Q. What is a reference source and why would I use one?

Reference sources are designed to allow you to quickly look up information on a topic. They might establish basic facts, give definitions, explain the major aspects of a topic, and summarize research trends. Because they are quick introductions, they are a great place to look at when doing background or preliminary research to get you started. Many include citations or a "further reading" list to help you start finding more information. 

Reference sources are often not cited in scholarly research. For one reason, there is a preference for citing original research studies rather than summaries of research. For another, they may cover information which is considered common knowledge in a discipline, and common knowledge usually does not require a citation. However, they can be cited on occasion, such as to establish definitions.

Types of Reference Sources

These are some types of reference sources that you might come across:

• Atlas: Organized collection of maps around a topic. 
• Bibliography: Selected list of sources on a topic. May have annotations that summarize the sources and explain their inclusion in the list. 
• Biographical Dictionary: Short summaries about people's lives that usually includes basic facts and accomplishments.
• Dictionary: Gives definitions of words. Specialized subject dictionaries will include technical jargon and provide more scholarly definitions. 
• Chronology: Provides information about a topic in a set time period in the order that things happened. Sometimes called "timelines."
• Current Issue Reports: Essays that provide an overview of political, social, cultural or other controversial issues. They may include a summary of different positions on an issue, list pros and cons of positions, or have example arguments for different sides of an issue.  
• Encyclopedia: Summarizes knowledge on a given topic. Entries can range from a paragraph to a few pages in length. Specialized encyclopedias will include narrower entry topics. 
• Handbook: Designed to give a guided starting point for learning a topic. Usually has fewer entries than an encyclopedia, though those entries might be longer introductions. Sometimes called "companions."
• Thesaurus: Shares synonyms and antonyms for words. 
• Yearbook: Provides a yearly update of new information on the same topic.

Finding Reference Sources

The University Libraries has a lot of reference sources available for you to use. The easiest way to start finding them is to search the EBSCO Discovery Service (EDS) for EBSCO Research Starters or use one of our reference databases.  

• EBSCO Research Starters: how to find these reference articles in EDS
• Reference databases: collection of University Libraries databases that search reference sources

You can also search our Classic Catalog or EDS for reference books on your topic. Add search terms both for the topic you want to find and for types of reference sources. Ex. "climate change AND (encyclopedia OR handbook)"

Wikipedia

Wikipedia is a crowdsourced encyclopedia that has a lot of information on a wide variety of topics. You may have been taught not to cite Wikipedia, but, remember, we do not usually cite any reference sources, so do not let that stop you. 

There are variations in the quality of Wikipedia articles. When looking at an article, use these guides to determine whether it is reliable to use:

• Look to see if there are sources included for the article and whether information in the article has notes for citations rather than error tags such as "citation needed" and "original research."
• Read any template messages at the top of an article explaining problems with it.