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Biology

Why Use Reference Books, eBooks, an/or Databases

You will typically not use a physical and/or online reference book or encyclopedia as a source in your research.  The information in these sources is for your own background knowledge.

An encyclopedia is a type of reference book. Use a reference book to:

  • Choose your topic,
  • Define important vocabulary words and verify spelling related to your topic,
  • Find a basic overview and main issues related to your topic,
  • Find references to additional resources, and
  • Discover important background information related to your topic.

Reference Sources you may find useful

More about reference sources...

The following short video and tutorial explain what reference resources are and how you can use them to begin your research. 

Thank you to Western University for use of this video.