Background Information provides a general overview of a research topic, including important terms and concepts, relevant names of people and places, and dates of specific events.
Biography Reference Center offers a comprehensive collection of more than 461,000 full-text biographies, including the complete full-text run of Biography Today and Biography.
A database of encyclopedias, almanacs, dictionaries and specialized reference sources for multidisciplinary research. it is an excellent resource for general overviews.
The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) is widely regarded as the accepted authority on the English language. It is an unsurpassed guide to the meaning, history, and usage of 500,000 words and phrases past and present, from across the English-speaking world.
As a historical dictionary, the OED is very different from dictionaries of current English, in which the focus is on present-day meanings. You’ll still find present-day meanings in the OED, but you’ll also find the history of individual words, sometimes from as far back as the 11th century, and of the language—traced through 3.5 million quotations, from classic literature and specialist periodicals to film scripts, song lyrics, and social media posts.
The OED started life more than 150 years ago. Today, the dictionary is in the process of its first full revision. Updates revise and extend the OED at regular intervals, each time subtly adjusting our image of the English language.
Provides full-text access to 100+ separate reference works published by Oxford University Press. Subject areas covered: architecture, art, biology, business, classics, computer science, earth and environmental sciences, economics, English dictionaries, encyclopedias and thesauri, English language reference, food and nutrition, general resources, history, law, literature, mathematics, medicine, military history, modern languages, mythology and folklore, physical sciences, political science, performing arts, philosophy, religion, social sciences, and theater.
Full-text versions of over 200 reference works. Collection focuses on science, technology, and medicine, though books in humanities and social sciences are also present.