When starting your research, it is important to spend a little time doing some initial background reading on your topic to get a good overview, develop a basic understanding of key facts and get a better sense of the various issues related to the topic. This background review will also assist you in clarifying your research thesis and generate a list of potential search terms to use for locating further information on your topic.
A good place to begin is by using Reference material. "Reference works" is an overall term for resources that take an introductory approach to a particular subject and generally include encyclopedias, dictionaries, handbooks, almanacs, atlases and other introductory texts. Reference works are usually written by scholars and contain the essential information you should know before beginning more in-depth research.
In the ECC Library, print reference works can be found in the 1st Floor East Reading Room and are items that cannot be checked out from the Library. However, we also have digital versions of many reference works that can be accessed via some of the Library's databases (listed below).
Note: Sometimes the term "reference" is used to refer to books that cannot be checked out from the Library.
Encyclopedia of American Business by 
Economics by 
Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2018-2019 by 
Poverty in the United States by 
A library database that provides access to hundreds of full-text online reference books covering major subject areas. Considerable multimedia content is included, such as videos, audio files, and flash animations. Also, it provides a "power search" feature which allows searching across multiple ECC databases for information on particular topics.
