E-Reference Links
These online "quick reference" resources are useful for assistance with fact checking, spelling and grammar, and background information on various topics. For in-depth material and scholarly works, please search our library catalog for our print collection, and our subscription databases for a broad range of scholarly and popular sources.
Note: sites marked with red asterisks ** are free Internet sources, accessible to all. The others are subscribed to by the William H. Hannon Library for the LMU community.
GENERAL REFERENCE
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Recommended starting point for general reference:
Credo Reference
A multidisciplinary collection of hundreds of reference titles, including subject encyclopedias, dictionaries, illustrated guides and biographies. Content is searchable by keyword or topic, and includes hyperlinked cross-references to related articles from other titles in the collection. | |
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Best Free Reference Web Sites: Combined Index, 1999-2008 **
Index of outstanding reference sites on the World Wide Web, as selected annually by the American Library Association's Reference and User Services Association.
The Cambridge Companions Complete Collection Consolidated search of
The Cambridge Companions to Literature and Classics , and
The Cambridge Companions to Philosophy, Religion and Culture . Full text of over 2300 essays on classical authors, periods and genres, as well as important topics and figures in philosophy and religion. Reference material includes chronologies and reading lists.
CollegeSource Over 9,000 College catalogs in complete cover-to-cover, original page format representing 2-year, 4-year, graduate and professional schools.
Credo ReferenceA multidisciplinary collection of hundreds of reference titles, including subject encyclopedias, dictionaries, illustrated guides and biographies. Content is searchable by keyword or topic, and includes hyperlinked cross-references to related articles from other titles in the collection.
ebrary Online access to over 30,000 books in all academic subject areas. Searchable by subject, title, author, and full text. Includes numerous subject encyclopedias. Requires installation of the free
ebrary Reader software. The web site will prompt you to install the first time you view a book. (Note: ebrary performs system maintenance on the first Tuesday of each month from 8:00 - 10:00 pm, pacific time. The service may be unavailable during those time periods.)
Gale Directory LibrarySearchable online editions of five directories:
Ward's Business Directory of U.S. Private and Public Companies;
Directory of Special Libraries and Information Centers;
Encyclopedia of Associations;
National Directory of Nonprofit Organizations; and
Encyclopedia of Associations: National Organizations of the U.S.Global Books In Print In-print, out-of-print, and forthcoming books from publishers in the U.S., U.K, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand; many of the records include reviews.
Journal Citation Reports JCR presents quantifiable statistical data that provide a systematic, objective way to evaluate the world's leading journals and their impact and influence in the global research community. Related Journals enable users to see which journals share citations, and are therefore related. Select from science and social sciences editions of JCR, each with coverage from 1997 onward.
Librarians' Internet Index (LII) **
The best of the Web, represented by over 20,000 web links selected by librarians and organized by topic.
OnlineConversion **
Convert between over 5,000 different units of measurement.
RCLweb - Resources for College Libraries RCLweb is a searchable list of recommended titles, selected by subject specialists and bibliographers. It can be used to aid both student research and curriculum development. The core list features 65,000 titles in 58 curriculum-specific subjects, and can be searched by criteria such as keyword, subject, author, and awards received.
The Serials Directory (EBSCOhost) Bibliographic information on nearly 212,000 U.S. and international titles, including newspapers; data from nearly 108,235 publishers worldwide, including e-mail and Internet addresses; and Library of Congress and Dewey Decimal Classifications for every entry.
Ulrich's Periodical Directory Bibliographic database providing detailed information on periodicals worldwide.
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BIOGRAPHY American National Biography Authoritative signed biographical articles on deceased figures of significance in shaping the nation.
Biography and Genealogy Master IndexSearching Biography and Genealogy Master Index will enable you to quickly determine which publication to consult for biographical information. Indexes current, readily available reference sources, as well as retrospective works that cover individuals, both living and deceased, from every field of activity and from all areas of the world. Sources indexed include biographical dictionaries, who's who directories, subject encyclopedias, indexes and literary criticism volumes.
Biography Resource Center Biographical information on more than 335,000 people from throughout history and around the world. Combines more than 427,000 full-text biographies from respected sources with full-text articles from nearly 300 periodicals.
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BOOK REVIEWS Global Books In Print In-print, out-of-print, and forthcoming books from publishers in the U.S., U.K, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand; many of the records include reviews.
RCLweb - Resources for College Libraries RCLweb is a searchable list of recommended titles, selected by subject specialists and bibliographers. It can be used to aid both student research and curriculum development. The core list features 65,000 titles in 58 curriculum-specific subjects, and can be searched by criteria such as keyword, subject, author, and awards received.
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BUSINESS RESOURCES
Encyclopedia of American IndustriesEncyclopedia of Associations: International OrganizationsEncyclopedia of Associations: National Organizations of the U.S.Encyclopedia of Emerging IndustriesEncyclopedia of Global IndustriesEncyclopedia of ManagementEssays on topics in management theories and applications, including aggregate planning, benchmarking, logistics, diversification strategy, non-traditional work arrangements, performance measurement, productivity measures, and supply chain management, among many others.International Directory of Company HistoriesThe New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics OnlineAn economics reference resource with scholarly entries that cover the whole sphere of economic thought, drawing together eminent contributors from across the spectrum of methodological and ideological schools.
Ward's Business Directory of U.S. Private and Public Companies
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CURRENT EVENTS
CQ Public Affairs Collection One-stop information source on important public policy issues. Includes statistical information, analysis, legislative information, bibliographies and web links, and directory entries for relevant organizations.
CQ Researcher Weekly publication covers the most current and controversial issues of the day with complete summaries, insight into all sides of the issues, bibliographies and more. Archive of past articles. Excellent place to begin research on a topical issue.
CQ Voting & Elections Collection Data and analysis on voters, political parties, campaigns, and elections for Congress, the presidency, and governorships.
Ethnic NewsWatch Full text articles from 240+ newspapers, magazines, and journals representing the ethnic, minority, and native press in America from 1960 to the present.
Facts on File World News Digest News summaries, obituaries, editorials, and historic documents from international current events covering 1940-present. Searchable on a specific date or by date range, as well as by keyword.
NewsBank Special Reports NewsBank's Special Reports focus on topics of current interest. They include content from sources throughout the world to provide a global perspective, current and background information, statistics, maps, images, websites, and suggested search terms. New information is added daily to featured and current reports.
Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center Information about controversial social issues, including full text articles from magazines, newspapers, and selected books, pro and con opinion pieces, statistics, primary source documents, and links to web sites.
Statistical Universe Access to statistical information compiled by federal and state governmental agencies, business and trade groups, independent research organizations, and universities.
World Almanac Facts and statistics from the current year of the World Almanac and Book of Facts and other World Almanac publications.
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DICTIONARIES / THESAURI
Oxford English Dictionary The authoritative dictionary of the English language. Essential for its etymologies of words with quotations of the earliest known use of the word.
Oxford Language Dictionaries Online Searchable bilingual dictionaries. Translate words to and from English and French, Spanish, Italian, German, Chinese and Russian. Also includes audio pronunciation of headwords in each language, calendars of festivals and holidays, useful phrases and links to websites with additional language information.
Oxford Reference Online Contains over 100 dictionary, language reference, and subject reference works published by Oxford University Press, including entries from their
Oxford Companions Series .
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ENCYCLOPEDIAS
AccessScience Enhanced version of the
McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Science & Technology . In addition to scholarly encyclopedia entries, it contains biographies of scientists and current science and technology research news.
The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Sociology Sociology reference includes entries ranging from short definitions of key terms to extended explorations of major topics. Coverage of current and historical sociological theory and research.
Britannica OnlineWeb version of Encyclopedia Britannica with full text of articles and links to relevant sites.
Encyclopedia of Life Sciences Comprehensive encyclopedia of the biological sciences. Regularly updated.
International Encyclopedia of CommunicationEncyclopedia spanning the breadth of communication studies, including coverage of theories, media and communication phenomena, research methods, problems, concepts, and geographical areas.
Gale Virtual Reference Library Allows a multidisplicinary search of many reference sources, including subject encyclopedias, almanacs, and other topical sources.
Oxford Art Online Comprehensive art encyclopedia covering art from around the world from prehistoric times through the present. Contains links to images of over 45,000 works. Oxford Art Online also includes the full content of
Grove Art Online , the
Encyclopedia of Aesthetics ,
The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Art Terms and
The Oxford Companion to Western Art .
Oxford Music Online Comprehensive reference work on musical styles, instruments, and performers. Oxford Music Online also includes the full content of
Grove Music Online ,
The Oxford Dictionary of Music and
The Oxford Companion to Music .
Oxford Reference Online Contains over 100 dictionary, language reference, and subject reference works published by Oxford University Press, including entries from their
Oxford Companions Series .
Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy Contains the full text of the print version of this widely respected work, with updated and additional content.
SAGE eReference Full text of subject encyclopedias published by SAGE, covering various areas of the social sciences. Encyclopedias are indexed and searchable, and include all tables, charts and images from the print editions.
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GEOGRAPHY / GEOPOLITICAL
CIA World Factbook **
A geographical handbook with country profiles detailing demographic, political, economic and geographic information. Also features maps and flags of all countries.
CountryWatch Geopolitical information on the countries of the world.
eHRAF Archaeology Archaeological information on cultures worldwide.
eHRAF World Cultures (formerly eHRAF Collection of Ethnography) Ethnographic information on cultures worldwide.
World Almanac Facts and statistics from the current year of the World Almanac and Book of Facts and other World Almanac publications.
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GOVERNMENT
American State Papers, 1789-1838 United States government legislative and executive documents, many originating from the important period between 1789 and the beginning of the
U.S. Congressional Serial Set in 1817.
California Code of Regulations Text of the regulations that have been formally adopted by state agencies, reviewed and approved by the Office of Administrative Law, and filed with the Secretary of State. The CCR consists of 28 titles and contains the regulations of approximately 200 regulatory agencies. Note that Title 24 (California Building Standards) is published separately and not part of this CCR website.
Locate California Building Standards using LMU's LINUS catalog.
California Political Almanac In depth profiles of California's legislators (Senate and Assembly), constitutional officers, state Supreme Court and appellate court justices, and representatives to the U.S. Congress. Also includes overviews and essays on all the major players and events influencing California's branches of government, including political profiles of all 58 counties.
CQ Congress Collection Information and analysis on Congress and its members: public policy analysis and history; biographical, political, and electoral data about members of Congress; and, CQ Key Votes, an analysis tool for finding and analyzing voting records.
CQ Public Affairs Collection One-stop information source on important public policy issues. Includes statistical information, analysis, legislative information, bibliographies and web links, and directory entries for relevant organizations.
CQ Supreme Court Collection Analysis and commentary on U.S. Supreme Court decisions, biographies of justices, and institutional history.
CQ Voting & Elections Collection Data and analysis on voters, political parties, campaigns, and elections for Congress, the presidency, and governorships.
U.S. Congressional Serial Set, 1817-1980 Reports, documents and journals of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, originally published in approximately 13,800 bound volumes. This monumental collection of primary source material is being released in stages with projected completion in 2007.
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NEWSPAPERS America's Historical Newspapers Cover-to-cover full text and page images of scores of newspapers from all 50 states, covering 1690-1876. Includes: Early American Newspapers, Series I (1690 - 1876), Early American Newspapers, Series II (1758 - 1900) and Early American Newspapers, Series III (1829 - 1922).
The Economist Historical Archive 1843-2003Complete, searchable database of every issue of The Economist from 1843 to 2003. Includes full-color images, multiple search indexes, exportable financial tables and a gallery of front covers highlighting a key topic of each week. Also includes the Supplements, Special Reports and Surveys which appear regularly in The Economist.
Harper's Weekly 1857-1912Harper's Weekly was a major, influential American newspaper in the latter part of the 19th century and the early 20th century. Its content included news, cultural reviews, commentary, illustrations, cartoons, fiction, and poetry. In this database, issues from 1857-1912 are available as searchable text, accompanied by scanned page images. Keyword and subject searching is available, as well as browsing issues by date. Advertisements that appeared in the newspaper are also indexed by subject.
Los Angeles Sentinel 1934-2005Searchable full text of the oldest and largest black newspaper in the western United States and the largest African-American owned newspaper in the U.S.
Los Angeles Times Historical Archive of the
Los Angeles Times from 1881-1985. Contains page and article images of every page from every issue. For articles from 1986-present, please use
ProQuest .
New York Times Historical Archive of the
New York Times from 1851-2003. Contains page and article images of every page from every issue. For more recent articles from the
New York Times and other newspapers, please use
Lexis-Nexis or
ProQuest .
San Francisco Chronicle HistoricalArchive of the
San Francisco Chronicle from 1865-1922. Contains page and article images of every page from every issue.
Note: if you encounter a scanned article that is not legible, please contact a librarian for assistance.
The Times Digital Archive 1785-1985Every page as published from 200 years of The Times (London). The Times is the "world's newspaper of record" and covers all major international historical events from the French Revolution to the Falkland War. Users are able to search the full-text of the entire newspaper, including articles, editorials and advertising.
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SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING AccessScience Enhanced version of the
McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Science & Technology . In addition to scholarly encyclopedia entries, it contains biographies of scientists and current science and technology research news.
Encyclopedia of Life Sciences Comprehensive encyclopedia of the biological sciences. Regularly updated.
ENG net BASE Engineering handbooks and reference titles from CRC Press. Can be browsed by category or searched by keyword. Broad coverage of various engineering subfields. Includes
CivilENGINEERING net BASE ,
ElectricalENGINEERING net BASE ,
MechanicalENGINEERING net BASE , and
TELECOMMUNICATIONS net BASE collections.
Handbook of Chemistry and Physics Ready reference guide that includes definitions, information and data relevant to chemistry, physics and engineering.
MATH net BASE Library of mathematics resources, including reference titles and textbooks, from CRC Press. Can be browsed by category or searched by keyword. Coverage includes both theory and applied mathematics.
NUTRITION net BASE Reference titles and texts from CRC Press on topics including nutrition science, sports nutrition, and nutrition in health and disease.
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STATISTICS FedStats ** Provides access to the full range of official statistical information produced by the Federal Government without having to know in advance which Federal agency produces which particular statistic. Searches and links to more than 100 agencies that provide data and trend information on such topics as economic and population trends, crime, education, health care, aviation safety, energy use, farm production and more.
FIRST: Facts on International Relations & Security Trends ** Statistics, searchable by nation or groups of nations, covering military size and expenditure, development, population, life expectancy and fertility, housing and water supply, economic activity and labor, education and literacy, corruption, disease, terrorism and human rights. Part of the International Relations & Security Network (ISN), and provided by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIRPI).
Historical Statistics of the United States Downloadable statistics on a wide variety of topics in American history, including slavery, American Indians, and poverty. Data categories include: Population, Work and Welfare, Economic Structure and Performance, Economic Sectors, and Governance and International Relations.
Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR) (on-campus only)
Collection of raw data files throughout the social sciences, including voter opinion and behavior, census data, education statistics, public health datasets, and more. These are raw data files to download that can then be manipulated with statistical software, such as SPSS.
LexisNexis StatisticalAccess to statistical information compiled by federal and state governmental agencies, business and trade groups, independent research organizations, and universities.
RAND CaliforniaStatistics and reports from RAND, one of the nation's premier think tanks. Focus is on California and U.S. public policy issues, with data and research addressing economics, demographics, health care, government, and more.
STAT-USA Compilation of U.S. government business information from many agencies. Emphasis on international trade, including country profiles and import & export information. Contains the National Trade Data Bank (NTDB).
Statistical Resources on the WebLinks to statistical resources on a wide variety of topics, organized into 24 subject categories. Produced by the University of Michigan Documents Center.
Statistical Universe - see
LexisNexis StatisticalVital Statistics on American Politics 1788-2006 Key data on U.S. elections, the U.S. Congress, the presidency, the Supreme Court, public opinion, and more. Includes tables and figures; data can be exported and downloaded into Microsoft Excel.
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