Reference works provide academically sound background information on a topic. They present summaries of facts, definitions, historical overviews, statistics, and other types of information on large subject areas, organized for quick lookup. Often they also give referrals to more detailed sources (like books and articles).Reference works include encyclopedias, (subject) dictionaries, thesauri, and handbooks. Find a selection below, or go to our catalogue or alphabetical list of databases for more.