How-to Guide » Encyclopedias

Overview

Encyclopedias are useful for finding specific facts and an introduction or overview of a subject. Some articles have a bibliography at the end.

General Encyclopedias

Encyclopaedia Britannica AE 5 .E363 (in all Reference areas, latest in Waldo Library)
Short articles from the encyclopedia as well as Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, Thesaurus, and the Britannica Book of the Year. For full length articles use the print edition or subscribe to the full online version.

Encyclopedia Americana AE 5 .E333 2006 (Ref) 2001 (Education Library)
This 30 volume set has a long history of authoritative scholarship. It is especially useful for American history, science, and technology.

Wikipedia A multi-language free-content online encyclopedia project. Since many people have created the content of the Wikipedia, it has a wide range of information, but the articles are often not edited, it is not always reliable and some instructors may not allow its use for academic work. Cross reference Wikipedia information with other reliable sources and check the entry footnotes.

World Book Online Reference Center This online encyclopedia is based on the printed World Book Encyclopedia, and enriched with more articles, maps, tables, videos and sound clips. It provides many cross references and links to other resources including magazine articles and Web sites. It includes a dictionary, atlas and basic Spanish language encyclopedia.

Subject Specific

There are many specialized, subject-specific encyclopedias and many of them can be found in the various library subject guides. Listed below are just a few of the online encyclopedias. The first couple of resources index many online encyclopedias.

Search our catalog for specialized encyclopedias by entering "encyclopedia" in one search box and your subject, such as "geology" in another.

Reference Universe Indexes the individual articles and the indexes in the back of thousands of subject encyclopedias and other reference books. Provides citations to specific volumes and page numbers. Links to the sources WMU Libraries own, but doesn't contain full text itself.

Credo Reference (Formerly Xreferplus) Full text online from about 240 encyclopedias, dictionaries and other reference books all cross-referenced. Search a topic, build a concept map or browse information sources organized by subject. Find text, images, sound files, sortable data tables and more.

AccessScience The McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Science and Technology, online.

Oxford Art Online Formerly GroveArt Online, this comprehensive online reference resource for all aspects of the visual arts from prehistory to the present. Online access to articles on the art and culture of Asia, Africa, Europe, the Americas and the Pacific. Includes the multi-volume Dictionary of Art, links to images and Web sites useful for art research. "Explore" allows users to customize browse lists. Also provides access to The Oxford Companion to Western Art, The Encyclopedia of Aesthetics and the Concise Oxford Dictionary of Art Terms. Details

Oxford Music Online Covers music and musicians of all types and time periods; includes
bibliographies, composers' worklists, links to related sites, audio and music examples. Provides access to Grove Music Online (incorporating the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, the New Grove Dictionary of Opera, and New Grove Dictionary of Jazz), as well as The Oxford Dictionary of Music and The Oxford Companion to Music.

Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy
A widely acclaimed, authoritative, and comprehensive online English-language reference to the fields of philosophy and religion that is useful to philosophers, scholars, and students. The online version is updated regularly with new and revised entries, has reviewed Web links, and includes extensive cross references and critical bibliographies.

Foreign Language

Listed below are a few multi-volume encyclopedias in foreign languages, that can be used to practice reading a language or looking up historical information. For more, search for "encyclopedias" and the language in the library catalog.

Brockhaus Enzyklopaedie AE 27 .B922 1996 (Ref)
A standard scholarly German encyclopedia containing over 260,000 entries, with many illustrations. Predominantly short articles, with longer ones on countries and major topics.

Dai Nihon Hyakka Jiten AE 35.2 .D3 (Ref)
(Japanese) A richly illustrated general encyclopedia with brief entries. Includes two atlases and an index. 1967-1972.

Enciclopedia Italiana di Scienze, Lettere ed Arti. AE 35 .E5 (Ref)
(Italian) 35 volume encyclopedia plus supplements. 1949-1961.

Enciclopedia Universal Illustrada Europeo-Americana AE 61 .E6 (Ref)
(Spanish) Has long articles, bibliographies, good illustrations, as well as short articles. Good on biography, maps, art, word etymologies, and for the supplements. Supplements through 1996.

Encyclopaedia Universalis AE 25 .E3 1990 (Ref)
(French) The first 23 volumes contain about 5,000 articles on all topics. The "Thesaurus-Index" has shorter articles on many topics.

Jian ming Huaxia bai ke quan shu AE17 .J56 1998 (Ref)
(Chinese) 8 volume encyclopedia.

Ask A Librarian

Maira Bundza, E-mail: maira.bundza@wmich.edu
Phone: 269-387-5207
Last updated: July 2007