Reference Librarian
Amy Witzel
Contact:
180 Berry (Research & Learning)
HB 6025 Baker Berry Library
Dartmouth College
Hanover, NH 03755
HB 6025 Baker Berry Library
Dartmouth College
Hanover, NH 03755
Phone: (603) 646-0790
Key Reference Resources
Reference resources -- particularly subject encyclopedias -- are great starting points for your research. Encyclopedia articles offer concise overviews of a topic, summaries of key research in a particular discipline, and often include a bibliography which can serve as a starting list of sources for your project.
-
American national biographyOffers portraits of more than 17,400 men and women -- from all eras and walks of life -- whose lives have shaped the nation. The publication of the online edition makes the ANB even more useful as a dynamic source of information -- updated quarterly, with hundreds of new entries each year and revisions of previously published entries to enhance their accuracy and currency. The ANB Online also features thousands of illustrations, more than 80,000 hyperlinked cross-references, links to select web sites, and powerful search capabilities.;Features thousands of illustrations, hyperlinked cross-references and links to select web sites.
-
Oxford dictionary of national biographyThe Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, in association with the British Academy is the first point of reference for anyone interested in the lives of the peoples of the British Isles and their connections overseas, from the earliest times to the end of the year 2000. It is the product of research instituted at the University of Oxford and funded by the British Academy and by Oxford University Press. It is the achievement of 10,000 contributors and advisers staff in Oxford. The Oxford DNB aims to provide full, accurate, concise, and readable articles on noteworthy people in all walks of life. No living person is included: the Dictionary's articles are confined to people who died before 31 December 2000.
-
Oxford African American studies center: the online authority on the African American experienceCollection of reference works on the African diaspora, with a focus on the United States. Includes encyclopedias, biographical dictionaries, timelines, maps, and more. Core titles: Africana: the encyclopedia of the African and African American experience ; the Encyclopedia of African American history ; Black women in America, 2nd ed. ; and the African American national biography.
-
World War I : the definitive encyclopedia and document collection by Supplies detailed analyses and explanations of the events before, during, and after World War I, such as how the results of the war set the stage for the global Great Depression of the 1930s, as well as detailed biographical data on key military and civilian individuals during World War I * Includes a chronologically organized document volume that enables students to examine the sources of historical information firsthand * Covers all key battles, land and sea, and their impacts, as well as the critical technological developments that affected the war's outcomes -
The Home Front Encyclopedia : : United States, Britain, and Canada in World Wars I and II by Covers the transformation of American, Canadian, and British societies during the two world wars, including all aspects of working, recreational, and cultural life during wartime. -
Twentieth-Century War and Conflict by Publication Date: 2014Drawn from the award-winning 5-volume Encyclopedia of War, this valuable, one-volume reference provides readers with essential information on the conflicts and concepts that shaped global warfare in the twentieth-century and up to the present day. -
Oxford Encyclopedia of the Modern World by Publication Date: 2008The Encyclopedia of the Modern World delves into the period from 1750 to the present, providing special attention to social, economic, cultural and political topics applicable to the time.
-
Columbia Granger's World of poetryIndex to poetry, including full-text and excerpts of some poems. This online version contains the contents of the following works: Columbia Granger's index to poetry in anthologies (eds. 8-11), Columbia Granger's index to poetry in collected and selected works, Columbia Granger's guide to poetry anthologies (2nd ed.), Columbia Granger's dictionary of poetry quotations, Classic hundred poems, as well as new content not published previously in print.
-
Gale LiteratureSuite of literary databases from the publisher, Gale. Includes the "Dictionary of Literary Biography" and "Contemporary Authors" series, and more!
-
Oxford Encyclopedia of American LiteratureA survey of American literature from the seventeenth century to the present.
-
Oxford Encyclopedia of British LiteratureA survey of the literature of the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland in all major literary languages.
-
Oxford English dictionaryA complete text of the 2nd. ed. of the Oxford English dictionary with quarterly updates, including revisions not available in any other form.
-
Ruffner's Allusions--cultural, Literary, Religious, and Historical by Publication Date: 2009 -
A Dictionary of Literary Symbols by Publication Date: 2007 (2nd ed.)This is the first dictionary of symbols to be based on literature, rather than 'universal' psychological archetypes or myths. It explains and illustrates the literary symbols that we all frequently encounter (such as swan, rose, moon, gold), and gives hundreds of cross-references and quotations. The dictionary concentrates on English literature, but its entries range widely from the Bible and classical authors to the twentieth century, taking in American and European literatures.
Discover Scholarly Books and Articles
- To find books (films, journal & newspaper subscriptions, databases) within Dartmouth's collection, start with our library catalog - essentially our inventory.
- Books can provide extensive information on topic, and its broader context, that a short article simply can't address.
- An item's catalog record provides publication info, along with our Location (specific library), Call Number (where it's shelved), as well as the Status (whether it's currently on loan or not).
- Need a book chapter or journal article? Search the catalog by title for the book or journal that contains the chapter or article.
- Separate catalog records for paper and online copies. Often we have online access through a 3rd party service rather than directly through the publisher's site
- Lost in the stacks? Maps of Baker-Berry are here. Maps for additional campus libraries here.
Ready to borrow the book? Take the book and your campus ID card to the Circulation Desk.- To find books beyond Dartmouth, try a subject bibliography or a large library network catalog, such as WorldCat. Materials not owned by Dartmouth can be requested through interlibrary loan: DartDoc & BorrowDirect
For detailed academic discussions of more narrowly focused research, search an article index to find scholarly journal articles.
Like our library catalog, these bibliographies describe documents, rather than search their full-text.
- These cover more than we own here at Dartmouth, but point you to scholarship in specific disciplines
- Keep your searches fairly simple, as there's not much content in the item records to match against
- Take note of any specialized subject terminology assigned to relevant items, and try incorporating some of those subject terms into new searches.
-
MLA international bibliographyThe most comprehensive index of scholarship in literature, language, folklore, film, new media, and rhetoric and composition. Covers articles in periodicals, books, and book chapters. Does not index book reviews.
-
America, history and lifeBibliography of scholarly journal articles, books & book chapters on the history and culture of the United States and Canada from prehistory to the present. The database content is drawn from over 2,000 journals published worldwide in history, related humanities, and the social sciences .
-
Historical abstractsSister publication to America: History & Life. Historical coverage of the world from 1450 to the present (excluding the United States and Canada)
Search tips: More searchable content means larger result sets, and many full-text databases lack detailed cataloging or metadata.
- You are at the mercy of whatever wording the author used. Be creative in search terminology variations
- Improve precision with quotation marks, to force a phrase search. ["Emily Dickson" is very different than Emily Dickinson]
- Searching scholarly articles? Try limiting to the past five or ten years, and then trust those articles' bibliographies to point you to important earlier research.
- Still too many results? Try limiting your search to the document title field, or abstract field if available (check for advanced search options). This will eliminate some good results, but usually if the citation or abstract contains your search term, then the overall document is likely to be relevant.
-
Dartmouth Library Search (home page)Broad, but imprecise. By default, searches across our library catalog as well as many full-text article & book collections. Excludes searching bibliographic databases (other than our catalog). Also excludes some full-text databases, particularly those we get through Ebsco.
-
JSTORProvides image and full-text online access to back issues of selected scholarly journals in history, economics, political science, demography, mathematics, biology, ecology, and other fields of the sciences, humanities, and social sciences.
-
Project MuseFull-text archive of selected scholarly books journals in the humanities and social sciences. Advanced search menu allows limiting to specific disciplines.