General reference works

General reference works are good places to check facts and get basic information. Although general encyclopedias are often a good place to find background about your topic, you should rarely use them in your final paper. Most instructors expect you to rely on more specialized sources.

Here are a few frequently used general references:

• American National Biography

• National Geographic Atlas of the World

• The New Encyclopaedia Britannica

• The Oxford English Dictionary

• Statistical Abstract of the United States http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab

• Wikipedia http://wikipedia.org/

• World Almanac and Book of Facts