Tertiary sources compile, summarize, index, or help identify scholarly sources on a topic. They are useful for background research or to get an overview of a topic before delving into secondary or primary sources. Common tertiary sources for modern languages include dictionaries, encyclopedias, handbooks, and other reference sources.
From this page you can
Browse a virtual bookshelf of dictionaries in the Georgia Tech Library
Access key resources for background research in modern languages and literature
Dictionaries in the Georgia Tech Library
Resources for background research in modern languages and literature
The OED online can be used to perform simple searches for word definitions, or for full-text searching of all OED's definitions, etymologies and quotations through the Search function.
Oxford Handbooks Online brings together the world’s leading scholars to discuss research and the latest thinking on a range of major topics. Each Handbook offers thorough introductions to topics and a critical survey of the current state of scholarship. The library provides handbooks from the following subject areas: Business & Management, Economics & Finance, History, Law, Linguistics, Literature, Music, Neuroscience, Philosophy, Physical Sciences, Political Science, Psychology, Sociology.
Literature Resource Center provides access to biographies, bibliographies, and critical analysis of over 130,000 novelists, poets, essayists, journalists, and other writers.
More than 160,000 complete entries from two award-winning series Contemporary Authors and Dictionary of Literary Biography for in-depth biographical, bibliographical, and contextual information on authors lives and works. Includes literature criticism, biographies, topic and work overviews, news, primary sources, literary works, images, links to audio and interviews, and reviews.