Research Guides: Bilingual Communities: Get Started

Find Background Information

Reference Sources, such as encyclopedias and dictionaries, are an excellent place to begin your research. They provide the background information you need to better understand your topic and to develop your keywords for deeper searching. Below are selected reference sources that can help you find information about Bilingual Communities.

Find background information on countries, languages, peoples, and topics.

Credo Reference
Provides access to a large number of encyclopedias, dictionaries, thesauri and other reference books. Subjects covered include art, biography, history, literature, music, religion, and science and technology.

CIA - The World Factbook
Information on the history, people, government, economy, geography, communications, transportation, military, and transnational issues for 266 world entities..
Ethnologue: Languages of the World
Information about the world’s 7000 living languages. For each language, it lists names and dialects, population estimates, location, details by country, vitality level, usage, and second language information.

Find background information, scholarly and news sources on current issues in countries and regions throughout the world.

Gale in Context: Global Issues
Contains pages and full-text articles from newspapers, magazines, and academic journals. Focuses on issues, such as war, genocide, terrorism, human rights, poverty, famine, globalization, world trade, nuclear proliferation, and global warming.

Wikipedia

Wikipedia can be a great reference resource to start learning about your topic. It can help you with:

Developing background knowledge about your topic, including an overview, definitions, and outline.
Discovering keywords, including related terms, sub-topics, and names of notable people, places, and events.
Finding links to other relevant resources.

It's generally true that Wikipedia should:

NOT be used as a main or only source of information for your project.
NOT be quoted/cited as a resource in your final project.

REMEMBER: Always make sure to follow the requirements communicated by your teacher. The appropriateness of different information resources varies depending on the circumstances of specific assignments and topics.