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Research Guides@Tufts

CSHD 62: Childhood Across Culture

This guide is designed to support students in CSHD62: Childhood Across Culture

Reference Sources

What is a reference source?

A reference source summarizes and synthesizes secondary sources such as books and scholarly articles. Typically, a reference source does not contain original research. These sources provide important background and contextual information on your subject.

Why should I use a reference source?

You should use this type of source to help narrow your research topic, find data to support your thesis, and identify keywords and main ideas to use as search terms.

What are some examples of reference sources?

Reference sources generally include bibliographies, dictionaries, encyclopedias, and handbooks.

Reference Databases

Some recommended databases of reference sources:

  • Gale in Context: Global Issues
    • Gale in Context: Global Issues focuses on international issues and includes encyclopedic articles on countries and geographic territories
  • Credo Reference
    • Online reference resources from numerous publishers. This reference resource can be searched by individual title, broad subject headings, cross-references, audio and images.
  • World Geography & Culture Online
    • includes extensive reference articles with data and statistics on countries, places, peoples, and geography concepts and skills
  • Oxford Reference
    • Provides web access to more than 100 major Oxford University Press dictionaries, encyclopedias, and other reference works across a wide variety of disciplines

Other Helpful Reference Sources

  • International Encyclopedia of Marriage and Family
    • Includes articles on specific countries and religious traditions. Articles examine the history of family life within these cultures and discussing how families have been affected by political and social change.
  • Marriage, Family, and Relationships: A Cross-Cultural Encyclopedia (print)
    • explores the expression of relationships in many cultures and to discover by comparison both shared patterns and dazzling variety. Alphabetically arranged by topic, the detailed and engrossing essays cover a variety of family-related topics
  • Oxford Bibliographies
    • High-level overviews of scholarship written by top names in the field get researchers and faculty up to speed quickly on topics beyond an area of expertise