English 1185.111: Literature and the Laboratory  Tags: english_literature course_guide first_year_writing_seminars writing linguistics_language_literature  

Subject encyclopedias offer a very quick way to get yourself started on research topics. They are compiled by experts in the field.

To find subject encyclopedias in the library catalog do a guided keyword search for your topic. Enter one or two keyword terms in the first search row, then in the second, enter encyclop? dictionar? handbook? guide? and select any of these from the pull-down menu as additional keyword search terms.

*Question marks function as wildcard characters.

English Literature

Feminist, Gender, & Sexuality Studies: A Research Guide

Film Resources
Race, Ethnicity & Religion

Other Research Guides on subjects in the Humanities

Finding Books
Book Reviews : A Finding Guide

Encyclopedia of Science and Religion. NY: Macmillan; Detroit: Thompson Gale, 2003.
(Olin Ref BL240.3 .E53 2003 + and online)

Addresses the interactions, contradictions, and tensions between science and religion, both historically and in contemporary life. The set examines technologies like in vitro fertilization, cloning, and continuing developments in neurophysiology against the backdrop of deeply-held religious beliefs. In addition, phenomena such as the Church of Scientology are also studied, along with more traditional issues, such as the origins of life, the nature of sin, and the philosophy of science and religion.

The Oxford Companion to the Mind New York: Oxford UP, 2004.
(Olin Ref BF 31 .O94 2004 and online)

Provides signed definitions by numerous authorities on various aspects of the mind, including psychology, biology, and philosophy. Longer articles include references for further reading. There are selected biographies and useful illustrations and diagrams.

Macmillan Encyclopedia of Death and Dying. NY: Macmillan Reference USA/Thomson/Gale, 2003.
(Olin Ref HQ1073 .M33x 2003 + and online)

Covering all aspects of death and dying -- biological, medical, social, sociological, psychological, religious, and philosophical -- the 2-vol. Macmillan Encyclopedia of Death and Dying also provides a deep historical and cross-cultural perspective through the ages.

New Dictionary of the History of Ideas. Detroit : Charles Scribner’s Sons, c2005.
(Olin Ref CB9 .N49 2005 + and online)

The New Dictionary of the History of Ideas brings fresh intelligence and a global perspective to bear on timeless questions about the individual and society. A distinguished team of international scholars explore new thinking in areas previously covered (communism, linguistics, physics) and present cross-cultural perspectives on more recent topics such as postmodernism, deconstruction and post-colonialism.

Encyclopedia of the Enlightenment. NY: Oxford University Press, 2003.
(Olin Ref B802 .E53 2003 + and online)

Covering the “long” Enlightenment, from the rise of Descartes' disciples in 1670 to the restoration of the Bourbon monarchy in 1815, these 700 articles by leading scholars range from discussions of mercantilism and democracy to the battlefield to the dissemination of ideas in salons and coffeehouses. Breaking conventional geographical boundaries, coverage includes not only Western Europe but also North America, Brazil, and Iberian, Russian, Jewish, and Eastern European cultures.

Oxford Companion to the Body. NY: Oxford University Press, 2001.
(Mann Library circulating: QM7 .O96x 2001 and online)

...a diverse, informative look at the human body, combining medical and physiological fact with articles that offer cultural, mythological, religious, historical, and artistic perspectives. In over 1200 alphabetically arranged entries, The Oxford Companion to the Body covers every aspect of human anatomy as well as related topics that range from Aggression, Aspirin, and Anxiety, to Warts, Whistling, Yoga, and X-Rays.

Direct link to article on Frankenstein.

Reference Universe Although it is not primarily a full-text resource, Reference Universe is full of excellent information. It searches the back-of the-book indexes of thousands of reference titles to help researchers select useful reference encyclopedias. When you see a title of interest, click on the title words to connect to the Cornell Library catalog & find the call number and location of the item.

Use these reference databases to find and access articles in a variety of subject encyclopedias and dictionaries.

Gale Virtual Reference Library
Provides the full text of many encyclopedias, handbooks, dictionaries, and directories.

Credo Reference
A searchable collection containing 100 reference sources including subject dictionaries, encyclopedias, biographical sources and quotations. Contains over 150,000 entries of facts, words, concepts, and people.