Research and Course Guides: GEOL 115 Stillinger: Background Sources

General Sources

Don't forget about reference materials! Items such as encyclopedias and dictionaries can be an excellent starting point for your research. In addition to offering reliable background information on issues and topics in your area of interest, they can also help you find a research topic.

Gale eBooks This link opens in a new window
Full-text encyclopedias and dictionaries.
Oxford Reference This link opens in a new window
Oxford Reference contains full text dictionaries and encyclopedias from the Oxford University Press. It is easy to search and contains entries on a wide array of topics from business, computing and environmental science to art, biology, literature, religion, and political science.
Science Reference Source This link opens in a new window
Easy access to full-text science content including encyclopedias, reference books, periodicals, web sites, pictures, illustrations, audio clips and video clips. Includes ability to limit by lexile reading levels.

Geology Specific Sources

A Dictionary of Geology and Earth Sciences
This leading dictionary - now in its fourth edition - offers wide-ranging and authoritative coverage of the earth sciences and related topics in over 7,500 clear and accessible entries. Coverage includes geology, planetary science, oceanography, palaeontology, mineralogy, and volcanology, as well as climatology, geochemistry, and petrology.
The Oxford Companion to the Earth by Paul L. Hancock (Editor); Brian J. Skinner (Editor); David L. Dineley (Editor)
Provides coverage of the Earth Sciences, from volcanoes to flood plains, diamonds to meteors, deserts to deep seas. All aspects of geology, including climatology, mineralogy, and oceanography, are covered. In addition, there are many eclectic entries, for example on dinosaur hunters, and fossils and folklore, as well as biographies of the key figures involved.