Education

A reference work is a resource that provides authoritative information on a wide range of topics, often in a concise and easily accessible format. They provide broad overviews of topics, which can be helpful when starting your research. These works are typically compiled by experts and are designed to be consulted for specific information.

Examples include encyclopedias, handbooks, and bibliographies.

Wikipedia is popular source of information on the web and for good reason—it’s extensive and often extremely current. Entries can be helpful as a starting point for learning the terminology used for a particular topic.

However, because anyone can edit Wikipedia pages, information is not always reliable and most instructors will not want you to use them as references in your assignments.

Use the following search strategy to find reference works in education:

1. In the first search line, type education and change the field from Select a field (optional) to SU Subject Terms.
2. In the second search line, type encyclopedia OR handbook OR bibliography and change the field from Select a field (optional) to TI Title.
3. On the third search line, type your topic in broad terms, such as "special education" or "international education" or "social justice."
4. Click Search.

Tips

• You can use the filters on the right to limit by publication dates and other fields.
• In the filters on the right, select Library Location --> UMass Amherst Online to access ebooks available to you. Ebooks at the other colleges are not available to UMass patrons remotely due to licensing restrictions.
• In the filters on the right, select Library Location --> UMass Du Bois Library to see print books in the Du Bois Library.

eBooks that have a location of Amherst, Mount Holyoke or Smith are not available to UMass patrons. This is due to licensing restrictions. This means that book is is only available to the faculty, staff and students at that college.

For these eBooks, you can either:

• Visit that college's library and use a public computer to access the eBook if you are in the Amherst area.
  • Depending on the platform the ebook is on, you may be able to download the entire book or a specific number of pages.
• Request the book through Interlibrary Loan (ILL). If you have not used ILL previously, please see the section on the left titled "Borrowing from Other Libraries." You will be able to select if you want the print or electronic version of the book.