Background Research - GU-Q INAF-100-70: Proseminar - Christianity in Interreligious Dialogue - LibGuides at Georgetown University, School of Foreign Service in Qatar

What is Background Research

Background research is:

Exploring a topic with reference resources and/or introductory books. It's done to get more familiar with a topic.
From background research you can learn things like:

important names and dates
names of key events and documents
overview of a historical narrative and/or concepts

Background research can help you begin to answer who, what, when, and where (answering why usually requires more work and thought).

Example of Background Research:

You come across the phrase Gospel of Mark when reading about the history of the Christianity. You've never heard of this before and want to learn more about it. What do you do next?

Library Resources for Background Research

Databases

Credo Reference

Gale eBooks

Books

Encyclopedia of Islam and the Muslim World by Richard C. Martin; Gale (Editor)
Call Number: E-Book
The second edition of this well-received two-volume study of Islam updates and adds to its predecessor 40 percent new content. It updates and revises most of the original 500+ entries and adds new topics to reflect changes in the Muslim world since 2004.
The Encyclopedia of Christianity by Erwin Fahlbusch (Editor); Geoffrey W. Bromiley (Editor); David B. Barrett (Editor)
Call Number: BR95 .E8913 1999
The Encyclopedia of Christianity is the first of a five-volume English translation of the third revised edition of Evangelisches Kirchenlexikon. Its German articles have been tailored to suit an English readership.