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FYW: First World War: Background Information
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Oxford Reference Online
Starting with background information
Become familiar with the ideas, major concepts and basic vocabulary in your chosen research area. Such background knowledge places your topic in a wider context, deepens your understanding and helps you feel more comfortable with it.
- Encyclopedias are a great place to get an overview of a topic that is new to you.
Encyclopedias often identify narrower areas within the broad subject, which may suggest a focus for your research. Many encyclopedia article entries also provide a list of references that can help you locate further, more in-depth and scholarly information sources. - Work from general to specific.
If a general encyclopedia doesn't provide enough background information, continue your research with focused subject encyclopedias. Wikipedia can be a place to find specific names, dates and events, but use it mainly as a jumping off point. The library has scholarly subject encyclopedias which provide reliable and in depth information. - Subject dictionaries can help define unfamiliar words and specialized terminology when researching a new subject in specific disciplines.
- Remember: Encyclopedias are good starting points, but don’t contain ALL the information you'll need on a subject for college level research.
- Get started: Look up your keywords in the indexes to subject encyclopedias. Read articles in these encyclopedias to set the context for your research. Note any additional keywords and relevant items in the references at the end of the encyclopedia articles.
General History and Biographical Sources
- 100 Words That Define The First World War: 1914-1918Oxford English Dictionary Timeline
- U.S. History (Gale In Context)U.S. History In Context provides a complete overview of our nation’s past that covers the most-studied events, decades, conflicts, wars, political and cultural movements, and people. Includes over 5,000 primary source documents, reference materials, and journal titles.
- World History (Gale In Context)Collection of reference materials, full-text articles from scholarly publications, an array of primary sources, and images, maps and charts which provide geographic and chronologic research materials for the study of world history. Coverage of ancient Europe to Latin America and from the Far East to the Renaissance.
- Cambridge History of the First World WarVolume 1- Global War
- Cambridge History of the First World WarVolume 2- The State
- Cambridge History of the First World WarVolume 3- Civil Society
- Biography (Gale In Context)Combines over 280,000 biographies from sources such as Contemporary Authors, Encyclopedias of World Biography, Contemporary Theatre, Film, and Television, Contemporary Musicians, Historic World Leaders, Notable Twentieth-Century Scientists, Contemporary Black Biography, Religious Leaders of America, International Dictionary of Art and Artists; and many more, with full-text articles from more than 250 periodicals including American History, The Christian Century, U.S. News & World Report.
- Dictionary of National BiographyAn illustrated collection of more than 57,000 specially written biographies of the men and women from around the world who shaped all aspects of Britain's past. Updated three times a year (each January, May and October), adding new biographies from the Romans to the 21st century.
- American National BiographyAmerican National Biography offers portraits of more than 18,700 men and women whose lives have shaped the nation. Each entry traces a person's life through the sequence of significant events as they occurred from birth to death. Features over 2,700 illustrations, more than 80,000 cross-references, and links to select web sites.
Print Reference Resources
World War I : a visual encyclopedia : A Political, Social, and Military HistoryCall Number: Ref D510 .E53 20055 Volumes
With over 1,200 entries (over one million words), plus a volume of primary documents, The Encyclopedia of World War I is an important scholarly reference on a struggle whose aftershocks are still being felt.
The Historical Atlas of World War ICall Number: Ref G1037 .L55 1994Double-page maps with annotated overlays, along with insert maps, photographs, detailed narrative, and eyewitness accounts from personal records explain the Great War battle by battle, and illuminate the global politics behind it
The World War I Databook : The Essential Facts and Figures for All the CombatantsCall Number: Ref D523 .E44 2001This reference shows the organization, manning, and equipment of representative units; includes statistics on the military forces deployed and casualties and losses; and lists the characteristics of the weaponry, aircraft, tanks, and ships.
