Summary
- CUAA has physical and electronic dictionaries, encyclopedias, and other reference books.
- Search for these books in Primo Search and subject-specific databases.
- Find subject-relevant options on the books tab of your subject guide.
- There are different ways to search entries in e-books (see below).
Why Use Reference Books?
This short video covers the main reasons you should start your research with an encyclopedia or other reference book.
5 Reasons to use reference books (2 min)
Encyclopedias & Dictionaries in Primo
Search Primo for encyclopedias & dictionaries.
- Search Primo for some keywords and the word “dictionary” or “encyclopedia”
- In the search results, under Resource Type, choose Book or Reference Entry in the filters.
There are 3 possible locations inside the library: CUAA Main stacks, Reference, or Online
Note: CUW Reference Books are for in-library use only.
Using Electronic Reference Books
Online encyclopedias & dictionaries come in a few formats.
- Most online encyclopedias & dictionaries will provide an alphabetical table of contents. Open the list and select an entry:
Searching Databases with Encyclopedias
The following databases also contain encyclopedia entries.
To find entries, use the same search technique as Primo:
Then, click on an entry title from the search results.
Again, it might be helpful to filter your source type to Reference books:
