Reference resources can be useful for gathering background information on a topic. They can help you understand a topic you may not be familiar with, they can help you focus your research to a particular aspect of that topic, and the reference lists at the ends of encyclopedic articles can lead you to further sources of information.
*You can also look at the Howard Zinn tab for more topic ideas and narrowing*
This link opens in a new windowFull-text articles from multi-volume encyclopedias, biographical collections, business plan handbooks, company history compilations, consumer health references, and specialized reference sources.
Use Reference books found in the library catalog to get an overview of a topic. These books are located on the first floor of the library on the lower shelves next to the public computers.
1. Use the library catalog to search your topic AND by location.
2. When searching by location for Reference only books, put in b8: reference
Example: coral reef AND b8: reference
The Madigan Library Discovery catalog includes the largest network of content and services. Includes articles, books, eBooks, videos, and digital items.