Finding Encyclopedias & DictionariesFinding Encyclopedias & Dictionaries

How to Find Encyclopedias & Dictionaries

Encyclopedias

General

• Brittanica Online Academic Edition
• Reference Stacks, Library first floor, call number begins with AE.
• Library, second floor, call number begins with AE.
• Free Online Encyclopedias - both general and subject specific 

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."