Reference Sources

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Citation Guides | Biographical Sources | Directories | Statistics | Weights, Dates, etc.

Dictionaries & Thesauri

Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition
Oxford Language Dictionaries (French, German, Italian, Spanish)
American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 4th edition
Merriam Webster Online Dictionary & Thesaurus
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, 3rd. edition
yourDictionary.com

Encyclopedias & Almanacs

Encyclopaedia Britannica Online
Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th edition
Wikipedia
Information Please Almanac
World Almanac

Citation Guides & Style Manuals

Citing Sources Within Your Paper and Assembling a List of Works Cited

Examples from MLA, Turabian, APA and Chicago manuals provided by Duke University.

Chicago Manual of Style Online

Citing References in Your Paper

Examples from APA, APSA, CBE, MLA, Chicago/Turabian provided by University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Landmark's Son of Citation Machine (Maintained by The Landmark Project)

Provides fill-in-the-blank forms to generate standard MLA, APA, Chicago, and Turabian formatted reference citations for research papers.

Sources: Their Use and Acknowledgement
Citation Styles, Style Guides and Avoiding Plagiarism (UC Berkeley Library)
Strunk & White, The Elements of Style (1918)
A Brief Citation Guide for Internet Sources in History and the Humanities

MLA handbook for writers of research papers / Joseph Gibaldi. 6th ed. New York : Modern Language Association of America, 2003.
Location: Main Ref Desk LB2369 .G53 2003
(also Main Reference, Art Reference and Sci Ref Desk)

A manual for writers of research papers, theses, and dissertations: Chicago style for students and researchers. 7th ed. / Kate L. Turabian, rev. by Wayne C. Booth, Gergory G. Holcolmb, and Joseph M. Williams. Chicago : University of Chicago Press, 2007.
Location: Main Ref Desk LB2369 .T8 2007

The Chicago manual of style. 15th ed. Chicago : University of Chicago Press, 2003.
Location: Main Ref Desk Z253 .U69 2003
(also Main Reference, Art Reference, Con Reference, and Sci Ref Desk)

Publication manual of the American Psychological Association. 5th ed. Washington, DC : American Psychological Association, c2001.
Location: Main Ref Desk BF76.7 .P83 2001.

Electronic styles : a handbook for citing electronic information / Xia Li and Nancy B. Crane. 2nd ed. Medford, N.J. : Information Today, 1996.
Location: Main Ref Desk PN171.F56 L5 1996

The Columbia guide to online style / Janice R. Walker and Todd Taylor. New York : Columbia University Press, c1998.
Location: Main Ref Desk PN171.F56 W35 1998

A Pocket Style Manual / Hacker, Diana. 4th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2004.
Location: Main Ref Desk PE1408 .H26 2004

For information about why proper citation is important see the Oberlin College Honor Code.

Biographical Sources

American National Biography

Provides portraits of more than 17,400 men and women -- from all eras and walks of life -- whose lives have shaped the nation.

Biography and Genealogy Master Index (BGMI)

Indexes current reference sources and retrospective works that cover individuals, both living and deceased, from every field of activity and from all areas of the world.

Literary Reference Center
Information about authors living and deceased (includes excerpts of literary criticism).

Literature Resource Center

Information about authors living and deceased (includes excerpts of literary criticism).

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography

More than 50,000 biographies of people who shaped the history of the British Isles and beyond, from the earliest times to the year 2001.

Directories

Phone numbers, addresses, etc.

AT&T AnyWho:

includes Yellow Pages, White Pages, Reverse Look-Up, Toll Free Directory, Area Codes

Switchboard:

People, businesses, email addresses, and a web site directory

Infobel World:

International Telephone Directories

ZIP Code Directory

Publishing: Books, Periodicals, Publishers, etc.

Global Books in Print
Literary Market Place
Ulrich's Periodicals Directory
Nobel Prize Internet Archive
Publishers' Catalogues Home Page

Statistics

Databases & Gateways

LexisNexis Statistical

Provides some searchable tables and references to publications in all subjects; includes data from U.S., international, and private organizations.

Statistical Resources on the Web

University of Michigan) Provides access to U.S. and international statistics in all subject areas.

FEDSTATS

The gateway to statistics from over 100 U.S. Federal agencies.

GEOSTAT

Geospatial and Statistical Data Center at the University of Virginia.

U.S. — All Subjects

Historical Statistics of the United States
Access to data on social, behavioral, humanistic, and natural sciences including history, economics, government, finance, sociology, demography, education, law, natural resources, climate, religion, international migration, and trade.

Statistical Abstract of the United States

Current and historical editions of this available.