Applied Linguistics: Reference Works
Electronic Reference Resources
- Encyclopedic dictionary of applied linguisticsAn invaluable reference for students in language teaching courses and professionals in language education.
- International Encyclopedia of LinguisticsCovers all aspects of linguistics, from historical and comparative linguistics to formal, mathematical, functional, philosophical, and sociolinguistics.
- Routledge Linguistics EncyclopediaA comprehensive overview of linguistics and applied linguistics, with 79 entries covering major and subsidiary topics, suitable for both specialists and non-specialists.
- TESOL encyclopedia of English language teachingExplores both theoretical and practical aspects of English language instruction with over 750 entries authored by leading practitioners and scholars worldwide.
- L'Annee PhilologiqueThe bibliography by the Société Internationale de Bibliographie Classique indexes scholarly works on all aspects of ancient Greek and Roman civilizations.
- Oxford Bibliographies OnlineCover a wide range of fields, from classics and literature to philosophy and international relations.
- Oxford English DictionaryMost authoritative and comprehensive English language dictionary. Covers English language history. Contains word definitions, pronunciation, history, and language of origin.
- Sage eReferenceFull-text encyclopedias and reference books in social sciences and humanities. Search keywords or browse topic.
- ACL AnthologyCurrently hosts 62548 papers on the study of computational linguistics and natural language processing.
- The atlas of North American English phonetics, phonology, and sound change : a multimedia reference toolExplores North American English vowel system, dialects, and mergers using acoustic analysis, isogloss construction, regional maps, and Atlas findings, highlighting lexical and grammatical variations, especially in African-American speech.
- Endangered Languages ProjectOnline open-access resource for language map with video samples, descriptions, and bibliographies. Search its Catalogue of more than 3,000 languages.
- GlottologOpen access resource for the world's languages with a special focus on lesser-known languages. Search for languages, families, and dialects
Handbooks & Manuals
Handbooks are general information sources which provides quick reference for a given subject area. Handbooks are generally subject-specific.
Encyclopedias and Dictionaries
Encyclopedias and dictionaries provide excellent background/overview information, providing an excellent way to begin research. Many provide bibliographies for further reading. Mostly located in the second-floor reference collection from approximately P29 - P200s, here's a sampling of some of the print resources available:
The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language, 3rd ed.
P29 .C64 2010 | Reference
The Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics
P29 .E48 1994 | Reference
Encyclopedia of Semiotics
P99 .E64 1998 | Reference
Concise Encyclopedia of Pragmatics
P99.4 .P72 C62 1998 | Reference
Concise Encyclopedia of Syntactic Theories
P291 .C575 1996 | Reference
Routledge Encyclopedia of Translation Studies
P306 .R68 1998 | Reference
A Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics
P29 .C65 2003 | Reference
Dictionary of Languages : the Definitive Reference to More than 400 Languages
P29 .D35 1998 | Reference
Encyclopedic Dictionary of the Sciences of Language
P29 .D813 | Reference
Longman Dictionary of Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics
P129 .R5 1992 | Reference
A Dictionary of Phonetics and Phonology
P216 .T73 1996 | Reference
Why Reference Works?
Reference works are an excellent first stop in your research and are incredibly useful for the following:
- Getting an overview of a topic
- Getting topic ideas for a paper topic or narrowing your topic
- Brainstorming keywords for searching and learning the vocabulary used by authors in that area
- Learning the key works on a given topic
- Discovering the key authors on a given topic
Reference works are a good starting off point, but should not be cited in your research as they are not considered primary or secondary sources. The only exception is when reference works contain primary and secondary sources (like collections of documents and essays).