Getting started
Once you have analyzed your current event, it's handy to get an overview of your topic in a reference source. By carefully reading a detailed reference article you can get a solid grounding on the facts or background of an event, person, or time period.
For later assignments, you will use reference articles to gather keywords, names, and dates for further searching, and use the Selected Bibliography to start gathering your secondary sources.
Why use a reference source?
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To ground research in a basic understanding from an authoritative source.
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To learn the basics
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To find out the historical background to your current event.
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To lead us to different sources via
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keywords to use in other searches
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linked entries (for e-sources)
- bibliographies
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Finding a reference source
- Mexico and Latin American EncyclopediasYou can search all of the encyclopedias related to Mexico here.
Mexico Today by Publication Date: 2012Focusing on the last twenty years, this has entries on politics, society and the economy. There is a print copy and an ebook.
Modern Mexico by Publication Date: 2018In-depth background on Mexico, from the complexity of its pre-Columbian civilizations to its social and political development in the context of Western civilization.
Mexico by Publication Date: 2008This online only encyclopedia covers both historical and contemporary Mexican economics, government, popular culture and society.
This is only available as an ebook.
Encyclopedia of Latin American History and CulturePublication Date: 2008This encyclopedia has entries on Mexican history and historical figures, as well as economic, social and cultural entries that span more than one Latin American country.
- All Gale eBooksThis link will take you to all the encyclopedias that UHS subscribes to from the Gale collection. These include topical encyclopedias that may have entries about Mexico.
To search multiple Encyclopedias at once use these links:
- Oxford Reference Online This link opens in a new window
- Oxford Research EncyclopediaIn-depth encyclopedia entries on a wide variety of topics from politics to public health, climate science to linguistics.
If you can't find a suitable article in any of our online encyclopedias, we may be able to find something in the two-volume Encyclopedia of Mexico. It's only available in print in the UHS library:
Encyclopedia of Mexico by Publication Date: 1997Looks at Mexican history, society and culture from ancient civilizations to the end of the 20th century.
In the library, we have pdfs of many of the entries. Ask us before you try and find it elsewhere.
Citing your reference source
- Noodletools This link opens in a new window
What is a reference source?
A reference source will give you a quick and simple overview of a subject. It will probably be an article in a large book or database. It is organized to include:
- definitions, synonyms
- basic factual information
- overview or guide to a subject
- maps
- statistics, charts, tables
Working with Reference Sources
Recognizing a reference source
Reference works can be print books, ebooks or databases (a database is a collection of pre-selected resources). They will often have one of these words in the title:
- Encyclopedia
- Almanac
- Atlas
- Dictionary or Biographical Dictionary
- Directory
- Factbook
- Gazetteer (a geographical dictionary)
- Handbook
- Statistics
- Thesaurus
- Yearbook