Have you been looking for something more scholarly than Wikipedia, and felt frustrated that many major reference works have become dated and have not been revised? That’s exactly how we’ve been feeling, and we are trying to do something about it.

The Library has trial access to three subject modules of the Oxford Research Encyclopedias. (We’ve also had access to the Oxford Research Encyclopedia of African History since 2022.)

The Oxford Research Encyclopedias are an ambitious project from Oxford University Press. The aim is to create “a dynamic digital encyclopedia continuously updated by the world’s leading scholars and researchers.” These articles really do function as introductory overviews. Unlike articles in many “Handbook”-type publications, all include substantive discussions of recent scholarship. All articles in history and allied fields have sections about primary sources.

Each subject module is searchable and can also be browsed by subject areas and time periods. The interface is a bit clunky and counterintuitive: to browse by subjects within a module, click on Advanced Search, then look in the lefthand sidebar (you may have to scroll down a bit) for Subjects.

Currently available on trial:

Oxford Research Encyclopedia of American History

• Close to 600 articles, on all areas of American history.

Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Religion

• More than 700 articles. Christianity and Buddhism are the best represented traditions, with Islam as a close third. Hinduism is represented by only a handful of articles, and it is unclear if the section is still under development. The Oxford Bibliography of Hinduism is a useful complement.

Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Food Studies

• This is one of the newest additions to the project, and will grow in size over the next few years.

 

Please take a look at these resources and let us know what you think!