Background sources are especially useful when you are just starting your research, but they can also help you throughout the process. These types of sources can provide a brief summary of a topic, explain important theories, define commonly used terms, and provide biographical information on important people in the field.
Research Tip: Search for broad-scope topics, theories, terms, or people in these types of sources. For example:
Full-text detailed reports on controversial social, economic, political, educational, health, environmental, technology, and current topics. Each report includes an abstract, overview, background summary, current situation, outlook, special focus, chronology, pro/con, and bibliography. Database of encyclopedias and specialized reference sources for multidisciplinary research. Provides searchable full-text e-book versions of over 3,500 reference works, including multi-volume encyclopedias, biographical collections, business plan handbooks, company history compilations, consumer health references, and specialized handbooks, dictionaries, encyclopedias, etc. in a wide range of subject areas.
A Dictionary of Gender Studies by 
Encyclopedia of Gender in Media by 
Encyclopedia of Sex and Gender by 
Global Encyclopedia of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQ) History
Latinas in the United States: a Historical Encyclopedia by 
The Oxford Encyclopedia of Women in World History by 
The SAGE Handbook of Gender and Psychology by 
Women in American History: a Social, Political, and Cultural Encyclopedia and Document Collection [4 Volumes] by 
American Women Writers by 
Concise Dictionary of Women Artists by 
Headstrong: 52 Women who Changed Science and the World by 
International Women in Science: a Biographical Dictionary To 1950 by 
Latin American Women Writers: an Encyclopedia by 
Shapers of the Great Debate on Women's Rights: a Biographical Dictionary by 
Sovereign Stories and Blood Memories: Native American Women's Autobiography by 
Women Filmmakers by 
Asian and Feminist Philosophies in Dialogue: Liberating Traditions by 
The Black Feminist Reader by 
The Bloomsbury Handbook of 21st-Century Feminist Theory by 
Chicana Feminist Thought: The Basic Historical Writings by 
Feminism Without Borders: Decolonizing Theory, Practicing Solidarity by 
Indigenous Women and Feminism by 
Modern Misogyny: Anti-Feminism in a Post-Feminist Era by 
Postfeminism: Cultural Texts and Theories by 
Separate Roads to Feminism: Black, Chicana, and White Feminist Movements in America's Second Wave by 
A Vindication Of The Rights Of Woman by 
The Second Sex by 
The Feminine Mystique by 
Ain't I a Woman: Black Women and Feminism by 
This Bridge Called My Back by 
Women, Culture and Politics by 
Ecofeminism by