Finding Encyclopedias & Dictionaries
How to Find Encyclopedias & Dictionaries
Encyclopedias
General
Subject Specific
- Search MountLink
- Use the keyword "encyclopedia" and your topic
(i.e. "encyclopedia and religion" or "encyclopedia and nursing")
- Use the Subject Heading for your topic and add " - Encyclopedias"
(i.e. "Religion - Encyclopedias")
- Ask for help at the Reference Desk - many subject specific encyclopedias are kept in Reference.
Dictionaries
- Oxford English Dictionary Online and in the Reference Stacks, Library first floor
- Other free web dictionaries
- Search MountLink
- Use the Subject Heading "English Language-Dictionaries"
- Use the Subject Heading for your topic and add " - Dictionaries" - Subject specific dictionaries may provide either simple definitions or longer entries
(i.e. "nursing and dictionary")
- Reference Stacks, Library first floor, call number begins with PE for general English Language dictionaries.
- Subject specific dictionaries will be found in the section for that discipline, i.e. H for the Social Sciences or R for Medicine
This guide has been adapted, with permission, for Mount Aloysius College from the Duke University Libraries "How to Find Encyclopedias & Dictionaries."