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History Guide: Using Reference Materials

Find targeted resources for research and referencing

Wikipedia

Wikipedia is a good starting place for gathering background information and providing you with possible keywords to use for searching academic sources. Be sure to check the references at the end of the wiki entry. Remember: do not use Wikipedia as a reference in your assignments.

Using reference materials to get started

Reference materials are factual works and include:

  • Dictionaries
  • Subject specific dictionaries
  • Directories
  • Encyclopedias

Use these materials to:

  • Define terms in your lecture materials or assignment questions
  • Confirm facts and figures

Credo Search

Credo Logo


Credo is an easy-to-use tool for starting research. Use this box to search hundreds of full-text reference titles, as well as 500,000+ images and audio files and over 1,000 videos.

Resources within this database include:

  • Encyclopaedias
  • Dictionaries
  • Biographies
  • Quotations
  • Bilingual Dictionaries

Reference books from Credo

We acknowledge the Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the first inhabitants of the nation and acknowledge Traditional Owners of the lands where our staff and students, live, learn and work.Acknowledgement of Country

Creative Commons Licence
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International License, unless otherwise noted. Content from this Guide should be attributed to James Cook University Library. This does not apply to images, third party material (seek permission from the original owner) or any logos or insignia belonging to JCU or other bodies, which remain All Rights Reserved.

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