LIR 10 Week 5

1. LIR 10 Week 5 The Reference Section

2. Week 5 Overview • Discuss topic selection: need help? • Reference books: lecture and demonstration • Writing annotations for your final project • Head out to Reference to begin next week’s assignments

3. What is a Reference Book? • A reference book is a source compiled to answer questions. • Reference books provide quick access to information. • They are not meant to be read cover to cover. • Reference books are excellent sources of background information and/or overviews.

4. Why Are Reference Books Reliable Sources of Information? • Reference books typically present facts without bias • A quality reference book will always acknowledge its sources… but don’t forget to check • Reference books are often updated yearly, using the most up-to-date information available. • Reference books are published by reliable library-oriented companies (such as Gale, Bowker, Facts-on-File and Greenwood). These companies have reputations to maintain in their field, so reference books are edited very carefully. • Most reference books are edited by experts or subject specialists.

5. Types of Reference Sources Dictionaries: • Dictionaries define the terms of a language, profession, discipline, or specialized area of knowledge. • The terms are arranged in alphabetical order. • Language dictionaries give the spelling, pronunciation, history and meaning of each word. • A dictionary of the words and terms of a restricted field of knowledge gives only the meanings. • Abridged Dictionaries limit themselves to the most commonly used words. Unabridged Dictionaries aim at a much higher level of completeness.

6. Types of Reference Sources Encyclopedias: • Encyclopedias are reference sources containing factual information on a variety of terms, persons, and events. • Encyclopedias may be in one volume (in which case very brief information will be given) or they may be in many volumes with longer, more comprehensive articles, usually written by experts, and often containing bibliographies and illustrations. • Encyclopedias can be general, covering all topics, or specialized, focusing on a particular discipline such as art, medicine or philosophy.

7. Types of Reference Sources • Atlases: • An atlas is a collection of maps in book or loose-leaf form. • Atlases are organized around coherent themes. For example, in the Plover Library atlas case you’ll find world atlases, national atlases, historical atlases, road atlases and a commercial atlas that compiles demographic, income and business information.

8. Types of Reference Sources Directories: • Directories contain alphabetical lists of names and addresses. • A directory can be specific as to an area (for example, a phone book), a profession (as in a directory of educators or physicians), or a topic (such as a governmental directory, or listings of financial aid resources for students).

9. Types of Reference Sources Almanacs: • Almanacs are publications containing a large collection of facts and statistics. • Almanacs are generally published annually. • Almanacs may pertain to a particular subject, such as the Almanac of Native Americans and Congressional Quarterly Almanac or to a broader collection of data, such as the World Almanac.

10. Types of Reference Sources Index: • A subject index is a guide (or information finding tool) for the contents of periodicals and/or books. • Some indexes are general in coverage while others focus on a particular subject such as nursing, biography, history, poetry, or engineering. • Indexes generally contain several access points. You can usually search an index by subject, author or article title. • Many print index are published periodically. There may be updates monthly, quarterly or yearly. Electronic indexes are updated in a timelier manner. • Print indexes are organized by date of the source material, then alphabetically by subject, author and/or title.

11. Types of Reference Sources Handbooks • Handbooks are general information sources that provide quick reference or instruction for a given subject area. • Handbooks are generally subject-specific, such as The Food Safety Information Handbook, The Handbook of American Women’s History, The Occupational Outlook Handbook and The College Majors Handbook. • Handbooks often contain articles, statistical information, reports and sources for further research.

12. Types of Reference Sources Yearbooks or Annuals: • Yearbooks are annual compendiums of facts and statistics on a particular subject for the preceding year. • Yearbooks can cover such diverse topics as world records (The Guinness Book Of World Records), industries (The Broadcast and Cable Yearbook or Magill’s Cinema Annual) or government and educational reports (Government Finance Statistics Yearbook, Educational Rankings Annual).

13. Types of Reference Sources Other Reference Sources: • Difficult to categorize, but often very useful for research. • Check the Reference section for compendiums of reviews and critical essays (Twentieth Century Literary Criticism, Modern Black Writers) , statistical sources (California Cities, Towns and Counties, Statistical Handbook on the American Family), collections of bibliographies (A Guide to Historical Fiction, Films Into Books: An Analytical Bibliography of Film, Novelizations, TV Tie-ins) and other helpful reference works in your subject field. • Reference sources are highly reliable.