Getting Started with Reference Materials
Reference Material in the form of subject dictionaries, encyclopedias, and handbooks typically provide background essays, definitions, broad overviews of various topics, or other pertinent facts.
If you are new to a topic or need a broad overview to help you get started on a research project, these resources are a great place to start.
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Reference Databases
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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.
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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.
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Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Education This link opens in a new windowLong-form overview articles written, peer-reviewed, and edited by leading scholars. Covers both foundational and cutting-edge topics in Education. Continually updated.
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SAGE Reference & Academic Books This link opens in a new window
Encyclopedias, handbooks, and ebooks published by Sage and CQ Press. 1983 to present.
Education Reference Ebooks
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Encyclopedia of American Education
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This updated edition of the award-winning three-volume reference includes more than 2,000 entries spanning the colonial period to the present. A wealth of information covers virtually every aspect of education, from the evolution of school curriculum, education funding, and church-state controversies to the latest debates on multiculturalism, prayer in school, and sex education. Author Harlow G. Unger, one of the country's foremost education experts, has substantially updated existing entries and added more than 40 new entries. Appendixes include significant federal legislation, important U.S. Supreme Court decisions, and lists of undergraduate majors and graduate school programs. More than 10 new photographs have been added, and more than half a dozen experts in education served as editorial consultants.
Call Number: LB17.U54 2007 E-bookISBN: 9781438109886Publication Date: 2009-01-01 -
Encyclopedia of Educational Leadership and Administration
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To read some sample entries, or to view the Readers Guide click on "Sample Chapters/Additional Materials" in the left column under "About This Book" The Encyclopedia of Educational Leadership and Administration presents the most recent theories, research, terms, concepts, ideas, and histories on educational leadership and school administration as taught in preparation programs and practiced in schools and colleges today. With more than 600 entries, written by more than 200 professors, graduate students, practitioners, and association officials, the two volumes of this encyclopedia represent the most comprehensive knowledge base of educational leadership and school administration that has, as yet, been compiled. Key Features Represents a "knowledge dynamic" of the field by presenting ideas and perspectives that are in the minds, hearts, and aspirations of those practicing in the profession Includes a wide range of topics covering teaching and learning, curriculum, psychology and motivation, budgeting and finance, law, statistics, research, personnel management, planning, supervision, and much more Contains more than 75 biographical sketches of people whose ideas, aspirations, and lives have contributed much to the profession Animates the reader′s thinking and defines possibilities by presenting terms, ideas, concepts, research, and theories that are circulating in the field The Encyclopedia of Educational Leadership and Administration is a must-have reference for all academic libraries as well as a welcome addition to any leadership in education collection.
Call Number: LB2805 . E527 2006 E-bookISBN: 9781452265162Publication Date: 2006-02-16 -
Encyclopedia of Educational Psychology
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"From applied behavior analysis to vicarious reinforcement, overviews of theories outline concepts basic to the field of educational psychology. Each of the 275 scholarly articles give sample suggestions for further research. All told, the set provides a useful introduction to a bourgeoning area of study and is highly recommended for academic libraries." --John R. M. Lawrence "This comprehensive, informative, cross-disciplinary, and authoritative encyclopedia supports a holistic approach to preschool to adult education and would make a welcome addition to any undergraduate collection." --Library Journal Educational Psychology is a special field of endeavor since it strives to apply what we know about many different disciplines to the broad process of education. In the most general terms, you can expect to find topics in this area that fall into the categories of human learning and development (across the life span), motivation, measurement and statistics, and curriculum and teaching. There are few comprehensive overviews of the field of educational psychology, and the purpose of this two-volume Encyclopedia is to share this information in a way that is, above all, informative without being overly technical or intimidating. With more than 275 contributions, the Encyclopedia of Educational Psychology opens up the broad discipline of educational psychology to a wide and general audience. Written by experts in each area, the entries in this far-reaching resource provide an overview and an explanation of the major topics in the field of human development. While the Encyclopedia includes some technical topics related to educational psychology, for the most part, it focuses on those topics that evoke the interest of the everyday reader. Key Features Addresses topics that are of particular interest to the general public such as vouchers, Head Start, divorce, learning communities and charter schools Shares subjects that are rich, diverse, and deserving of closer inspection with an educated reader who may be uninformed about educational psychology Draws from a variety of disciplines including psychology, anthropology, education, sociology, public health, school psychology, counseling, history, and philosophy Presents many different topics all tied together by the theme of how the individual can best function in an educational setting, from pre-school through adult education Key Themes Classroom Achievement Classroom Management Cognitive Development Ethnicity, Race, and Culture Families Gender and Gender Development Health and Well-Being Human Development Intelligence and Intellectual Development Language Development Learning and Memory Organizations Peers and Peer Influences Public Policy Research Methods and Statistics Social Development Teaching Testing, Measurement, and Evaluation Theory This practical Encyclopedia brings the field of educational psychology to the everyday person making it a welcome addition to any academic or public library.
Call Number: LB1050.9 .E63 2008 E-bookISBN: 9781452265834Publication Date: 2008-01-17 -
Philosophy of Education
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First Published in 1996. This first of its kind Encyclopaedia charts the influence of philosophic ideas that have had the greatest influence on education from Ancient Greece to the present. It covers classical thinkers as Plato, Augustine, Hypatia, Locke and Rousseau, as well as recent figures such as Montessori, Heldegger, Du Bois and Dewey. It illuminates time-hounded ideas and concepts such as idealism, practical wisdom, scholasticism, tragedy and truth, as well as modern constructs as critical theory, existentialism, phenomenology, Marxism and post-Colonialism. The coverage consists of 228 articles by 184 contributors who survey the full spectrum of the philosophy of education.
Call Number: LB17 .P485 1996 E-bookISBN: 9781136511615Publication Date: 2013-07-04 -
Texas public higher education almanac by A profile of state and institutional performance and characteristics.Call Number: LA370.5 .T49 E-journalPublication Date: 2011
Additional Reference Ebooks
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The Corsini Encyclopedia of Psychology and Behavioral Science
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* Now in an accessible, affordable paperback. * Over 1,200 entries in this edition, sixty percent of which are substantially revised or altogether new. * Contributions from over seven hundred experts from around the world. * Includes a bibliography of over 10,000 citations.
Call Number: BF31 .E52 2001 E-bookISBN: 9780471437291Publication Date: 2001-04-01 -
Encyclopedia of Psychology
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"The American Psychological Association, under the editorial direction of Alan Kazdin, has produced an exceptional multidisciplinary and multicultural encyclopedia."--"Outstanding Reference Sources," American Libraries, May 2001.
Call Number: BF31 .E52 2000 E-bookISBN: 9781557986504Publication Date: 2000-01-01 -
International Encyclopedia of Social Sciences
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The entirely new International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences covers scholarship and fields that have emerged and matured since the publication of the original international edition. Like its predecessors, the set meets the needs of high school and college students, researchers inside and outside academia, and lay readers in public libraries. The new set highlights the expanding influence of economics in social science research and features nearly 3, 000 entirely new articles and important biographies contributed by thousands of scholars (including several Nobel prize winners) from around the world on a wide array of global topics, including: achievement testing, censorship, personality measurement, aging, income distribution, foreign aid (political and economic aspects), food (world problems, consumption patterns), cultural adaptation, comparative health-care systems, terrorism, political correctness, agricultural innovation, legislation of morality, sexual violence and exploitation, white collar crime. The new 2nd edition also features biographical profiles of the major contributors to the study of the social sciences, past and present. Highlights of the new set include: 2, 990 articles contributed by a team of international scholars, including hundreds of entries covering the increasingly influential fields of economics and statistics Written for researchers inside and outside acad
Call Number: H40.A2 I5 2008 E-bookISBN: 9780028659657Publication Date: 2007-11-09 -
International Encyclopedia of the Social and Behavioral Sciences
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Fully revised and updated, the second edition of the International Encyclopedia of the Social and Behavioral Sciences, Twenty Five Volume Set, first published in 2001, offers a source of social and behavioral sciences reference material that is broader and deeper than any other. Available in both print and online editions, it comprises over 3,900 articles, commissioned by 71 Section Editors, and includes 90,000 bibliographic references as well as comprehensive name and subject indexes.- Provides authoritative, foundational, interdisciplinary knowledge across the wide range of behavioral and social sciences fields- Discusses history, current trends and future directions- Topics are cross-referenced with related topics and each article highlights further reading
Call Number: H41 .I58 2015 E-bookISBN: 9780080970875Publication Date: 2015-02-17 -
The Sage encyclopedia of social science research methods
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Featuring over 900 entries, this resource covers all disciplines within the social sciences with both concise definitions & in-depth essays.
Call Number: H62 .S34 2007 E-bookISBN: 9781412950589Publication Date: 2007
