Research and Course Guides: +Geology Resources: Searching for sources: Background Information

Reference Sources

Sometimes you need to get some background information on a topic before you can really get started with your research. You won't cite any of these sources in your annotated bibliography, but they still can be helpful for the following:

Providing context around the topic
Explaining unfamiliar concepts
Pointing you to relevant research
Helping you find or define 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.

Selected Encyclopedias

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.
Guide to Global Hazards by Robert Kovach; Bill McGuire
A complete reference guide to Earth's natural hazards.
Guide to Minerals, Rocks and Fossils by Bishop, Woolley, & Hamilton
An authoritative and practical identification guide to minerals, rocks and fossils of the world.
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.