Hewes Library: Global Perspectives: Background

Background Information Resources

Online Reference Collections
Search your topic keywords and gather background and contextual information.

Countries, Peoples and Cultures
Call Number: Online and Reference GN307 .C687 2015

Credo Reference This link opens in a new window
Online collection of over 800 reference titles, providing useful definitions, background information, quotations, images, and biographical information.
Encyclopaedia Britannica Online This link opens in a new window
The online version of Britannica's encyclopedia, plus thousands of unique online articles, Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (10th ed.), the Britannica Book of the Year, and more. Updated daily.

Guide to Countries of the World
Each entry provides a brief history of the country and outlines its political, economic, and social issues.
World Factbook
"Provides information on the history, people, government, economy, geography, communications, transportation, military, and transnational issues for 267 world entities, via the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency."

Sage E-Reference This link opens in a new window
Reference titles covering a wide variety of subjects, including the humanities and social sciences.
Gale Ebooks This link opens in a new window
Collection of reference ebooks from Gale covering general reference, biographical sources, and all major disciplines.
Oxford Reference Online This link opens in a new window
In-depth, specialized titles from Oxford University Press’s award-winning Encyclopedias and Companions series, and a selection of partner publishers’ scholarly works.

Print Reference Sources
Browse the Reference Collection, located on the main floor of Hewes Library, near the call number of your related subject(s)

A	General works	PB-PH	Modern European Languages
B-BJ	Philosophy, Psychology	PG	Russian Literature
BL-BX	Religion	PJ-PM	Languages and Lit of Asia, Africa
C	Auxiliary Sciences of History	PN, PR, PS, PZ	General Literature
D	History: General and Old World		English and American Literature
E-F	History: America	PQ, part 1	French Literature
G	Geography, Anthropology	PQ, part 2	Italian, Spanish, Portuguese Lit
H	Social Science	PT, part 1	German Literature
J	Political Science	PT, part 2	Dutch and Scandinavian Lit
KD	Law of the United Kingdom/Ireland	Q	Science
KF	Law of the United States	R	Medicine
L	Education	S	Agriculture
M	Music	T	Technology
N	Fine Arts	U	Military Science
P-PA	General Philology and Linguistics	V	Naval Science
	Classical Languages and Lit	Z	Bibliography, Library Science

CREDO is an online collection of over 800 reference resources, providing definitions, background information, quotations, images, and biographical information. Explore this title list of reference eBooks relating to global issues for background information!

Developing A Topic

This video is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-Share Alike via North Carolina State University (3:10 length). Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0B3Gjlu-1o&feature=youtu.be.

Background

Background Information

Finding background information helps develop more complex research questions. Resources like encyclopedias and dictionaries:

Background Information Resources

Developing A Topic