Research Guides: LIBS 300: The Liberal Arts in a Contemporary World: Background Information

Why Consult a Reference Resource?

Reference resources are a great place to begin your research, especially if you are unfamiliar with the subject or not sure how to approach your topic. They can give you:

A broad overview of the subject
Definitions of the topic
An introduction to key issues
Names of people who are authorities in the field
Major dates and events
Lead to bibliographies which provide additional sources of information.

There are many different types of reference sources, which include dictionaries, encyclopedias, thesauri, bibliographies, handbooks, style manuals to name a few.

Selected Reference Resources

The Dictionary of Human Geography by Sarah Whatmore (Editor); Derek Gregory (Editor); Ron Johnston (Editor); Geraldine Pratt (Editor); Michael Watts (Editor)

A guide to the concepts and debates in human geography.
International Encyclopedia of Human Geography by Rob Kitchin (Editor-In-Chief); Nigel Thrift (Editor-In-Chief)
A Dictionary of Geography by Susan Mayhew

Containing over 6,400 entries on all aspects of both human and physical geography, this best-selling dictionary is the most comprehensive single-volume reference work of its kind.
International Encyclopedia of Social and Behavioral Sciences by N. J. Smelser (Editor-In-Chief); P. B. Baltes (Editor-In-Chief)

This Encyclopedia is the first attempt in a generation to map the social and behavioral sciences on a grand scale.
Environmental Encyclopedia by Gale Research Staff
Call Number: GE10 .E38 2003 Stauffer REF

This encyclopedia provides in-depth, worldwide coverage of environmental issues.

Oxford Bibliographies offers peer reviewed annotated bibliographies which will help you to narrow the vast number of citations to the best scholarship on a given topic. Bibliographies are browseable by subject area and keyword searchable..

For example, there is a bibliography on the Anthropocene.

There are essays on the Anthropogenic Climate Change, Environmental History, and Land Use, Land Cover and Land Management Change, to name a few.

Featured Books

The Oxford Handbook of Environmental History

The Oxford Companion to Global Change