Reference Resources

As you research new topics or read scholarly articles, you may come across words and concepts you don't understand.  Use dictionaries to check spelling, word meanings, word history, usage, and define concepts.  General dictionaries like the Oxford English Dictionary, will explain words in everyday use.  Specialized subject dictionaries, like the Facts on File Dictionary of Earth Science, defines the words and concepts particular to the subject.  Here are links to frequently used online dictionaries:

Oxford English Dictionary
English Words | Meaning | History | Pronunciation | Quotations

Facts on File Dictionary of Earth Science
Online Dictionary | Earth Science Terminology

Subject dictionaries can be used to look up specialized terminology for example:
 

Dictionary of Nursing Theory and Research       Editors, Bethel Ann Powers and Thomas R. Knapp       Call Number: Ref RT81.5 .P69 2006 or available online	The Postcolonial Studies Dictionary Editor: Pramad K. Nayar Call Number: PN56 P555 N38 2015
A Dictionary of Geography    Editor: Susan Mayhew    Call Number: Ref G63 .M39 2009	Key Terms in Literary Theory    Mary Klages    Call Number: PN44.5 .K58 2012
The AMA Dictionary of Business and Management     Editor: George Thomas Kurian     Call Number: HD30.15 .K894 2013	Dictionary of Media Studies    Editor: Susan Mayhew    Call Number: PN87.5 .D53 2006