Online Encyclopedias
Online resources have the potential to
replace bulky reference books. The encyclopedia, a benevolent reference work
that covers all branches of knowledge, or one branch of knowledge in an
exhaustive manner, has found a home in cyberspace.
Online encyclopedias can complement or supplement the printed reference
collection. Here is a roundup of some of the best encyclopedias on the
Internet:
- Britannica.com
Britannica.com includes a portion of the contents of the venerable print
edition. You can also simultaneously search for reviews of the 125,000
hand-picked reference sites, related books and current articles from
magazines such as Discover, The Economist and Newsweek.
- Encyclopedia.com
Offers more than 50,000 articles
from The Concise Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia (Third Edition).
Encyclopedia.com offers 170,000 links, including cross-referenced articles
and other sites. You can also access articles and images from the Electric
Library for a fee.
- Encarta
This free encyclopedia from
Microsoft contains 17,000 articles and more than 2,200 photos,
illustrations, maps, charts and tables. You can also access the World
Atlas and the World English Dictionary, a "talking dictionary"
replete with audio files.
- Fact
Monster
Search 57,000 articles from the
Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. Simply enter your search term and
start reading!
Don't overlook "subject
encyclopedias" that are devoted to a field or a discipline. Here are a
few examples:
To find more online encyclopedias, visit the
following sites:
LibrarySpot
Encyclopedias | Yahoo!
Reference | Librarians'
Index to the Internet
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