- St. Olaf Libraries
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- Writing 120I: Being Good Ancestors
- Find Background Information
Writing 120I: Being Good Ancestors
- Find Scholarly Books & Articles
- Find Background Information
- Research St. Olaf
- Evaluate Sources
- Cite Sources
Librarian
Audrey Gunn
Contact:
304 Rolvaag Memorial Library
1510 St. Olaf Avenue
St. Olaf College
Northfield, MN 55057
1510 St. Olaf Avenue
St. Olaf College
Northfield, MN 55057
507-786-3658
Website
Subjects: Biology, Chemistry, Computer Science, Creative Writing, Data Science, Engineering, English, Environmental Conversations, Environmental Studies, Kinesiology, Mathematics, Mathematics, Statistics, and Computer Science, Molecular Discovery, Neuroscience, Nursing, Physics, Public Health, Statistics and Data Science
Why do background research?
It's important to familiarize yourself with a topic before you begin doing more specific and extensive research.
Background research will help you:
- Narrow your topic and focus your research question
- Find historical information, trends, agreements and disagreements, related to the topic, and uncovers gaps in your knowledge
- Learn the context of a topic -- the who, what, when, where, why, and how
- Uncover keywords you can use to do more extensive research
- Find additional sources on your topic
Searchable collections of online encyclopedias
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Credo Reference This link opens in a new windowOffers full-text access to over 500 highly-regarded titles from 70 publishers. Covers every major subject in the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences from the world's best publishers of reference.
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Oxford Reference Online This link opens in a new windowOxford Reference Online brings together language and subject reference works from one of the world's biggest and most trusted reference publishers into a single cross-searchable resource.
Reference Sites
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Minnesota Breeding Bird Atlas"Species accounts provide a summary of the 249 birds documented in Minnesota during five summer seasons, from 2009-2013. Read about the history of their presence in Minnesota since the 1800s and their breeding habitats, population status, and conservation. Each account includes maps and graphs depicting surveyed abundance across the state."
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Minnesota Native Plant EncyclopediaBasic descriptions and information about plants native to Minnesota.
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Minnesota Invasive Non-native PlantsDescriptions and information about non-native, invasive plants in Minnesota.
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Minnesota Animals GuideInformation on common animals in Minnesota.
Print Reference Books
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The Book of Fungi
Publication Date: 2011 -
Encyclopedia of Environmental Ethics and Philosophy
Publication Date: 2008Also available as an ebook. -
Encyclopedia of Environment and Society
Publication Date: 2007 -
The Encyclopedia of Herbs
Publication Date: 2009 -
Encyclopedia of Sustainability
Publication Date: 2009 -
Encyclopedia of Water Politics and Policy in the United States
Publication Date: 2011 -
Forest Entomology
Publication Date: 2011 -
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Minnesota Place Names
Publication Date: 2001 -
The North American Forests
Publication Date: 1998 -
Weeds of North America
Publication Date: 2014
- Last Updated: Sep 26, 2025 1:30 PM
- URL: https://libraryguides.stolaf.edu/writ120i
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