Encyclopedias attempt to summarize the state of knowledge in a field of inquiry. A good encyclopedia can be a valuable starting point for your research.
Two online reference collections that students often find useful are: Credo Reference, and Gale Virtual Reference Library.
Alamancs are sources of factual information, typically issued once a year. Some titles have been published for over 100 years, making them valuable sources of historical data as well. For example, they can help you determine historically accurate terminology, which is useful when searching newspapers.
We've also included in this section some of the older encyclopedia sets which, while not almanacs, do share with almanacs the quality of being issued regularly over time (sometimes as often as every year).
Chronologies are another source of factual information, and we have listed them here as well.
Two general sources of biographical information are Biography and Genealogy Master Index (citations to biographies in published sources), and Gale Biography in Context. Below are more specialized resources, relevant to this class.