1. Encyclopedias Sajjad ur Rehman

2. Purpose Ready reference source Secondary source Provide general overview of a topic and the background information Pointers to serious research Bibliographies guide to extensive sources

3. Categories Format Print Electronic; available on CD and online Coverage Knowledge-based Subject Age groups Children Young adults Adults Specialists Treatment General Scholarly

4. Evaluation Criteria Scope Emphasis: age group or subject Authority: publisher, contributors Writing style: readability, quality Currency Objectivity Indexing features Arrangement and entries Special features Cost

5. Electronic Encyclopedias Terminology Interactive Multimedia Electronic Availability Web sites of publishers Online systems CD-ROM version Free domain encyclopedias Currency Searching edge

6. Features of Electronic Encyclopedias Direct links Hyper links Related articles Multimedia features Search history Timeline Knowledge Trees Maps and atlases with zooms Searching features Browse Boolean Combination options Special features

7. General Encyclopedias Americana Britannica World Book Encarta Grolier Compton Wikipedia New Standard Encyclopedia Academic American The New Book of Knowledge Funk and Wagnalls New Encyclopedia

8. Subject Encyclopedias Scholarly or technical in nature Contributors are experts Detailed and specialized treatment Mostly bland, low on graphics Not as readable Many of them yet not converted to electronic version

9. Internet Encyclopedia: Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page Free encyclopedia Community concept: anyone can contribute 1,073,913 articles in English 1,073,913 Featured articles reviewed for accuracy, neutrality, completeness—only 946 Day-to-day developments in current events Search and A-Z index features