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Finding Background Information
Not sure how to start your research? Background and reference sources can help you...
- Gather initial information about a topic
- Get a rough overview so you can decide what areas to research further
Reference books and online tools are great for looking up a quick fact, definition, or date, and they can direct you to more sources.
If none of the suggestions on this page fit what you're looking for, try a search in the library catalog for your research topic and add "reference", "handbook", "guide", or "companion" to see what materials we have on your topic.
Don't underestimate the value of reference materials and sources like Wikipedia to help set you up for future research!
Online Tools for Background Information
The databases listed in this box can help you find background information. These provide access to short entries on a variety of subjects that will give you some helpful context as you brainstorm issues to explore further.
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Credo Reference Academic Core This link opens in a new window
- What's included? Hundreds of encyclopedias, dictionaries, thesauri, quotations, and subject-specific titles, as well as 200,000+ images and audio files, and nearly 200 videos.
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Oxford Reference Online Premium This link opens in a new window
- What’s included? Brings together selected reference works from Oxford University Press into a single cross-searchable resource.
Recommended Books & Ebooks
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The Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America
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Call Number: ebookISBN: 9780199734962Publication Date: 2013This encyclopedia covers the significant events, inventions, and social movements that have shaped the way Americans view, prepare, and consume food and drink. -
The Oxford Companion to Food
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Call Number: ebookISBN: 9780199677337Publication Date: 2014This text covers the approaches to food such as those offered by anthropology and sociology as well as the culture surrounding food exemplified by etiquette, gastronomy, and photography, and our shifting concerns surrounding food, including convenience food, obesity, and local food. -
The SAGE Encyclopedia of Food Issues
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Call Number: ebookISBN: 9781506300733Publication Date: 2015This encyclopedia explores the topic of food across multiple disciplines within the social sciences and related areas including business, consumerism, marketing, and environmentalism. Some specific topics covered are Agriculture, Labor, Food Processing, Marketing and Advertising, Trade and Distribution, Retail and Shopping, Consumption, Food Ideologies, Food in Popular Media, Food Safety, Environment, Health, Government Policy, and Hunger and Poverty.
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Food Culture
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Call Number: ebookISBN: 9781789205244Publication Date: 2019This text is a comprehensive guide to methods used in the sociocultural, linguistic and historical research of food use. -
Food Research
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Call Number: ebookISBN: 9781785332876Publication Date: 2017This text provides biocultural and archaeological research on food from the past and present, with very specific, precise, methods for data collection and analysis.
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Food, Feasts, and Faith
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Call Number: Carothers Library Stacks BL65.F65 F54 2017ISBN: 9781610694117Publication Date: 2017This book offers information on food-related religious beliefs, customs, and practices from around the world. It provides up-to-date information, introduces concepts of food as being more than just nutrients, and enables an understanding of diverse religious traditions and the importance of food in people's lives. -
The Handbook of Food and Anthropology
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Call Number: Carothers Library Stacks GN407 .H36 2016ISBN: 0857855948Publication Date: 2016This book covers topics such as identity, commensality, locality, migration, ethical consumption, artisanal foods, and children's food. It also includes geographic and cultural diversity, with chapters on South Asia, South Africa, the United States of America, post-socialist societies, Maoist China, and Muslim and Jewish foodways. -
Eating Culture
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Call Number: Carothers Library Stacks GN407 .C76 2013ISBN: 9781442604650Publication Date: 2013This book is an overview that illustrates the important role that anthropology and anthropologists have played in understanding food.
