Librarian
Related Research Guides
What is background information?
Background information provides basic facts, history, descriptions and concepts about your topic. Use only the information that you find useful in starting your research. You can always return to your sources if you need more in-depth information as you get deeper into your research topic.
CREDO Tutorial
Length: 3:07. Hit play and then watch full screen or on YouTube.
Recommended databases for background information
Credo Reference helps you build your research vocabulary with dictionaries, glossaries, thesauri, and other reference materials.
- Credo Reference - All Subjects Search This link opens in a new windowContains dictionaries, bilingual dictionaries, thesauri, encyclopedias, quotations and atlases, plus a wide range of subject-specific titles.
- Science Online This link opens in a new windowPresents a broad range of scientific disciplines through extensive definitions, essays, diagrams, biographies, and experiments.
- World Geography & Culture This link opens in a new windowProvides country geography and physical features, government, people, and society facts at a glance and in-depth coverage through country entries, maps, flags, images, statistics, news articles, a gazetteer, and more.
- Berkshire Encyclopedia of Sustainability This link opens in a new windowArticles on key concepts and core beliefs of sustainability, the practices and methods to achieve it - and the ways in which different areas of the world adopt them or not. After signing in, you must select a Berkshire volume to either browse or search.
- Gale Encyclopedia of ScienceCovers all major areas of science, engineering, technology, as well as mathematics and the medical and health sciences, while providing a comprehensive overview of current scientific knowledge and technology. Entries typically describe scientific concepts, provide overviews of scientific areas and, in some cases, define terms.
- Statista This link opens in a new windowBusiness, marketing, demographic, and economic statistics along with content in the form of infographics, company/industry dossiers, market analytics, and forecasts.
Find graphs and other statistics like this one using Statista (see above).