Why and how do I use reference texts to find background or context for my topic?

You may remember encyclopedias - they are reference books offering well-researched overviews and background on a topic. They are like well fact-checked, reliable versions of Wikipedia.  

Librarians recommend starting your research with encyclopedia-like sources to understand the history and context of your topic. They answer the basic question "What is my topic about?" They'll also help you narrow your topic by giving you an idea of subtopics. 

We buy these resources now in electronic form, through library databases. Here are examples: 

• Gale eBooks has 700+ encyclopedias on a huge range to topics. 
• CQ Researcher offers 20-30 page summaries of current issues.
• Statista offers statistical on thousands of subjects.

Librarians have created research guides for classes such as ENG101, ENG103 and ENG105 listing the research databases we think will be most helpful. You can see these research guides on this page, or use the A-Z Databases page.