Skip to Main Content
Taft School Logo Taft School Wordmark NEWSPAPERS USEFUL LINKS •Taft Google Drive
•RhinoNet (formerly TaftNet)
•Taft Calendar
•Connecticut Libraries HOW DO I? •Print to a Network Printer
•Request an Item the Library Doesn't Own
•Access Digital Newspapers (NY Times, Wall St. Journal, Waterbury Republican American)
•Access the Papyrus
•Download Audiobooks/eBooks
•Find and Evaluate Websites
•Find Primary Sources
•Use Noodletools COURSE GUIDES DATABASES

The Hulbert Taft, Jr. Library

Honors US History: 1900-Present (formerly AP): 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. 

Examples of Reference Sources: Encyclopedias, dictionaries, almanacs, atlases, thesauruses, and indexes.

 

Tips for Citing Reference Sources in NoodleTools

Online Databases Containing Reference Content

 
 Online Subscription Databases : American History generally

Print and Electronic Reference Sources

 
General Reference Sources in American history, 1990s-Present

Print and Electronic Sources by Subject:

Click on the links below for reference materials in these categories:
Resource Allows NoodleTools Export Citations can be exported from this source to NoodleTools.
Contains Primary Sources This source contains Primary Sources.

 

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!

Tips for Citing Reference Sources in NoodleTools

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 = an electronic book found in a Taft Subscription Database such as Gale eBooks.
    • You can export citations from many of our databases. Look for Resource Allows NoodleTools Export  next to the database name.
  • If you cannot export the citation, go to NoodleTools, choose Database and then Reference Source.
    • Be sure to 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!