Useful Titles
Romance Fiction by ISBN: 9781591581772Publication Date: 2012-03-02A comprehensive guide that defines the literature and the outlines the best-selling genre of all time: romance fiction.
Encyclopedia of Romance Fiction by Call Number: Online ResourceISBN: 9780313335723Publication Date: 2018-09-07Included are alphabetically arranged reference entries on significant authors along with works, themes, and other topics.
Searchable Encyclopedia Databases
- Gale eBooks This link opens in a new window
An online library of hundreds of reference titles for multi-disciplinary research, including texts related to American and world history, biography, health, arts, business, travel, religion, and multicultural studies.
- Oxford Research Encyclopedias This link opens in a new window
Current, peer-reviewed research from more than 25 encylcopedias. This includes the Encyclopedia of Social Work and the Oxford Classical Dictionary.
Finding Background Information
A starting point for your research.
Encyclopedias, books, news sources, popular magazines, and search engines can lead you to articles that will be helpful in narrowing down your topic and finding additional keywords to search. When using an encyclopedia, read through an article's bibliography or references section to identify scholarly books and articles related to your topic.
You may not cite the sources you find as you begin your research. Use the background knowledge you build from these sources to develop your understanding of the language used by people discussing your topic. Add this vocabulary to a word bank you will use to search for credible and scholarly sources later on.
Use this stage of your research to get a sense for your topic, in order to narrow your focus and move to a thesis.
