To get started with research, find definitive information on a subject, or start developing a topic, consider using a reference resource.
Reference resources such as guides, companions, handbooks, dictionaries, and encyclopedias provide background information on topics and are considered scholarly, peer-reviewed, and appropriate to cite in a research project. They often include bibliographies that can lead you to other good sources and they can give you ideas for narrowing or focusing your topic.
When it comes to your 100 level courses, you'll often have all the resources you need through your syllabus, but for those instances you don't look below for some great resources to get started with!
Fresco of panorama of Tenochtitlan showing temples and floating gardens by Diego Rivera. Image source.
Search and access the full text of selected reference books, such as dictionaries and encyclopedias, covering a wide range of subjects.
A collection of cross-searchable reference titles, such as The Oxford Classical Dictionary, Oxford Companion to Classical Civilization, and Who's Who in the Classical World. Some entries contain bibliographies.
Oxford Handbooks Online is a series of handbooks of review essays written by leading scholars in different subject areas. Each handbook takes an aspect of its discipline and unpacks it, explaining the key issues, the classic and contemporary debates on those issues, and setting the agenda for how those debates might evolve.
The Oxford Classical Dictionary
The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt
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The Oxford Encyclopedia of Mesoamerican Cultures
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