(Encyclopedias, Dictionaries, and Books of Quotations)
One of the best places to start gathering information for a research paper is with an encyclopedia. Generally speaking, an encyclopedia is easy to use, is concise, and offers an outline. An encyclopedia is a springboard to other information and ideas. However, an encyclopedia is never intended to provide all of the information for a research paper.
McGraw Hill Encyclopedia of Science and Technology
Use this encyclopedia when you are not familiar with a term, or want to get an overview of a complicated concept. The articles are signed, authoritative, and will lead you to further resources.
Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Whereas general encyclopedias tend to deal with concrete topics, such as "bears," or "Mars," or "Poland," this encyclopedia deals with ideas. Use this, for example, when you need to discuss "tragedy" because you are writing a paper on Shakespeare.
Encyclopedia of World Art
An art history course in itself, the encyclopedia is interesting if only for its wonderful illustrations.
Dictionary of American History
Although this has "dictionary" in the title, it is really a multi-volume encyclopedia. Invaluable for identifying people, places and dates in U.S. history.
If you know the author's name of an article you are citing, use that name as at the beginning of your entry and as the alphabetizing element. If the article or listing you cite is not signed (if you don't know the author's name), list the title first. If you are citing less familiar resources (especially if there was only one edition of a given resource), it would be a good idea to give full publication information.
Example of familiar general encyclopedia:
"Money." Compton's Precyclopedia. 1977 ed.
Example of less-familiar specialized encyclopedia:
Feinberg, Joe. "Freedom and Behavior Control." Encyclopedia of Bioethics, Ed. Warren T. Reich. 4 vols. New York: Free Press, 1992.
On to Assignment 3!
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