The Oxford Reference Library

The Oxford Reference Library is a collection of premiere encyclopedias tailored to all disciplines, from Egyptian Archeology to Modern Law and Language Reference. In fact, there’s so much available that it's a bit overwhelming. New Saint Andrews College has access to a vast selection of these resources, and we'll show you how to use them in a productive and efficient way.

But first, why do you need to use the reference library? The Oxford Reference Library is invaluable for quickly learning broadly held academic views and descriptions of various subjects. These in turn are meant to guide the student in broader research. Dr. Schlect recommends using this tool during the process of invention (coming up with a subject and argument) for a paper. After you’ve got a clue where you want to go deeper, every entry concludes with bibliographical information you can follow to recent and respected scholarship on the topic.

To access the library through the NSA account, go to the library on the top menu in Populi and select the links tab. Scroll to Online Reference Resources and select Oxford Reference. The link will take you to the online library and automatically sign you in.

Features

The top menu bar has two categories to sort by: Subject and Reference Type. Choose the former to browse topics listed alphabetically from Archaeology to Society & Culture. Under the latter, you’ll find more reference resources, including timelines and quotations. And of course, you can simply use the search bar atop every page on the site if you are after something particular.

The Timelines are a compilation of every major event in recorded history, categorized by century into a series of volumes. Each of these contains sorting features on the left-hand column. You can sort within a century by decade, location, theme (e.g. Literature or Technology), or cultural movement (e.g. baroque). Each listed event can be expanded with links to entries in various Oxford encyclopedias for more information.

The Timelines Page

If you are doing research, make sure to look through several encyclopedias if possible. More specialized or particularized books will likely have more thorough information for their entries.

Citation and Bibliography

The website also includes all the bibliographical information you could need on each entry's page. Although you should always make sure to check your bibliography formatting, entries from the library can be cited in CMS in the following ways:

Footnote

1. Firstname Lastname, "Title of Entry," in Title of Reference Work, ed. Editor's First Name Last Name (Place of Publication: Publisher, Year), accessed Month Day, Year, URL.

Subsequent Footnote

1. Lastname, “Title of Entry.”

Bibliography

Adams, Jonathan. "Sub-Urban Tunnels." In Oxford Dictionary of Moscow History, edited by Mason Carnes. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2025. Accessed January 21, 2025. http://secretmoscowtunnels.com.

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There you go, you’re now a pro! Before long you’ll be flipping through these encyclopediae (web) pages to research and fact check on the go, instead of using ChatGPT (shame be upon it)! We hope you’ve found this guide useful, and please leave a comment if you have questions or need any clarification.