Oxford University Press

Here is an amazing research tool. The Oxford Bibliographies Online looks like it will be the definitive place to begin when writing papers. Although Biblical Studies aren’t up yet, they should by the end of the year.

What Is It?

  • Broad range of subject modules from Buddhism to Criminology
  • Every subject area has an Editor in Chief and Editorial Board, ensuring scholarly accuracy, relevance, and authority
  • Each subject launches with 50-100 entries - equivalent to a 4-volume print encyclopedia
  • Each individual entry is a guided tour through the key literature on a specialized topic, moving from the general to the specific, with scholarly annotations and context-providing introductions
  • Each entry receives multiple peer reviews and board vetting
  • Updated quarterly, with 50-75 entries added per year to each subject area, as well as revisions to existing entries

How Is It Different?

Oxford Bibliographies Online combines the best features of a high-level encyclopaedia and a traditional bibliography in a style tailored to meet the needs of today’s online research. Each subject module includes a full set of entries covering a range of topics from general overviews to highly-specialized themes. Each entry provides a synoptic, bibliographic guide to the key literature and most useful online resources in given area of research. Entries are written by world-class experts and carefully reviewed by scholars in the field to ensure that they provide reliable, worthy coverage.

Oxford Bibliographies Online entries constitute an entirely new type of born-digital content, conceived and developed in the editorial offices of Oxford University Press with the advice and counsel of an international group of scholars and librarians. Entries combine selective lists of annotated citations with guiding commentary to help users understand the significance of a given resource in the context of the field.  All citations have Open-URL connectivity, allowing users to click through Oxford Bibliographies Online’s thousands of citations to quickly access the full-text of essential, authoritative, sources. 

  • It is selective, directing researchers to only the most essential, core sources
  • More than just links, it includes specially-commissioned expert recommendations with critical supportive text and annotation, providing full context for understanding connections between citations
  • More sophisticated than a full-text search, it directs users to results within context of larger entries, given perspective within any given topic
  • Cataloging of non-print material, especially online resources, makes this a truly modern research tool 
  • Linking on multiple levels facilitates movement to other resources, whether online or available through a library’s catalog, both grounding the service within the discipline and integrating it with both scholarship and library collections

What Will It Do?

Oxford Bibliographies Online is a tool designed to help busy researchers find reliable sources of information in half the time by directing them to the best scholarship available, whether it be a chapter, book, website, archive, or data set. It is a springboard for new research that facilitates fluid movement between texts and databases within a given institution’s collection and beyond. Oxford Bibliographies Online is a starting point for organizing a research plan, preparing a writing assignment, or creating a syllabus. The style and approach will be accessible to student readers; in-depth coverage it will ensure that it is of great use to professional scholars, as well.

  • Saves research time by vetting a given subject under the direction of Oxford’s editors and scholars
  • Makes research more productive, skipping several steps in literature reviews and source searching
  • Encourages debate and creates new connections between subjects and topics, making scholarly innovation easier than ever before

When?

Classics, Islamic Studies, Social Work and Criminology are now available, and an additional 10-12 subject areas will be launching later this year, including Biblical Studies, Philosophy, and Atlantic History.