Click the tabs to explore the different types of reference materials as well as examples! You can often find these online and in physical form at the library.
Encyclopedias contain short paragraphs of information, usually general facts, about specific topics. This type of reference material is useful as it can be used to gather general information about a topic and lead to other searches.
Example: Encyclopedia Britannica
(for more examples, see the "Dictionaries, Thesauruses & Encyclopedias" page in this LibGuide)
A dictionary can be used during research to find the meaning(s) of a word or topic. It typically lists the definition (meaning) of a word and can include word origin, synonyms, pronunciation, and other information related to the word.
Example: Merriam Webster Dictionary
(for more examples, see the "Dictionaries, Thesauruses & Encyclopedias" page in this LibGuide)
A Bibliology is a list of sources that share a common theme. An annotated bibliography is a great example of this - this is a work that lists different sources about a common topic and provides a short paragraph about each source. You are probably most familiar with the Reference or Works Cited page you are required to do in research papers. These can be helpful reference materials! To use these to further your research, once you find a good article or source, check out the Bibliography or Works Cited page. You can find other information related to your topic there.
Examples: References and Work Cited pages in journal articles, Bibliographies found in books, the Reference list found at the end of Wikipedia articles, etc.
Just because a source is listed in a Reference or Works Cited page in an article (especially on Wikipedia), this does not guarantee that it is peer-reviewed or a reliable source. Always thoroughly check sources used in your research to verify that they are reliable. If you need help determining if a source is reliable, check out this guide.
An Atlas is a work that contains maps, diagrams, and other information about specific or general places. Atlases can be a book of current maps (such as a world atlas), or, such as in the picture shown here, they can show specific information such as historic maps of locations at different times, political movements, and military location/battles/strategies.
Examples:
Indexes are lists that contain information that can be found within a certain work or elsewhere. You are most likely familiar with indexes at the end of a textbook that tells you where to look in the book for more information on the topic. There are also indexes that are lists of specific information and are not affiliated with a specific work.
Examples:
Almanacs are materials that contain an abundance of information over a given period of time. Information included in Almanacs can range from statistics, charts, zip codes, weather patterns, organizations, events, countries, and much more. These are used for looking up specific facts about an event that occurred in a given period.
Examples:
A dictionary can be used during research to find the meaning(s) of a word or topic. A thesaurus is useful when compiling search terms as it lists synonyms of different words that you can use as keywords in a search. Try browsing through some of the online dictionaries and thesauruses below!