Reference sources like Encyclopedias, Dictionaries, and Handbooks can help you better understand the background of your topic and make scholarly articles (which are very detailed) easier to read.
A collection of specialized reference works covering many topics, including literary criticism, history, and social context. Search the entire collection at once, or select specific titles to look through. You will need to login with your Langara email & password to use these resources when not on campus. Suggested titles for browsing:
This series provides author biographies, plot summaries, characters, themes, style, historical context, critical overviews, and criticism for commonly-studied short stories.
The Oxford Research Encyclopedias (OREs) offer long-form overview articles written, peer-reviewed, and edited by leading scholars. The OREs cover both foundational and cutting-edge topics in order to develop, over time, an anchoring knowledge base for major areas of research across the humanities, social sciences, and sciences.