Biographical Information Resources
Glossary of Terms
Historical - About people no longer living
Contemporary - About people living (at the time of publication)
Biography - About a person
Bibliography - List of sources of information, such as articles and books
Works - Compositions, performances, recordings, etc.
Signed - Articles with a named author
Keys to Finding Biographical Information
Name - Including any variant spellings
Time Period - During which the person lived & worked
Country - Where the person lived
Occupation - Including various ways to describe their occupation
Characteristics - Such as ethnicity, gender, etc.
Reference Books
You might use several types of reference books:
General Encyclopedias & Dictionaries. These have entries on just about everything under the sun.
Subject Encyclopedias & Dictionaries. These works focus on a particular topic.
Biographical Encyclopedias & Dictionaries. All about people. These can be either general, or limited in some way.
Quotation Dictionaries. Did the person you selected say something profound?
Here are some to try:
Credo Reference. Actually a whole collection of different reference books - search them all at once.
Britannica Online. General encyclopedia.
Wikipedia. General encyclopedia. Use this only to help you find infomation in other, more credible sources.
Dictionary of Literary Biography. For information about authors.
Other Books
Look for books about the individual, or about the person's time period, place or field.
Hawaii Voyager Catalog. Find books (including ebooks), pamphlets, videos and more in the University of Hawaii libraries. Hint: if you want an item that's at another UH library, you can go there to use or borrow it, or ask the WCC librarian to request it to you.
Ebrary. Over 32,000 full-text books on a wide range of topics. Hint: use Internet Explorer.
NetLibrary. Hundreds of books from the University of Hawaii Press, plus many public-domain books. Hint: set up a username and password while on the WCC campus, then you can log in from anywhere.
Hawaii State Public Library Catalog. Books and more. Hint: You can request items from other libraries (even other islands) to be transferred to the branch of your choice (Library card needed - they're free).
Google Books Advanced Search. Limited preview or full-text books.
National Academies Press. Ebooks in various science, health, and technology fields. Hint: look for the "Download Free PDF" button.
Finding Articles
Hint - if you want a newspaper, magazine or journal article that you can't get online for free, don't pay for it - ask a librarian to get it for you.
Academic Search Premier (EBSCO). This database has full-text articles on a broad range of topics.
Newspaper Source (EBSCO). Articles from regional, national and international newspapers, plus transcripts from selected television & radio news shows.
MasterFILE Premier (EBSCO). Articles from magazines and reference books, plus primary source documents and photos, too.
TOPICsearch (EBSCO). Includes magazine articles, biographies, public opinion polls, and more.
Google Scholar. "Peer-reviewed papers, theses, books, abstracts and articles, from academic publishers, professional societies, preprint repositories, universities and other scholarly organizations."
Primary Sources
Historic Documents. Primary sources on a variety of topics.
MasterFILE Premier (EBSCO). Articles from magazines and reference books, plus primary source documents and photos, too.
American Memory Project. From the Library of Congress.
Repositories of Primary Sources. A directory of online collections of primary source materials.
Finding Primary Sources on the Web. Tips and links compiled by the American Library Association.
Citing Your Sources
You must always acknowledge where you got your information, whether it's from a book, podcast, blog, journal article, personal interview, email exchange, photo, sound recording, video clip, or wherever. Why?
- To give credit where credit is due.
- To increase your own credibility in the eyes of your audience.
- To help your audience find those items for their own research.
- To avoid plagiarism.
There are TWO parts to citing sources:
- Cite the source of your information when/where you use it.
- Provide a list of Works
Cited or Bibliography
WCC Library's Citing Sources Page
Check out NoodleBib Express! The librarians at WCC can also help you cite your sources (Tara, in particular, likes the tricky ones).