A reference work is a book or serial publication that contains useful facts and information such as encyclopedias, dictionaries, thesauruses, almanacs, and catalogs. Generally, reference works are consulted for particular pieces of information, rather than read from beginning to end. Most reference works are compiled by a team of contributors whose work is coordinated by one or more editors rather than by an individual author. Updated editions are usually published as needed, in some cases annually (e.g., almanacs, who's who). NOTE: Dictionary definitions and very short encyclopedia entries can be used as a beginning point in your research, however, do not count these sources as one of the "minimum of three" academic resources. Interacting with more in-depth academic material will help raise your score.
Use the LC Subject Headings and keywords listed below to search the Reference databases. Try both single-use and combinations of words and phrases. There is an abundance of resources on these topics.
General Reference/More Inclusive Sources:
Ancient History Encyclopedia
A peer-reviewed source of ancient history information.
Concise Atlas of World History, Andromeda
Displays the history of the world with a thorough and global perspective. Also allows the user to trace the developments in one region of the world through time, or compare the nature of different civilisations in any given period.
EuroDocs: Online Sources for European History
These links connect to European primary historical documents that are transcribed, reproduced in facsimile, or translated. They shed light on key historical happenings within the respective countries and within the broadest sense of political, economic, social and cultural history. The order of documents is chronological wherever possible.
History of Christianity Reading Room (Tyndale Seminary)
Provides links to (mostly) books including dictionaries, encyclopedias, readers, church history, surveys, resources for Tyndale's History of Christianity, medieval and early church history, church history from other countries.
Internet Medieval Sourcebook (From Rome through Reformation and Exploration) (Fordham University)
This covers history from the Roman Empire up through the Reformation and exploration of new lands.
Propaganda and Mass Persuasion: A Historical Encyclopedia, 1500 to the Present
Provides a comprehensive introduction to propaganda, its changing nature, its practitioners, and its impact on the past five centuries of world history. Case studies reveal the role of mass persuasion during the Reformation, and wars throughout history.
The Hutchinson Chronology of World History
Arranged in strict chronological sequence by decade or by year, this work details both major and minor events that shaped every area of human achievement and concern.
History by Historical Period:
Stone Age Societies:
Age of the Gods, by Christopher Dawson
"hen first published in 1928, The Age of the Gods was hailed as the best short account of what is known of pre-historic man and culture. In it, Christopher Dawson synthesized modern scholarship on human cultures in Europe and the East from the Stone Age to the beginnings of the Iron Age."
Stone Age History Timelines (many versions) (Bing.com)
This is a collection of links to different timelines covering the Stone Age according to different illustrators.
Chinese Civilizations:
India, Early History:
Greece, Early History:
Eurasian and North African Civilizations, 500 B.C.-500 A.D.:
Roman Civilization:
Eastern Mediterranean World, A.D. 300-750:
Islamic World, A.D. 800-1300:
Concise History of Islam, by B. D. Usmani, et al.
"Muslim History involves the history of the Islamic faith as a religion and as a social institution. Through various periods, Islam made many a long stride and its influence spread far-off over the globe."
History of Islamic Political Thought : From the Prophet to the Present, by Antony Black
"A complete history of Islamic political thought from early Islam (c.622-661) to the present.This comprehensive overview describes and interprets all schools of Islamic political thought, their origins, inter-connections and meaning. It examines the Qur'an, the early Caliphate, classical Islamic philosophy, and the political culture of the Ottoman and other empires."
Islamic History: A very short Introduction, by Adam J. Silverstein.
"This Very Short Introduction introduces the story of Islamic history; the controversies surrounding its study; and the significance that it holds - for Muslims and for non-Muslims alike."
African Beginnings to A.D. 1500:
Middle Ages, A.D. 476-1500:
Church in Later Middle Ages: The I.B.Tauris History of the Christian Church., by Norman P. Tanner
The author "... discusses the trials of the age in the form of the papal schism between 1378-1417, the heresies of Cathars, Lollards and Hussites, the Hundred Years'War, and the terror of the Black Death. Yet he focuses, too, on the great ecumenical councils, the flowering of intellectual life in the Renaissance and the extraordinarily rich spirituality of mystics like Julian of Norwich, Catherine of Siena and Meister Eckhart."
Church in the Early Middle Ages : The I.B.Tauris History of the Christian Church, by G. R. Evans.
". The cultural, social and political dominance of Christendom in what we now call'the West', from about 600-1300, made the Christian Church a shaper of the modern world in respects which go far beyond its religious infleunce. "
History of the Americas (to 1500)
This includes an overview of what was happening in the America's before Columbus came and others soon followed.
Middle Ages. (History.com)
This covers the period known as the Middle Ages/Medieval Period.
It includes videos depicting events.
Dynastic Empires of Eurasia,1300-1650:
East Asia Cultural and Political Systems
Renaissance and Reformation, 1300-1600:
Later European Civilization and The Enlightenment:
