Start https://librarywp.whatcom.edu/guides Wed, 17 Jun 2026 23:19:48 +0000 en hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.1.4 https://librarywp.whatcom.edu/guides/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/cropped-librarylogo-32x32.png Start https://librarywp.whatcom.edu/guides 32 32 Background Information https://librarywp.whatcom.edu/guides/background-information/ Wed, 12 Nov 2025 19:13:06 +0000 https://librarywp.whatcom.edu/guides/?p=18277 Background information provides a general overview of a research topic, including important terms and concepts, relevant names of people or places, and dates of specific events. Finding background information can help you locate keywords for searching databases and identify more specific areas of your topic that you may want to research further1.

Finding Background Information

We recommend a couple of starting points:

This database contains subject specialty encyclopedias that can give you a disciplinary overview of your topic and help you discover keywords that can be valuable in your research

Wikipedia

A great place to start to get a more general overview of your topic. Most articles also contain References and sources.

How to Use a Reference Article:

A reference article with arrows pointing out how to 1. Find a quick overview of key issues AND identify the stakeholders this topic concerns. 2 Get ideas of how to narrow and focus your topic. 3. Learn alternate search words or specialized vocab.
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  1. University of Texas Libraries. CC BY NC 4.0. ↩︎
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