Companies & Finance: Encyclopedias ...

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Why background?

Background sources  (encyclopedias, dictionaries, handbooks, etc.) provide well established summary and factual information. Useful for:

  • basic concepts and established viewpoints
  • historical context and relationships to other topics
  • specialized terms and definitions
  • data, facts, formulas

Online reference collections

Start with one of these larger reference collections databases ... Below there are examples of specific sources, some online, some in print.

Encyclopedias and handbooks

We all know pretty much what an encyclopedia is:  an overview of all aspects of knowledge on a subject ... And below are some subject specific encyclopedias. 

A handbook is the next step up in depth of coverage of a topic, so a kind of super-charged encyclopedia.  There are several below as well.

Dictionaries