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Using
An Encyclopedia for Research?
(Is
that legal?)
Some
professors will not permit students to use
a "general" encyclopedia as a source in your research.
What
is a general encyclopedia?
A general encyclopedia is a reference source such as THE WORLD
BOOK or COMPTON'S ENCYCLOPEDIA. General encyclopedias provide
information and descriptions on a wide range of subjects. Professors
usually do not want you to use a general encyclopedia as a source
for your paper because the information they provide is usually
quite, well... general.
So.
. . why do we even have them if we can't use them?
General encyclopedia articles can provide a student with valuable
background information on a topic. Suppose you have to do a paper
for science. The topics for your papers are assigned randomly
and you get the topic of "solar flares". Your topic
sounds interesting but your not sure what solar flares are exactly;
are they the same as sun spots? They could be some kind of sun
powered safety device for truckers, could be something like hives
or hot spots, could be the name of a new southern NHL team. At
this point you just want some basic background information to
get you started.
Hmmmm - How about those encyclopedias?
"
Why not just go to the Internet? I can find everything on the
Internet."
Very
true, you are sure to find lots of information about solar flares
(and everything else on and off the planet) on the Internet. In
fact you'll probably find so much information that you will be
overwhelmed, you'll get a great big headache and go home all grumpy.
Well, maybe not but why waste your precious time collecting resources
you don't need? You are writing a paper not a book. Focus your
topic and greatly simplify your life. There are many tutorials
that can help you focus and develop your research paper topic.
Take a look at some of the links on the Information
Literacy Page
for more assistance with developing your topic, research strategy,
and other researching skills. What the heck, it's free.
What about "specialized encyclopedias" ?
Just about every area of study has a specialized encyclopedia just for that field: encyclopedia of religion, encyclopedia of psychology, encyclopedia of ancient history, encyclopedia of music, art, math, medicine... you get the idea.
They are usually very easy to find. Go to the general area of study that you are interested in, say architecture, for example. In the Library the general area for architecture is NA. If you go the NA's in the reference section of the library you will most likely find an encyclopedia of architecture. The Articles in specialized encyclopedias provide in-depth information as opposed to the general overviews found in typical general encyclopedias. Examples of some specialized encyclopedias in our libraries are:
To find these
and other encyclopedic resources at our libraries
search the ONLINE
CATALOG or ask the librarian.
What about online encyclopedias?
Online encyclopedias such as the Encyclopedia Britannica (available to currently enrolled students through the Remote Access Databases can be very helpful places to begin you research process. These resources are simply the electronic version of the paper volumes that reside on the shelves.
Most online encyclopedias (or CD-ROM versions) provide the same articles that are presented within the paper version of their product. Online encyclopedias like the Encyclopedia Britannica offer the added convenience of easy keyword searching and quick linking to websites, magazine articles and book reviews that are related to the chosen topic. Again, it can be a great place to START your research process.
What's next?
