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Getting Started | Background Information
To gather background information on your topic and to learn about research and scholarship in the field are good reasons to start with reference material.
- Credo Reference This link opens in a new window
Over 600 reference books, including encyclopedias, dictionaries (English and foreign language), thesauri, books of quotations, as well as a range of subject-specific reference books.
- Oxford Bibliographies This link opens in a new window
Authoritative guide to current scholarship in a variety of subjects with recommendations on the best works available whether it be a book chapter, journal article, website, or data set.
Subject dictionaries, encyclopedias, and handbooks typically provide background essays, definitions, broad overviews of various topics, or other pertinent facts.
Encyclopedias and Dictionaries
- Blacks Law Dictionary
- Encyclopedia of American Prisons
- Encyclopedia of Crime & Justice
- Encyclopedia of Crime and Punishment
- Encyclopedia of Human Behavior
- Encyclopedia of Juvenile Justice
- Encyclopedia of Law Enforcement
- Encyclopedia of Murder and Violent Crime
- Encyclopedia of Police Science
- Encyclopedia of Prisons & Correctional Facilities
- Encyclopedia of White-Collar & Corporate Crime
- Historic U.S. Cases: An Encyclopedia
- American Dictionary of Criminal Justice
- Uniform Crime Reports for the United States
- West's Encyclopedia of American Law
- World Encyclopedia of Police Forces & Penal Systems