What are Subject Encyclopedias?

Subject encyclopedias are sometimes called special encyclopedias because they cover specialized topics rather than broad, general topics. Encyclopedia Britannica is a general encyclopedia. The Oxford Encyclopedia of Children's Literature is a subject encyclopedia.

Articles in subject encyclopedias will summarize the major issues regarding a topic and will often provide a selective bibliography of the most important books and articles that have been written about the topic. The library has print and online encyclopedias on hundreds of different subjects. Most of these can be found in the reference collection on the 2nd Floor of the library. Encyclopedias on theological topics are located on the 4th Floor in Theological Reference.

Subject Encyclopedias Online

The Hekman Library owns many subject encyclopedias and dictionaries in electronic form. Some of the more extensive ones, all published by Oxford University Press, are listed below with links to the full text content:

• Oxford Encyclopedia of Children's Literature

• Oxford Encyclopedia of American Literature
• Oxford Encyclopedia of British Literature
• Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America
• Oxford Encyclopedia of Economic History
• Oxford Encyclopedia of Theatre and Performance
• Oxford Encyclopedia of the Reformation
• Oxford Dictionary of the Renaissance

Notice that the word "dictionary" may sometimes be used for a resource that is encyclopedic in nature, as in the last example.

Another way to find subject encyclopedias or dictionaries online is to do a WebCat advanced search, limit your format to Electronic book, do a title search for the term "encyclopedia" or "dictionary" and last, enter your topic words. You will likely find many books in our netLibrary collection on everything from abbreviations to zoology.