German : Background Information

Encyclopedia articles are excellent sources for authoritative, broad overviews of your topic. They can help you identify major concepts, define key terms, and discover who has done important work on your topic.

To find these, type encyclopedias AND [your topic] into UC Library Search, modeling from the examples below:

• "weimar republic" AND encyclopedias
• socialis* AND encyclopedias 

Use the asterisk symbol * to include alternate endings to your word:  socialism, socialist, socialists

Use quotation marks to search your term as a complete phrase.

When you get your results select Resource Type > Reference Entries from the left toolbar.

Below are some examples of literature dictionaries. To find others, use UC Library Search and type dictionaries plus one or more search terms.

• dictionaries AND postmodern* 
• dictionaries AND german* AND literature

Use quotation marks to search your terms as a phrase. 

Use the asterisk wildcard * to search for all variant endings to a word: german, germany, germanic

When you get your results select Resource Type > Books from the left toolbar.