Finding Subject Encyclopedias in SAGE
To identify encyclopedias owned by Colorado State University, do Subject or Word searches on SAGE. Consider the broader subject area that your topic is a part of before doing your search, because there are no subject encyclopedias for narrow topics.
Subject search (LC Subjects on Web SAGE):
If you do a Subject search be sure to use a Library of Congress Subject Heading (LCSH) term, and to do two separate searches. Type in the subject area of your topic and add the word "dictionaries" to your search. Look at the items you found, writing down the call numbers of useful sources, and then do the search again, only the second time add the word "encyclopedias" instead of "dictionaries." Write down the call numbers and locations for useful sources and then go find them.
Word search:
Type in the subject area of your topic and add "and (encyclopedias or dictionaries)" to your search. For example:
Word music and (encyclopedias or dictionaries)
Topic example:
To find information about homelessness, you will need to look under sociology or social work. Therefore, do the following searches to find encyclopedias that would be likely to have articles on that topic:
LC Subject sociology encyclopedias
LC Subject sociology dictionaries
LC Subject social work encyclopedias
LC Subject social work dictionaries
or,
Word sociology and (encyclopedias or dictionaries)
Word social work and (encyclopedias or dictionaries)
Two of the encyclopedias you would find would be the Encyclopedia of Sociology and the Encyclopedia of Social Work, both of which have lengthy articles on "homelessness."
The LC Subject search may look more cumbersome, but it can be advantageous to do a search using "official" subject headings.
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Content: Naomi Lederer