Research Librarian
Alana Kumbier
they/them or she/her
Contact:
Frost Library
413-542-5454
Subjects: Arabic, Asian Languages & Civilizations, Black Studies, Chinese, Classics, History, Japanese, Philosophy
Reference Sources
Below are links to reference sources and collections that are most useful for this subject:
Collections of reference works
Use these databases to search the indexes and tables of contents of multiple reference books at once.
- Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Latin American HistoryPeer-reviewed, long-form articles written by leading scholars.
- Gale Virtual Reference Library This link opens in a new window70 reference e-books, including multivolume works like the Encyclopedia of Religion, American Decades, and more.
- Oxford Reference This link opens in a new windowDigitized entries from Oxford's Dictionaries, Companions and Encyclopedias, spanning multiple subject areas.
Subject-Specific Reference Works
These are key reference works in Black Studies.
- Encyclopedia of African-American Culture and History This link opens in a new windowArticles surveying all aspects of the black diaspora.
- Encyclopedia of African American History, 1619-1895.Brief, accessible entries covering African American history into the late 19th century.
- Encyclopedia of African American History, 1896 to the PresentBrief, accessible entries covering African American history through 2008.
Tip: What are reference sources and why would I use them?
Reference sources can include encyclopedias, bibliographies, dictionaries, handbooks, and atlases.
- They provide overviews of and background information on a topic
- They help you identify or refine your topic
- They provide quick, reliable facts
- They include bibliographies that will lead you to additional sources of information on your topic
You can find the Library's collection of reference books on Floor 1 of Frost. We also have many online databases that include collections of edited scholarly encyclopedias, dictionaries, and other reference sources.
The video below, "5 Reasons to Use Reference Sources," from the University of Guelph Library, offers additional tips to help you use these tools.