History 200 (Prof. Katherine Smith): Subject Encyclopedias

Encyclopedias and other reference resources are excellent places to start your research! You usually can expect to find the following important information in articles in subject encyclopedias:

• An overview of the topic, with key individuals and events identified, and often some mention of how the topic has been studied (historiography).
   
• Cross references to give you a sense of the boundaries of the topic and its relationship to other topics.
  • Look for "see also" at the beginning or end of the article.
  • Some encyclopedias highlight words in the text of the article to indicate that there is a separate entry on that topic.
     
• Identification of primary source materials.
   
• Bibliographies of key secondary literature (books and articles) on the topic.
   
• Scholarly editions of primary sources may be listed in the bibliography.
  • The main body of the article may mention key primary source writings and their author(s).
  • Some encyclopedias include excerpts of primary source materials.