When you are exploring a concept or topic with which you are unfamiliar or have only limited information, it's valuable to find at least one source (e.g. subject encyclopedias, companions, etc.) that provides some background information. These types of sources are neutral in tone and provide a scholarly yet accessible introduction to a topic in the broadest sense; identify key ideas and themes; may point to important people associated with a topic; introduce unfamiliar terms that can be added to a list of keywords; provide a bibliography/list of works cited/sources for further study. Subject encyclopedias, in particular, may help you either choose a topic or narrow down a topic.
The library subscribes to many electronic scholarly subject-specific encyclopedias, companions, and dictionaries from two publishers: Gale and Oxford University Press. In addition to searching each title individually, you may search across all the titles in each publisher's aggregated database.
To view additional individual online subject encyclopedias, companions, dictionaries and other reference sources, click this link which will bring you to the Research Databases list, filtered by "Reference Sources." The library owns many more subject-specific print encyclopedias, companions, and dictionaries. Ask a librarian for help in locating these.
and Encyclopedia of Philosophy (this one is also found through Gale eBooks).The following are essays from two scholarly subject encyclopedias which are not owned by the Howe Library.