Biographical Information Online

Biographical Databases

These databases are specfically biographical and search for historical and contemporary persons across all disciplines.

(All resources listed below are licensed databases accessible to Carnegie Mellon users only.)

• Biography & Genealogy Master Index  tips
  
  
• Biography Index  tips
  
  
• Contemporary Authors  tips
  
  
• Marquis Who's Who on the Web tips
  
  
• Wilson Biographies  tips
  
  

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Databases with Biographical Information

• Handbooks Dictionaries and Encyclopedias
  
  
  • Encyclopedia Britannica  tips
    
    
  • Oxford Reference Online  tips
    
    
  • Access Science  tips
    
    
  • Grove Art Online  tips
    
    
  • Grove Music Online  tips
    
    
  • Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy  tips
    
    
  • Xreferplus. See Credo Reference tips
    
    
    
• Resources that allow specialized searching for biographical information
  
  The resources below were not built specifically for biographies, but they supply some useful biographical information.
  
  
  • COS Expertise   tips
    
    
  • Lexis-Nexis Academic's Reference - Biographical Information  tips
    
    
  • ProQuest Newspapers in ProQuest Direct  tips
    
    
  • Wilson Select Plus tips
    
    

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Other Tips for Finding Biographical Information

• Search Cameo (Carnegie Mellon Library Catalog) by using the word "biography" as a part of your search.
  
  
• Use Carnegie Mellon Databases by Subject pages to find your favorite database (many databases have some biographical content), and try using words like "biography," "biographical" or "autobiography" as one of your search terms.
  
  
• Use the subject-specific Research Help guides developed by Carnegie Mellon librarians on the library's home page to search for subject-specific biographical print materials and other online resources.

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General / Interdisciplinary Databases
Newspaper and periodicals indexes, dissertations, proceedings, etc.

General / Reference Shelf
Dictionaries, directories, encyclopedias, etc. in full-text.

Databases by Subject

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	Spotlight On

Ethnic NewsWatch and GenderWatch cover news sources that don't usually get picked up in other databases, including profiles and interviews of individuals that contain much biographical information.

	Did You Know?

If you try the online sources and don't find anything, don't forget the print!

Many great biographical sources are in print format only, and available in the library. Some well-known examples are:

• American Men & Women of Science, American National Biography and
• Dictionary of National Biography (British).