Government 3: The American Political System: Encyclopies/Dictionaries

"Reference" sources are entres to research.
They provide definitions or introductory information of the sort found in dictionaries, encyclopedias, and handbooks. They lead to published or unpublished scholarly writing, or to "primary source" material via library catalogs, article databases, and bibliographies.

Their purpose is to answwer factual questions and to help researchers identify and eventually obtain the information needed to investigate and learn about a topic.

* There are a few significant differences between the type of sources recommended here and Wikipedia,  for example.
   • Subject dictionaries, handbooks, etc. acquired by the library are almost always written and edited
     by scholars in the field.
   • Authors are identified.
   • Entries, chapters, etc. are based on broad and deep knowledge of a subject, not on a single source.

Oxford Reference Online

Oxford Reference Online brings together language and subject reference works from one of the world's biggest reference publishers into a single cross-searchable resource.

The Premium Collection offers over 175 fully-indexed, cross-searchable dictionary, language reference, and subject reference works published by Oxford University Press, including detailed information across a broad subject range from titles in the world-renowned Oxford Companions Series.

The Constitution

Maddex, Robert L., 1942-
The U.S. Constitution A to Z / Robert L. Maddex.
Washington, D.C. : CQ Press, c2002.
xi, 646 p. : ill. , map , ports. ; 24 cm.
Baker Berry Ref.  KF4548 .M33 2002

Encyclopedia of the American Constitution / edited by Leonard W. Levy and Kenneth L. Karst.
2nd ed. / Adam Winkler, associate editor for the second edition.
New York : Macmillan Reference USA, c2000.
6 v. (cxlvi, 3164 p.) ; 29 cm.
Baker Berry Ref.  KF4548 .E53 2000

Presidency

The Oxford Handbook of the American Presidency / edited by George C. Edwards III and William G. Howell.
Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, 2009.
xiv, 877 p. ; 26 cm.
Baker Berry  JK516 .O94 2009 

Encyclopedia of the American Presidency / Leonard W. Levy, Louis Fisher, editors
New York, N.Y. : Simon & Schuster, 1994
4 v. ; 29 cm
Baker Berry Ref.  JK511 .E53 1994

The Presidency A to Z / Gerhard Peters, editor ; John T. Woolley, editor ; Michael Nelson, advisory editor.
4th ed.
Washington, D.C. : CQ Press, c2008.
xviii, 675 p. : ill., maps ; 25 cm.
Baker Berry Ref.  JK511 .P775 2008 

Guide to the Presidency / Michael Nelson, editor.
4th ed.
Washington, D.C. : CQ Press, c2008.
2 v. : ill., maps ; 29 cm.

Congress

Congressional Quarterly Almanac
1945-
(Title change: CQ ... almanac plus. (2001-). Nothing else changed)
Washington, Congressional Quarterly News Features
Annual
Baker Berry Ref.  JK1 .C663

The Encyclopedia of the United States Congress / edited by Donald C. Bacon, Roger H. Davidson, Morton Keller
New York : Simon & Schuster, c1995
4 v. : ill. ; 29 cm
Baker Berry Ref.  JK1067 .E63 1995

Guide to Congress.
6th ed.
Washington, D.C. : CQ Press, c2008.
2 v. (xx, 1606, 54 p.) : ill., maps ; 29 cm.
Baker Berry Ref.  JK1021 .C565 2008

Congress A to Z.
3rd ed.
Washington, D.C. : Congressional Quarterly, 1999.
xi, 592, p. : ill. ; 24 cm.
Baker Berry Ref.  JK1021 .C554 1999

Vital Statistics on Congress
Washington, D.C. : American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, c1980-
Biennial (irregular)
Baker Berry  JK1041 .V58  1980-  Latest edition in Reference

Judiciary

West's Encyclopedia of American Law
2nd ed.
Farmington Hills : Cengage Gale Nov. 2004

The Oxford Companion to the Supreme Court of the United States  / editor in chief, Kermit L. Hall ; editors, James W. Ely, Jr., Joel B. Grossman.
2nd ed.
Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, c2005.

Jost, Kenneth.
The Supreme Court A to Z / Kenneth Jost.
4th ed.
Washington, D.C. : CQ Press, c2007.
xvii, 622 p. : ill. ; 25 cm.
Baker Berry Ref.  KF8742.A35 S8 2007