Encyclopedia.com
Objectives
At the end of this session you will be able to,

Select relevant articles available on Encyclopedia.com for research purpose

Use the sharing feature and share content searched on Encyclopedia.com

Use the various features available on Encyclopedia.com
Introduction
There are many resources available online, which are free library and research websites that
provide access to numerous articles from various publications. A list of such websites can be
seen below.
http://www.iseek.com/iseek/home.page
http://www.usc.edu/libraries/
http://www.ipl.org/div/subject/
http://www.worldcat.org/
http://www.britannica.com/
http://library.harvard.edu/
One such website, which contains a free online library and research facilities website is
Encyclopedia.com, where articles are collected from various publications such as The
Columbia Encyclopedia, Oxford‟s World Encyclopedia, and The Encyclopedia of World
Biography. Users are free to surf through articles, pictures and facts on topics as varied as
the arts, science, sports, accounting and medicine. Encyclopedia.com is a useful tool for
students, researchers, teachers and professionals alike.
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Create an Account and Login
1.
To start using Encyclopedia.com, visit: http://www.encyclopedia.com/
2.
www.encyclopedia.com requires no registration or login. Users can begin their
research immediately without creating and using any usernames or passwords
Research
There are 3 ways in which you can conduct research on www.encyclopedia.com:
A. Purposive Research
B. Exploratory Research
C. Non-Specific Research
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A. Purposive Research- deliberatively seeking a defined piece of information
1.
To access articles on a specific topic of your choice, type in the specific topic within
the search field.
2.
For this example we have typed „Korean War‟ in the search section.
3.
Click on “Search”.
4.
Click on “Korean War” under Topics related to Korean War.
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5.
If you scroll down on the same page you come across the section “Related entries
from all reliable sources”. You will need to pay for the content given here.
6.
On clicking “Korean War”, www.encyclopedia.com brings up the article on Korean
War from “The Oxford Companion to American Military History”. You may click on
the other tabs as well to access information on the Korean War.
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7.
Scroll down to the end of the article. You are provided with additional links (under
“also see” section) and a bibliography of the current article for further research.
B.
Exploratory Research– consciously looking through research topics looking for
inspiration
You can conduct this research by exploring:
1.
1.
Research Categories
2.
Topics in the news
3.
Reference sources
4.
Free reference entries
Research Categories
a. Click on “Research Categories” at the top right side of the screen
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b. Under “Research Categories” click on the category of your choice. For this example
we have chosen “History”.
c. Once you have clicked on “History”, you can select any sub-category to explore
further.
d. For this example we have chosen “Ancient Greece and Rome” On clicking the topic, a
page with articles on related topics opens.
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2.
Topics in the news
a. Click on “Research Categories” at the top right corner of the screen.
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b. Click on “topics in the news”
c. Click on the category of your interest, for this example we shall select “Sports and
Everyday Life”
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d. Select the sub categories of interest and explore further, for this example we have
chosen “Food and Drinks”
e. A new page opens which contains articles for the topic „Food and Drinks‟.
3.
Reference Sources
a. Click on “Research Categories” at the top right of the screen.
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b. Click on “Reference Sources” option
c.
Click on the type of reference source you wish to explore, for this example we have
chosen “Science Magazines” under Academic Magazines section
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d. Click on “Space Exploration: Triumphs and Tragedies” under Science magazines
e. To explore further you can select any article from “Space Exploration: Triumphs and
Tragedies”
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4. Free Reference Entries
a. Click on “Research Categories” at the top right corner of the screen
b. Click on the letter of the alphabet you wish to explore under Free reference entries.
For this example we have chosen “M”
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c. Click on the reference term you wish to explore under the letter M, for this example
we have chosen “M band”
d. You can explore the term “M band” from A Dictionary of Biology including and other
citation style formats
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C.
Non-Specific Research- randomly examining material without a definite goal
1. Select on any of the displayed topics given on the home page, by clicking on the
topic of your choice. For this example we have chosen “Afghanistan”
2. To explore further click on “Read more”
3. Scroll down to the “Other popular topics” section and click on any other topics to
browse further
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Other Features
1.
Refine Search
a. Under “Only show results for:” you need to uncheck whichever option you do not
prefer (since both the options are checked by default). Once you are done with this
click on “Refine”.
2.
Citation
a. Go into an “article”. Click on “Tools”
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b. Click on “Cite this article”
c. Under “Cite this Article” you will find three citation style options (MLA, APA and
Chicago). Place your mouse or click on the option you prefer and copy the text for
your bibliography. Or when you scroll down to the end of article you will be able to
view the “Cite this article” section.
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3.
Print
a. Click on “Tools”
b. In the expanded toolbox click on “Print” or “Print all entries for this topic” depending
on your printing requirements
c. Fill out the relevant information regarding your printing preferences and click on
“Print”
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4.
Sharing Content
a. Click on “Tools”
b. Click on “Link to this page”
c. On clicking “Link to this page”, you can copy the link created by
www.encyclopedia.com and e-mail it to others, paste it on your blog or use it for any
other social sharing tool.
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5. Bookmarking Content
a. Click on “Tools”
b. Click on “Delicious” or “Diigo” - these are bookmarking tools that allow users to sort
and share their content with others. On clicking either of these links, the user can
follow the instructions listed on the tools‟ respective websites to complete the
bookmarking process.
References
Encyclopedia.com. (n.d.). Retrieved February 15, 2015, from
http://www.encyclopedia.com/
ISeek. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.iseek.com/iseek/home.page
Harvard Library Portal. (n.d.). Retrieved April 7, 2015, from http://library.harvard.edu/
USC Libraries. (n.d.). Retrieved March 30, 2015, from http://www.usc.edu/libraries/
Resources by Subject. (n.d.). Retrieved April 8, 2015, from http://www.ipl.org/div/subject/
Find items in libraries near you. (n.d.). Retrieved April 8, 2015, from
http://www.worldcat.org/
Encyclopedia Britannica. (n.d.). Retrieved April 8, 2015, from http://www.britannica.com/
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