
Reference sources can:
Provide an overview of your topic
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Are often written by scholars or experts in the field Provide key people, places, events, and terms that you can use to refine your searches Often offer suggestions for further reading
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Cambridge Companions: Cambridge Companions are a series of authoritative guides, written by leading experts, offering lively, accessible introductions to major writers, artists, philosophers, topics, and periods.
Oxford Handbooks Online: The Oxford Handbook Series brings together review essays that evaluate the current thinking on a field or topic, and make an original argument about the future direction of the debate.
Other companions and bibliographies include: Blackwell Companions (example: Companion to American Cultural History) and Oxford Bibliographies (example: Atlantic History)