LibGuides: French: Background Information

Reference Sources

Reference sources provide foundational information on topics like important people, historical events, cultural theories, or religious doctrines. Use these sources to give yourself background information, develop the topic of a paper, make a list of important names or events related to your topic, understand the timeline of historical events, or discover the definition of unfamiliar terms.

Salem Literature This link opens in a new window
Salem Literature and History provides short articles on major authors, literary works, historical figures, and historical events. The bibliographies are useful starting points for further research.
Oxford Reference Online This link opens in a new window
Contains the texts of more than 250 reference titles published by Oxford University Press from all subject areas.
Credo Reference Online This link opens in a new window
Online reference library providing access to a large number of encyclopedias, dictionaries, thesauri and other reference books. Subjects covered include art, biography, history, literature, music, religion, science, and technology.