How to use Britannica Encyclopedia

effectively

Presentation By: Tulip Group

Nashy, Thuzu, Nasee. Shiu, Naasi, & Nau

“Let knowledge grow from more to more and thus be human life enriched”

Contents Introduction of the session (Presented by: Nashy)

Background information (Presented by : Thuzu)

Index (Presented by : Nashy)

Propaedia (Presented by : Shiu)

Micropaedia and Macropaedia (Presented by : Nasy)

Book of the year (Presented by : Nasiha)

Exercise and Closure (Presented by Nau)

What is Britannica Encyclopaedia?

Encyclopaedia• An encyclopedia is a set of books with articles on

every topic you can think of.

• Each article in the encyclopedia gives you information about the topic.

• Guide words on used in an encyclopedia to help you find information.

• An encyclopedia has the topics in alphabetical order.

About Britannica Encyclopedia

• General English Language Encyclopaedia that is regarded as the most scholarly of encyclopaedias through out the world

• It is the oldest English – language encyclopaedia still in print

• The aim of this is to educated adults and it is written by about 100 full time editors and as of 2008, 4411 named expert contributors

About Britannica Encyclopedia

• First published between 1768 and 1771 in Edinburgh, Scotland.

• this is the 15th edition and it was published on 1988

• This has a unique 3 part structure

Part 1: Propaedia, or outline of knowledge

Part 2: 01- 12 Micropaedia of short articles

Part 3: 13- 29 Macropaedia of long articles

Parts of the Britannica Set

• Index

• Propaedia

• Micropaedia

• Macropaedia

• Book of the year

Let’s do an online exercise on

Encyclopaedia

Using the Index effectively

• Index is prepared for the same reason that roads and signposts are planned and built in an unfamiliar country.

• Without first consulting the Index, Encyclopedia Britannica cannot be used to greatest advantage, because it is very vast.

Using the Index effectively

• If a researcher turns to “United Kingdom” in Volume 29, he will find a long article, but that by no means represents all the information in Britannica about United Kingdom.

• To find all that material, the researcher must go to the Index, where, under the entry heading “United Kingdom”, he will find not only the reference to the main article but also about 1000 references to many related articles throughout the 29 text volumes of Britannica.

Using the Index effectively

• All the references in the entry show the volume, page number, column of the page, and a letter “a” or “b” indicating the upper or lower half of the column

Using the Index effectively

1 2 3

a

b

a

b

a

b

Micropaedia

1 2

a

b

a

b

Macropaedia

For example, 1:485:3b points to the MICROPAEDIA Volume 1, page 485, the third column of the page, and the lower half of that column.

Using the Index effectively

• INDEX has thousands of cross-references. Cross-reference entries for alternative spelling. It allow the reader to gain access to more specific information. Eg: See also

Using the Index effectively

Alphabetization• Word by word system of alphabetization• Hyphenated words [-] are treated as two

separate words, the hyphen or dash being treated as a space.

• Quotation marks that appear in titles of works are generally ignored and the entry heading without quotation mark is placed first.

Using the Index effectively

• Entry heading whose first characters are numerals are alphabetize as though the numbers were spelt out.

Eg: 1812, war of – Eighteen twelve, war of.

What is Micropaedia?

• Micropaedia was introduced in 1974

• The name comes from the word “micro” and “encyclopaedia”.

• Micro means small

• It contains tens of thousands of shorter articles on specific persons, places, things and ideas.

• Contains 12 volumes

What is Micropaedia?

• Micropaedia is arranged alphabetically

• Intended primarily for quick fact-checking, ready reference and act as a guide to the Macropaedia

What is Macropaedia?

• Third part of the encyclopaedia

• It serves students who wish to learn a field in depth or details for comparison.

• Contains 17 volumes & 4207 articles

• Arranged alphabetically

• It has articles that are very detailed but each article is usually about a large topic

People use Micropaedia to know just a little, but the Macropaedia is used to

know in detail.

What is Propaedia?• Introduced in 1974 with the 15th edition.

• The core of the Propædia is its Outline of Knowledge, which seeks to provide a logical framework for all human knowledge

What is Propaedia?

• It also has several appendices listing the staff members, advisors and contributors to all three parts of the Britannica.

• It seeks to provide a systematic, strictly hierarchical categorization of all possible human knowledge

Book of the year 1988• Published in 1988

• Includes a content page

• A calendar indicating special events and occasions of the year 1988

• Includes Britannica update that states major revisions from the 1988 macropaedia

Book of the year 1988

• The year in review about people in 1987 , Biographies , Obituaries

• Events of 1987

• World Data arranged in alphabetical order in blue pages

• Includes Index

Conclusion• General English Language Encyclopaedia

that is regarded as the most scholarly of Encyclopaedias through out the world

• Index – like a signpost for the Britanicca• Propaedia – Outline of Knowledge• Micropaedia – Ready Reference• Macropaedia – Knowledge in depth• Book of the year 1988 – Statistical information

and world data

Let’s see if you can find!!!

Thank you

Hope You all enjoyed the session

The Tulip Group members with the

Lecturers