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The Hulbert Taft, Jr. Library

Senior Research and Composition: History's "Great Events": Reference Sources

START YOUR RESEARCH WITH REFERENCE SOURCES

These sources provide essential background information - facts like who, what, when, where, why, and how - that will be useful as you dive deeper into your research.
 
  • This will allow you to better understand where the specific information you find later fits in the bigger picture.
  • Make note of terms, also called keywords, relevant to your topic:
    • Examples: names of people; important dates; relevant legislation; words or expressions unique to your topic.
  • You can use these keywords when searching for secondary sources (books and journal articles) and primary sources. 
  • Reference sources often contain bibliographies that lead you to secondary and primary sources.
Examples of Reference Sources: Encyclopedias, dictionaries, almanacs, atlases, thesauruses, and indexes.

 

Tips for Citing Reference Sources in NoodleTools

World History Databases

REQUIRED

2 REFERENCE SOURCES

U.S. History Databases

Resource Allows NoodleTools Export Citations can be exported from this source to NoodleTools.
Contains Primary Sources This source contains Primary Sources.

 

Great Events From History

The reference books below are available electronically in the database Salem History.

ABOUT WIKIPEDIA

Is Wikipedia a reliable source?

If you have any questions,

see Mr. Padgett, Ms. Taylor, or Mr. Previti

OR email us at 

spadgett@taftschool.org  

  taylorp@taftschool.org

rpreviti@taftschool.org

We're here to help!

NoodleTools Tips for Citing Reference Sources

PLEASE NOTE: We recommend that you NOT copy and paste complete citations from electronic sources. NoodleTools cannot generate footnotes from copied and pasted citations.

 

A Reference Source citation has 2 parts:

  • information about the article you used: author, title of article, and page numbers if available.
  • information about the encyclopedia as a whole: author / editor, encyclopedia title, name of publisher, place of publication, and date of publication.

Reference sources can be cited in NoodleTools using the ISBN (International Standard Book Number) if provided. The ISBN can be found on the back cover of a book, on the back side of the title page, or in the library catalog record. It can also be found in databases containing sources originally produced in print. If you don't find it, we can help you. Books published before 1967 won't have an ISBN.

International Standard Book Number - Wikipedia

If you use the ISBN method, you will still have to fill in the information about the specific article you used because this method only imports the information about the encyclopedia as a whole (title, editor, publisher, etc.).

To cite an encyclopedia / reference source, first choose the NoodleTools option that best describes where you found it:

  • Database = a Taft Subscription Database such as Gale eBooks.
    • Click on the citation tool on your article page to determine if you can export the Chicago-style citation directly to NoodleTools.
    • If you cannot export the citation, choose Book.
    • You must provide the permanent URL for your source. Look for any of the following on the page: permalink, persistent link, stable link, durable link, "Get link", Cite or Citable Link.
  • Website = an encyclopedia found through a search engine such as Google.
  • Print or In Hand = a book found on the shelves of the library's Reference Collection.

Next you will choose the type of source you are citing. In this case, Reference Source.

You will complete both parts of the Reference Source form:

  • information about the article you used: author, title of article, and page numbers if available.
  • information about the encyclopedia as a whole: author / editor, encyclopedia title, name of publisher, place of publication, and date of publication.

  • Information about a web encyclopedia: author of article (if given), title of article, the URL of the article you are citing, and the most recent date (date updated or date of online publication).

 

If you have any questions,  Mr. Padgett, Ms. Taylor, or Mr. Previti are happy to help!