PLUG-INs Information Literacy

@ Fujariah Colleges

ENCYCLOPEDIAS

An encyclopedia is a book with a collection of information about many

subjects.

What is an encyclopedia

exactly?

Sometimes, an encyclopedia has

general information about many different

subject areas.

Sometimes an encyclopedia focuses on

only one subject; for example, the

Encyclopedia of Fish.

Sometimes an encyclopedia is

only one book or volume.

Sometimes, it is many volumes.

For example, an encyclopedia may be 2, 5 or 10 volumes.

Or even 30 volumes !

Usually, articles are organized in

alphabetical order.

But sometimes, information is organized in another way. For

example, an encyclopedia about animals might be organized by species.

Usually an encyclopedia is not written by only one

person. Many people come together to write

an encyclopedia.

Who writes encyclopedias

?

So, usually information in an encyclopedia is

accurate or dependable .

People who write articles or entries in an encyclopedia are

usually “experts” and well-educated

people.

If the author’s name is noted, it usually appears at the end of an article.

But, sometimes the author is not noted.

The person who manages all the

authors of an encyclopedia is called

an EDITOR.

Go to the online library catalog :

library.hct.ac.ae

How do you know what

encyclopedias are in the library?

Type “encyclopedia”

Click : Search.

Choose your location from

the drop down menu.

You will get a list of all the

encyclopedias in your library.

Some of them will be on the regular

shelves but some of them will be in the

REFERENCE SECTION.

You may only use a reference book in the library.

You cannot check it out.

You will see the word

“Reference” under location.

HCT also has e-book

encyclopedias.

When you see the e-book icon,

just click on it.

You can also get online encyclopedias from the collection

of Databases.

From library.hct.ac.ae

pull down the Resources menu, click Databases and e-books.

Scroll down to Dictionaries and Encyclopedias.

Choose one and

click on it.

This is a great resource for

students. It has many videos & an Arabic translation

feature.

For example, the Britannica Online School Edition.

Mouse over a word & the Arabic

will appear. Unfortunately, not all

words are translated & sometimes the

translation is a bit strange.

At the end of an article, you will see an orange

color box Turn on Arabic

Translator

It shows you how to write the citation for the article in

both MLA and APA styles.

Another great feature of the Britannica Online

School Edition is:To cite this page

Informationin this edition is

more detailed and the vocabulary is more advanced.

There is another version of this

online encyclopedia called Britannica Online Academic

Edition.

Link to it from the Database page.

Do you remember? Go to

library.hct.ac.ae From Resources, go to

Databases.

Here is another online

encyclopedia : eLibrary.

Link to it from the Database

page.

Here is another one : The Gale Virtual

Reference Library.

Link to it from the Database

page.

And, here is another one : The

Student Resource Center

Gold.

Should an encyclopedia be your ONLY source

of information for a research project?

Encyclopedias are wonderful books but information

in them is usually a summary from other sources. When doing

research, it is important to go to the original source.

Because, it takes a long time to write and publish

an encyclopedia, it may not have the most recent

information on a subject.

Online encyclopedias may have more current information than print

ones if they are updated regularly.

Ask your teacher or your friendly

librarian if you have any questions.

I hope this helps you find

information in encyclopedias.

Thank you for listening.

HAPPY READING !