You can try the Encyclopedia Britannica online as well. In addition to general encyclopedias, you can often find subject specific encyclopedias. To find an encyclopedia on your topic do a keyword search in the online catalog, Cofrin Library Catalog . These statistics can lead you to government agencies that may have published other materials on that topic. Yearbooks are useful for giving you an overview of trends that occurred in a particular year.
Handbooks give short introductions to concepts, procedures, or techniques for various topics.
By using a bibliography you can see how much has been written and get a sense of what some of the subtopics are. There are also a number of reference sources available online now. You may want to try some of the Quick Reference sources the Reference Librarians have chosen. You can look through some of the numerous web sites that the Reference Librarians have selected on a variety of subjects. You will find these sites on the Web Resources page.