LibGuides: Find Background Information: Find Background Information

Find Background Information

What is Background Information?

Background information provides a general overview of a research topic, including important terms and concepts, relevant names of people or places, and dates of specific events. Finding background information can help you locate keywords for searching databases and identify more specific areas of your topic that you may want to research further.

Where to Search

Gale eBooks This link opens in a new window
Encyclopedias, almanacs, and specialized reference sources
Updated regularly. A database of encyclopedias, almanacs, and specialized reference sources. Fully searchable across all files.

For more information on ebooks see the Ebook Guide
SAGE Knowledge This link opens in a new window
Find encyclopedias (especially about the Social Sciences) and ebooks.
Platform for Sage book and reference content, including scholarly monographs, reference works, handbooks, series, professional development titles, and more. Only select book titles purchased by the UT Libraries are fully accessible.
For more information on ebooks see the Ebook Guide

Encyclopedia articles contain general facts and basic overviews. Check with your professor before citing an encyclopedia article, as they are not peer-reviewed scholarly sources.

More Search Options

CQ Researcher This link opens in a new window
In-depth coverage of trending issues in the news, written by journalists
Updated weekly. Explores a single "hot" issue in the news in depth each week. Topics range from social and teen issues to environment, health, education and science and technology. Every report is written by an experienced journalist and features comments from experts, lawmakers and citizens on all sides of every issue with numerous charts, graphs and sidebar articles.
Gale in Context: Opposing Viewpoints This link opens in a new window
Viewpoints and topical overviews focused on social issues
Updated daily. Provides full text access to differing points of view on current social issues. Brings together viewpoint articles, contextual topic overviews, government and organizational statistics, biographies of social activists, court cases, profiles of government agencies and special interest groups, newspaper and magazine articles, as well as links to more than 1,800 reviewed and subject-indexed web sites.
ProQuest Congressional This link opens in a new window
Good for background information on current controversies and political events
Updated daily. Provides indexing of many Congressional publications, including Bills, Resolutions, Hearings, Committee Prints, Reports, Documents and Congressional Research Service Reports.
House and Senate Reports and Documents indexed in ProQuest Congressional (1817-1969) are available in full text in the Serial Set database. Our subscription to ProQuest Congressional does not include full text of the Serial Set.
Congressional Hearings after 2013 and House and Senate Documents and Reports indexed in ProQuest Congressional (1995 to present) are available in full text on Govinfo.gov site from the Government Printing Office.

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Wikipedia

In high school you were probably told to never ever use Wikipedia for class research because anyone can edit it. Well, college is about breaking rules. You *can* use Wikipedia for research. However:

If you find something interesting, make sure to verify it with a refereed source.
Make sure to ask your professor before you *cite* Wikipedia as a source. They will probably tell you no.

Wikipedia is most useful for:

Engaging your curiosity about a subject by giving you background information and demonstrating the different directions in which your research could go.
Introducing you to keywords and vocabulary that will lead you to "better" sources via library databases.
Giving you a quick start with finding references. Look at the bottom of the page! There are almost always references there, many of which are of a caliber that you could use and cite in your paper!

So: Use Wikipedia wisely. It is a place to start your research. It should not be where your research ends.