Rita:
Although many students can access the same information at once from an
electronic encyclopedia subscription, you still need (read: MUST have) a
print encyclopedia. Here's why:
1. Even the broadest coverage on line encyclopedias often truncate their
longest articles
2. Many of the on line editions of encyclopedias have only a subset of the
full print version's articles, i.e. they do not have every article the
print version has
3. They often lack the graphic study aides the print versions have (topic
outlines, subject trees, etc.)... for students who are having trouble with
organizing a report of information, these are invaluable
4. Some students find that reading print information on the monitor screen
is very difficult, especially for more than a few minutes at a time
and
5. You will spend a small fortune in paper and toner with printing
articles from on line encyclopedias...some form of copy control will be
necessary, meaning staff time to supervise and/or expensive copy card
vending machines and printer control software
On line DOES have many advantages, but there are areas where at least one
print version will be valuable.
As to choices, for a high school, I would suggest a minimum of two,
Americana and World Book. Britannica is very good, but Americana does a
better job with American history topics I feel; and World Book is more
accessible for your lower level readers, and is well illustrated.
In my school, we had Americana, Britannica, World Book, and Compton's in
English; and Hispanica in Spanish (updated on a five year cycle), along
with an eight volume Enciclopedia Visual in Spanish (very short articles,
none more than two pages, but lavishly illustrated, with many "how it
works" kinds of graphics, all in color). These were all well used, at
least weekly, some nearly daily. They supplemented our on line resources
World Book, Grolier for encyclopedias, and Gale Literary Databases,
Opposing Viewpoints On Line, and ProQuest.
As far as I know, all the major ones are available directly from their
publishers,and often there are sales at year end, as well as pre-pub prices
on new editions (World Book updates annually, Britannica much less
often). Most also offer package deals, on line and print together for one
price.
I always felt it was money well spent.
Hope this helps!
At 05:18 AM 1/14/2005 -0800, you wrote:
>Please help me with a decision.!
>As we are basically a new high school, we do not have a set of print
>encyclopedias. Our principal believes that students should rely on
>electronic sources; however, an English teacher is adamant that a high
>school should have at least one complete print set. My questions to you are:
> 1. How much do the students in your high school actually use the
> encyclopedias?
> 2. Which one do you recommend for high school students?
> 3. Do you think it is worth the price?
> 3. Where do I go to purchase them?
>Thank you so much for your help.
>Rita Sitron
>Media Specialist
>Walled Lake Northern High School
>Commerce, MI.
>rsitron@yahoo.com
>
>
>
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