Reference material

Reference works are vital for busy writers as they allow you to find information easily. Their strength lies in offering synthesised information, giving definitions and subject overviews, providing facts and statistics, listing addresses and outlining events in chronological order. They tend to include catalogues and indices which help you navigate their respective topics.

Examples of reference works

Encyclopaedias are considered authoritative and comprehensive sources. Their scope can vary from covering topics across the whole of human knowledge (eg a, ) to focusing on a specific subject area (eg). Many encyclopaedias are regularly revised, so they are usually relatively up to date.