This guide offers some useful starting places and strategies for your research. Don't hesitate to contact me for help navigating these resources or finding, evaluating, or citing sources for your research topics. I'm happy to work with you on any aspect of the research process!
Specialized encyclopedias, handbooks, companions, and other reference works can be good starting places for getting an overview of a topic, definitions of key terms, vocabulary for searching, and suggestions for further reading. The following databases allow you to search across multiple reference works at once.
Annotated bibliographies for a variety of subject areas.
Hundreds of full-text academic encyclopedias, dictionaries, and other sources for introductions to topics, definitions, or factual information. Includes subject-specific titles from art, literature, education, science, religion, history and more.
Biographies, topic overviews, reviews, and scholarly analysis of authors and works from all genres, eras, and regions of the world.
Over 400 full-text academic encyclopedias, language dictionaries, books of quotations, and other sources. Includes subject-specific titles from art, classics, history, law, linguistics, literature, media studies, medicine, performing arts, philosophy, religion, science and technology, politics, and more.
Search across more than 100 full text encyclopedias, dictionaries, and other reference works in the social and behavioral sciences.
Medieval Iberia: An Encyclopedia by 
A Companion to the Spanish Renaissance
Encyclopedia of Medieval Literature by 
Global Encyclopedia of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender History
The Johns Hopkins Guide to Literary Theory & Criticism [e-resource]You can find the following print books in the Reference section on the second floor of Clapp Library. Ask someone at the Service Desk, if you need help finding anything!