A sourcebook is a collection of texts on a particular subject, used especially as an introduction to the subject presented, essentially a compilation of texts used as an introductory resource.
Academic use
In
US-American
People from the United States of America are known as and refer to themselves as Americans. Different languages use different terms for citizens of the United States. All forms of English refer to US citizens as Americans, a term deriving from ...
universities, a sourcebook, either a standard one or a custom collection, may function as a supplement or replacement for a
textbook. Sourcebooks are also often result of the increasing ease of
self-publishing
Self-publishing is the publication of media by its author at their own cost, without the involvement of a publisher. The term usually refers to written media, such as books and magazines, either as an ebook or as a physical copy using POD (pr ...
, prompting authors and teachers to assemble their own packets of readings which become sourcebooks in their fields. Hence, they may be helpful in academics and
education since they have a more diverse collection of information.
In American
law schools,
casebooks are similar to sourcebooks, offering selections of
legal cases
A precedent is a principle or rule established in a previous legal case that is either binding on or persuasive for a court or other tribunal when deciding subsequent cases with similar issues or facts. Common law#Disambiguate civil law, Common- ...
and commentary, forming the basis for analysis and discussion. Rather than simply laying out the
legal doctrine in a particular area of study, a
casebook contains excerpts from
legal cases
A precedent is a principle or rule established in a previous legal case that is either binding on or persuasive for a court or other tribunal when deciding subsequent cases with similar issues or facts. Common law#Disambiguate civil law, Common- ...
in which the law of that area was applied. It is then up to the student to analyze the language of the case in order to determine what rule was applied and how the
court applied it. In essence, providing an application of law.
Games
In
games
A game is a structured form of play, usually undertaken for entertainment or fun, and sometimes used as an educational tool. Many games are also considered to be work (such as professional players of spectator sports or games) or art (such ...
, a ''sourcebook'' is a publication intended to supplement the core materials of a game. Sourcebooks are usually used to complement
role-playing games and
tabletop or
wargaming series, and often contain optional rules, scenarios, or other materials that players can use to extend or enhance the central game.While the
splatbook is a ''sourcebook'' which focuses on a specific fictional aspect of the game in depth. The association of ''sourcebooks'' to tabletop series emerged with many published sourcebooks for gaming like for the
World of Darkness games. Similar patterns are observed with the ''clanbooks'' for
Vampire: The Masquerade, ''tribebooks'' for
Werewolf: The Apocalypse, ''traditionbooks'' for
Mage: The Ascension
''Mage: The Ascension'' is a role-playing game based in the World of Darkness, and was published by White Wolf Game Studio in 1993. The characters portrayed in the game are referred to as mages, and are capable of feats of magic. Magic in ''Ma ...
, and so on.
[Horvath, Stu (2023). ''Monsters, Aliens, and Holes in the Ground''. Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press. pp. 54–55. ISBN 9780262048224.]
Sourcebooks may also refer to guidebooks meant for beginners containing instructions, rules or advice as in the ''handbooks'' for
Minecraft.
Popular gaming series with many sourcebooks include:
* ''
GURPS''
* ''
BattleTech''
* ''
Dungeons & Dragons''
* ''
Shadowrun''
See also
*
Source literature Source literature (understood as printed texts) is a kind of information source. It might, for example, be cited and used as sources in academic writings, and then called the literature on the subject.
The meaning of "source literature" is relativ ...
References
{{Reflist
External links
*Hjørland, Birger (ed.)
Source literature Core Concepts in Library and Information Science.
Game terminology
Library science