Research Guides: HIST 4893: The Civil War: Getting Started

Basic Reference Sources Online

These sources will provide information on topics, events, places, and persons. Articles will range in length from one or two paragraphs to dozens of pages. Many will give a bibliography of recommended books and articles for further research.

Credo Reference This link opens in a new window
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Covers: 1980-.Offers the full text of reference sources in all disciplines. Users can search for specific words or concepts or browse by subject area. Special tools include a concept map that charts the occurrences of search and related terms across the collection and an image search. Topic pages covering people, places, events, or ideas pull together information from across several different reference sources.
Oxford Reference Online This link opens in a new window
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Brings together language and subject reference works from Oxford University Press into a single cross-searchable resource. The University Libraries subscribe to the "Premium" collection, which includes dictionaries, companions, thesauri, and handbooks on many different fields.
Oxford Bibliographies Online This link opens in a new window
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Combining the best features of an annotated bibliography and a scholarly encyclopedia, Oxford Bibliographies Online (OBO) are designed to guide researchers to the best available scholarship across a wide variety of subjects. These authoritative research guides provide a starting point for your research or a working list for comprehensive or subject exams. Create a personal account to save references and add notes.

Basic Reference Sources

These sources will provide articles by authorities in the field on topics, events, places, and persons. Articles will range in length from one or two paragraphs to dozens of pages. Most will give a bibliography of recommended books and articles for further research.

Encyclopedia of Southern Culture
Charles Reagan Wilson & William Ferris. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1989. Ref F209 .E53 1989; 2nd edition, 2006-, in 8 volumes.
Topical coverage of religion, foodways, biography, music, history, and more. Very useful for the references at the end of most entries.
Encyclopedia of Arkansas History & Culture.
Written for a popular audience, this growing site offers biographical, topical, geographic, and thematic essays with bibliographies of sources and suggested readings.
The Encyclopedia of Southern History
David C. Roller and Robert W. Twyman. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1979. Ref F207.7 .E52.
Companion to the American South
ed. John Boles. New York: Blackwell, 2002.
Main F 208.2 .C66
Presents a series of topical essays; good summaries of current scholarship on various eras and themes.

American National Biography (ANB) This link opens in a new window
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Provides biographical sketches for deceased persons who have contributed to the history of the United States. Biographies have been contributed by leading scholars and include bibliographies listing additional secondary sources as well as noting the location of manuscript collections.

Encyclopedia of Religion in the South
Samuel S. Hill and Charles H. Lippy. Macon, Ga.: Mercer University Press, 2005. 2nd ed. Ref BR535 .E52 2005.
Encyclopedia of African and African-American Religions
New York: Routledge, 2001. REF BL2462.5 .E53 2001.

Oxford African American Studies Center This link opens in a new window
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Covers: 3000 B.C.E. -. Provides signed articles drawn from key Oxford reference sources, including:
African American National Biography, Africana, an encyclopedia of the African and African American experience in five volumes, The Encyclopedia of African American History, 1619-1895, the Encyclopedia of African American History, 1896 to the Present, and Black Women in America.

The Greenwood Encyclopedia of African American Folklore.
3v. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2006. REF GR111.A47 G74 2006.
The Companion to Southern Literature: Themes, Genres, Places, People, Movements, and Motifs
Joseph M. Flora and Lucinda H. MacKethan. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2002. Ref PS261 .C55 2002.