Reference Databases
- AccessScienceA searchable database of readable reference articles, news articles, editorial briefings, and biographies on medical topics as well as science and technology generally from McGraw-Hill. A primer on how to present complicated topics in writing accessible to readers with minimal background in the subjects covered.
- Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Global Public HealthEncyclopedia articles and entries written by experts and scholars about public health issues.
- Oxford ReferenceA wide-ranging database of reference books (dictionaries and encyclopedias). Useful for definitions of terms and background articles in most disciplines.
Medical Reference
- The Cambridge World History of Human DiseaseCambridge University Press, 1993.
Available online.
Print version: Olin Library Reference R 131 .C17 1993 +.
Fascinating articles on the meanings of sickness and disease across cultures and essays on the history of specific diseases. - [Oxford] Concise Medical Dictionary10th edition.
Oxford University Press, 2020.
Available online.
Print version: Olin Library Reference R 121 .C676 2020.
"...full coverage of all the important terms and concepts used in medicine today." [Preface] - A Dictionary of Public Health2nd edition.
Oxford University Press, 2018.
Online only - Encyclopedia of the Black DeathSanta Barbara, CA: ABC-Clio, 2012.
Available online.
Print version: Uris Library Oversize RC 172 .B98 2012
"...provides 300 interdisciplinary, cross-referenced entries that document the effect of the plague on Western society across the four centuries of the second plague pandemic, balancing medical history and technical matters with historical, cultural, social, and political factors." [catalog summary] - Merck Manual Consumer VersionMerck & Company, 2024.
Available online.
"Explains disorders, who is likely to get them, their symptoms, how they're diagnosed, how they might be prevented, and how they can be treated; also provides information about prognosis." [Front Matter]
Usage Guides for Writers
- AP [Associated Press] Style GuideOnline only.
Useful guide to appropriate wording and clarity for journalists and others writing news articles.
See the entry for neurodiversity as an example.
- The Cambridge Guide to English UsagePublication Date: 2004Available online.
Print version: Olin Library Reference PE 1464 .P48 2004
"The Cambridge Guide to English Usage is an A-Z reference book, giving an up-to-date account of the debatable issues of English usage and written style. Its advice draws on a wealth of recent research and data from very large corpora of American and British English - illuminating their many divergences and also points of convergence on which international English can be based. The book comprises more than 4000 points of word meaning, spelling, grammar and punctuation, and larger issues of inclusive language, and effective writing and argument." [Description section]