Finding Background Information

Find Background Information on your topic in library reference (academic encyclopedias) database.

A closer look at the results

As shown in the image below, you can combine simple search terms in the advanced search page in Gale Ebooks (previously called Gale Virtual Reference Library)

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After searching in this database, I see search results that show many articles with different perspectives on my topic. The image below shows a list of articles from the search. 

• Even though all the articles have the same title, they are coming from different subject encyclopedias. Therefore, it's useful to take a peek at the titles of those larger sources - this search for grandparents, yields articles that look at the topic from different perspectives including psychology, health, history, and sociciology

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This article offers a useful entry into my research. It provides definitions, discusses key issues, mentions stakeholders, introduces important vocabulary and concepts on the topic, and lists further reading at the end.

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Find BACKGROUND INFORMATION on your current topics in library databases.

Who: Who does this impact? Who is involved?

What: What are the key issues? 

When: When is this an issue? What is its history? 

Where: Where is this an issue?

Why: Why is this occurring? Why does it matter?

How: How can it be changed? 

Also find key language and leads to more sources on a topic!