When you’re doing college level research, you know your work needs to go beyond an encyclopedia type report on the topic. However, don’t discount encyclopedias and other reference works as potential sources. Reference sources provide definitions and background information and can give you a good foundational understanding of a topic to aid in doing further research. They can be a good starting place to find basic facts, key words, and perhaps a timeline. They can also lead to other sources.
Credo Reference, one of our many databases, makes searching through reference books such as encyclopedias, almanacs, and handbooks easy. With one click, you can search through the insides of more than 1,000 reference titles—from general titles such as Britannica Concise Encyclopedia to more specific sources such as Handbook of Global Environmental Politics, The Literature of War, and many, many more.
You can find definitions, biographies, images, and links to relevant articles and other content that the library owns. Credo also offers an interactive Mind Map, which allows you to explore ideas and concepts related to your topic, like in the climate change example shown here.
Exploring Credo’s Mind Map and sources can help you narrow your topic, develop your thesis, and identify keywords to use in your searches.
If you would like more information about Credo or help with searching it or any of our databases, you can chat live with a librarian.
