Reference books provide background information on a topic, such as definitions of terms, key figures and events, and well written overviews. They can be a useful starting point for any research project, because they fill in missing knowledge about the topic or provide you with the language of the discipline.
Selected books from our Reference collection:
"The Oxford English Dictionary is the accepted authority on the evolution of the English language over the last millennium. It is an unsurpassed guide to the meaning, history, and pronunciation of over half a million words, both present and past. "
Search selected dictionaries and encyclopedias from Oxford University Press:
Examples:
Search the Canadian Parliamentary Guide, 2005 for lists of parliamentarians and more.
Search Sage Knowledge for indepth, authoritative background information on social sciences topics.
