LibGuides: Thai Studies: Reference sources

What are reference sources?

Reference sources are resources used to locate basic information and secondary literature.

There are many types of reference sources, including dictionaries, encyclopedias, almanacs, atlases, handbooks, guides, and style manuals.

They are a fantastic places to begin your research, especially if you are exploring a new topic.

Reference sources can help you to:

define your topic in general terms
find background information, including themes and key points
identify keywords and alternative terms for conceptualising your subject, and for database searching.

Online reference resouces

Country report. Thailand (Online)
Country report, Thailand published by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU). Coverage 01/01/2014 to 6 months ago.
SEALANG Library
The SEAlang Library was established in 2005. It provides language reference materials for Southeast Asia (SEA); initially focused on the non-roman script languages used throughout the mainland, and now concentrating on the languages of insular SEA. SEAlang Library resources include bilingual and monolingual dictionaries, monolingual text corpora, aligned bitext corpora, and a variety of tools for manipulating, searching, and displaying complex scripts.
World Factbook
The World Factbook provides information on the history, people, government, economy, energy, geography, communications, transportation, military, and transnational issues for 267 world entities. Information includes maps of the major world regions including maps of the physical world, political world, oceans, standard time zones, as well as flags of the world.

Print reference resouces

Democracy and National Identity in Thailand by Michael Kelly Connors
Call Number: View online [ANU staff and students only]
Publication Date: 2003
This book seeks to illuminate how Thai elites have used democracy as an instrument for order and discipline. Drawing on interviews, numerous Thai language sources, and critical theory, the author reveals a remarkable adaptation of the idea of democracy in the Thai context.
Isan Writers, Thai Literature by Martin B. Platt
Call Number: View online [ANU staff and students only]
Publication Date: 2013
In northeastern Thailand's Isan region, authors write primarily in Thai, but it is possible nonetheless to identify an Isan literature, which played a significant and at times pivotal role in the development of Thai literature in the second half of the twentieth century, as authors grappled with how their origins and experiences related to the Thai centre.
Thailand : a global studies handbook by Timothy D. Hoare; Lucien Ellington (Editor)
Call Number: MENZIES DS563.5.H63 2004
Publication Date: 2004
The definitive guide to Thailand, providing a comprehensive, beyond-the-basics overview of the country, its history, economy, society, culture, and language, 30+ photographs showing Thai kings past and present, Buddhist temples and monks, modern and traditional homes, Thai popular culture, advertising media, and visual arts, Map of modern-day Thailand and the surrounding regions.
Thailand in the Cold War by Matthew Phillips.
Call Number: View online [ANU staff and students only]
Publication Date: 2016
Thailand’s position during the Cold War was ambiguous: the country’s political leadership was very keen to maintain the country’s independence on the world stage, yet at the same time was anxious to establish the country’s credentials as staunchly anti-communist.