What is a general reference resource?
A general reference resource is one that is designed to answer a question about a topic quickly.
You would not read a general reference book from beginning to end. Rather, you would use search strategies to find a fact, a statistic, an explanation, or a summary, to answer your question.
There are different types of general reference resources:
- Encyclopedia
- Atlas
- Dictionary
- Thesaurus
- Handbook
- Directory
A general reference resource is a good place to start your research. Do some background reading using one of these resources before choosing a person or event to focus on.
Brittanica Kids
Kids Brittanica is an online encyclopedia which can be used to find out general information about a wide range of topics.
Instructions
If you’re searching the name of a person, put their surname first.
When searching online, you don’t need to use capital letters for names of people or places.
You can change the reading level and detail of the article by using the selector in the top right corner. If ‘Kids’ is too easy, try ‘Students’. ‘Scholars’ is for high school students.
When you have entered your key words into the search bar, you can use the selector to the left to choose which type of result you are looking for.
A History of Australia by Stephen Gard
A History of Australia is a series of 10 reference books that look at the entire history of Australia. Volume 4, 5 and 6 will be the most helpful when learning about Australian people and events in the 1800s.
Instructions
Use the Contents page to see which topics are covered in that book.
The Index lists specific people, places or things that are included in the book, as well as a page number to help you find the information.
There is some bold text next to each picture. This text is called a ‘caption’. The caption will tell you exactly what is shown in the picture.