What are these sources?
Reference books can be found on the main floor of Olin, to the right when you enter. They cannot be checked out, but that means they are almost always available, and they can be copied.
Reference sources are a good place to get an overview of a topic in a few paragraphs or a few pages. Looking up a topic in a reference book is an excellent way to familiarize yourself with the key concepts, terminology, and people associated with the topic. This background is important both for understanding a topic and for searching effectively in online databases for articles and books. In addition, many reference works provide carefully selected bibliographies which may lead you to further reading.
General Reference
Art & Music
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ARTSTOR This link opens in a new window
Artstor is now available in its new home on JSTOR! When you search JSTOR, you will find Artstor’s images and primary source collections alongside JSTOR’s vast collection of books, journal articles, and research reports.
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Oxford Art Online This link opens in a new window
An online reference resource for all aspects of the visual arts worldwide from prehistory to the present day.
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Oxford Music Online This link opens in a new window
Oxford Music Online offering comprehensive coverage of music, musicians, music-making, and music scholarship.
Biography
Books on Books
Business, Corporate and Financial Information
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Value Line Research Center This link opens in a new window
Includes an industry overview and data on future prospects for several hundred large cap stocks and industries. ValueLine is limited to three simultaneous users. Reports are in PDF format and require the Adobe Acrobat Reader software to view.
Citation & Style Guides
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Chicago Manual of Style This link opens in a new window
The Chicago Manual of Style Online is the venerable, time-tested guide to style, usage, and grammar in an accessible online format.
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Purdue OWLOWL includes examples in MLA, APA and CMS.
Citation Indexes
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Arts & Humanities Citation IndexDatabase of citations for journal articles in the arts and humanities from 2001 to the present.
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Science Citation IndexScience Citation Index is a database of bibliographic citations for journal articles in the sciences, with coverage from 2001 to the present.
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Social Sciences Citation Index (Web of Science/Web of Knowledge)Database of articles in the social sciences. A good source for identifying where sources have been cited.
Education
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Mental Measurements Yearbook This link opens in a new window
A bibliography of all known commercially available tests currently in print in the English language. It provides detailed information about each test, including its purpose, intended population, administration time, types of scores generated, pricing, publisher, in-print status, acronym, publication dates, and authors.
Grants and Foundations
Language and Literature
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Oxford English Dictionary This link opens in a new window
Contains definitions and documentation of the evolution of the English language.
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Gale Virtual Reference LibraryGale Virtual Reference Library is a collection of full-text reference works, including Drama for Students, Novels for Students, and Short Stories for Students.
Philosophy & Religion
Psychology
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Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders : DSM-IV-TRThe standard classification of mental disorders used by mental health professionals in the United States.
US Government
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GPO's Federal Digital System (FDsys)Offers digital access to government information submitted by Congress and Federal agencies. This is a service of the U.S. Government Printing Office.
