Look in the appendices & exhibits of books to view excerpts of diaries, interviews & facsimiles (primary sources).
The Bentley Library Catalog also includes a number of government documents (primary sources).
You can also look in the bibliographies of books you find to identify other sources of information you will want to explore.

You can also search directly in an ebook database. We recommend the following:

Ebook Central (ProQuest)
Ebook Central (ProQuest) contains the Academic Complete collection: downloadable ebooks, in multiple languages, that encompass areas of the humanities, social sciences, and sciences. Academic books, software manuals, language learning materials, and more are included.
eBook Collection (EBSCOhost)
EBSCO eBooks allows users to search, view and print the full text of electronic books.
Google Books
Google Books is a Web archive of digitized books provided through a partnership among Google, libraries and publishers. Free resource.
OverDrive Downloadable Books
Overdrive Downloadable Books provides downloadable eBooks and audiobooks for use with computers, tablets, e-readers, smartphones, mp3 players and iPods. Formats include OverDrive Read, ePub, Kindle, and PDF for ebooks, and mp3 and WMA for audiobooks.