Encyclopedia Articles
NOVA buys several collections of encyclopedias online, including the ones listed below. From off campus you will be asked to log in with your MyNova username and password.
- Britannica Academic This link opens in a new window Fully-searchable collection of authoritative encyclopedia articles. (NVCC)
- Gale eBooks This link opens in a new window (Formerly Gale Virtual Reference Library) includes full-text encyclopedias, handbooks, and other sources for multidisciplinary research. (VIVA, NVCC)
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- Biography (Gale In Context) This link opens in a new window Biographical information on over 380,000 people from throughout world history; from encyclopedias and news articles. (NVCC)
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- Ferguson's Career Guidance Center This link opens in a new window Includes information on job and industry profiles, job-hunting and workplace skills, career and industry resources, and college planning and financial aid. (NVCC)
Search Tips
Use broad terms, as encyclopedias usually provide general overviews of topics.
higher education
Use quotation marks ( " " ) around phrases (two or more words); this tells the database to look for the words in a specific order.
"writing center"
Why to Use Reference Books
An encyclopedia is a type of reference book. Use a reference book to:
- Define important vocabulary words related to your topic,
- Find a basic overview and main issues related to your topic,
- Find references to additional resources, and
- Discover important background information related to your topic.
You will typically not use a reference book or encyclopedia as a source in your research. The information in these sources is for your own background knowledge.