While reference works - including encyclopedias, directories, almanacs, and similar sources - may not be the type of information resources you will cite in a paper, they are excellent starting points for a project and should be consulted in the earliest stages of your research. The best reference works provide brief orientations to a subject written by a scholar with expert knowledge, providing a historical overview, clear definitions of key concepts, a summary of important research about the subject, and suggestions for further reading. The latter can get your bibliography off to a good start. We recommend you try Credo Reference's Academic Core, a full-text portal to over 800 major reference titles, as a starting point for gathering information about your selected country. The titles below are also very useful.