Background reference sources: Handbooks, Manuals, Guides, etc.

Use handbooks, manuals, and guides to quickly check information as you work on a particular topic. They provide a more comprehensive overview than an encyclopedia article, as well as useful lists of facts, formulae, and other important information. 

They are also the place to look for more practical, "how-to" information.

Finding handbooks, manuals, etc.

To find hundreds of print and online handbooks, manuals, guides, etc. available at SFU Libraries, try a keyword search for handbook OR manual OR guide OR companion + your topic in the Library Catalogue

For humanities topics, guide OR companion will bring the best results. 

For science and other topics, handbook OR manual will bring the best results.