WEL: Greek and Latin
Research Guide: Finding Ideas, People & Organizations
Standard Classical Reference Books
Reference books like historical dictionaries or encyclopedias are a great resource to help you quickly make sense of a new topic or to track down an obscure allusion. They can also help you build a bibliography--all three of these works indicate their sources. Paulys Realencyclopädie in particular is excellent about providing references to the primary ancient sources on a given topic; since it was written in the 19th century it is less helpful with secondary material. It is in very scholarly German. Der Neue Pauly is a recent update. Brill's New Pauly is an ongoing project to translate Der Neue Pauly into English; this is only partially complete (about two volumes of fifteen). All four works were written by teams of experts, and the articles are usually signed--which will provide clues for which authors to pay attention to as you do your research.| Oxford Classical Dictionary |
MAIN Reference or WEL DE 5 .O9 1996 |
| Paulys Realencyclopädie der classichen
Altertumswissenschaft |
WEL DE 5 .P33 |
| Der Neue Pauly |
WEL DE 5 .N48 1996 |
| Brill's New Pauly |
WEL DE5 .N4813 2002 |
A Sample of Other Useful Reference Works
It can sometimes be very helpful to track down information on how to contact a scholar who is an expert in your area of interest, or a museum with a relevant collection of artifacts, or an organization supporting research, or the e-mail address of a colleague you met at a conference. Here are a few print sources that may help you do that.| Museums of the World |
MAIN Reference GR 67 .T4 1955 |
| World of Learning |
MAIN Reference AM 1 .M965 2000 |
| International Organizations Associations Unlimited |
MAIN Reference Desk AS 2 .W9 Online |
| Encyclopedia of Associations Associations Unlimited |
MAIN Reference Desk AS 25 .E5 Online |
| Peterson's Graduate & Professional
Programs Peterson's Gradline |
MAIN Reference Desk L 901 .P493 Online |
| Directory of American Scholars |
MAIN Reference Desk LA 2311 .C362 1999 |
| National Faculty Directory |
MAIN Reference Desk LZ 901 .N34 |