Encyclopedia Britannica (2024)

FAQs

Can you trust Encyclopedia Britannica as a source? ›

The Encyclopedia Britannica contains carefully edited articles on all major topics. It fits the ideal purpose of a reference work as a place to get started, or to refer back to as you read and write. The articles in Britannica are written by expert authors who are both identifiable and credible.

A.J. Jacobs was not the first to read the entire Britannica. The earliest recorded example was Fath Ali, who upon becoming the Shah of Persia in 1797, was given a gift of the 3rd edition of the Britannica.

Most professors that ask for scholarly sources are looking for articles from academic, peer-reviewed journals. Using this definition, encyclopedia articles do not qualify. For assistance finding scholarly articles from academic, peer-reviewed journals, please contact a librarian.

Encyclopædia Britannica also argued that a breakdown of the errors indicated that the mistakes in Wikipedia were more often the inclusion of incorrect facts, while the mistakes in Britannica were "errors of omission", making "Britannica far more accurate than Wikipedia, according to the figures".

If you need background information on a topic, or need to find out who the major theorists are in a field, you can find that information in encyclopedias. Note: While encyclopedias are reviewed and edited before being published, they are not peer reviewed and should rarely be cited in scholarly writing.

Encyclopedia.com has more than 100 trusted sources, including encyclopedias, dictionaries, and thesauruses including The Columbia Encyclopedia, Oxford's World Encyclopedia, and the Encyclopedia of World Biography. with facts, definitions, biographies, synonyms, pronunciation keys, word origins, and abbreviations.

In the 21st century, the Britannica suffered first from competition with the digital multimedia encyclopaedia Microsoft Encarta, and later with the online peer-produced encyclopaedia Wikipedia. In March 2012, it announced it would no longer publish printed editions and would focus instead on the online version.

In addition, the main disadvantages of electronic encyclopedias include dependence on information technology, high initial cost, quality control, and citation.

based on strong evidence.” Widely credible sources include: Scholarly, peer-reviewed articles and books. Trade or professional articles or books. Magazine articles, books and newspaper articles from well-established companies.

In comparison, Britannica articles emphasise conflicts with underlying cultural and religious tensions. Semantically, Britannica relies on vocabulary with religious connotations and on geographical terms, while Wikipedia is heavy on political and military words.

What source is better than Wikipedia? ›

Citizendium. Citizendium, developed by Wikipedia co-founder Larry Sanger, is a reputable online encyclopedia offering a reliable alternative to Wikipedia. With a rigorous editorial process, Citizendium ensures high accuracy and expertise by having articles written and edited exclusively by field experts.

In contrast to Wikipedia, Encyclopedia Britannica is a well-known, centuries-old English-language encyclopedia that seems to have a reputation for scholarly authority.

While the claim was disputed by Britannica, since then Wikipedia has grown 6-fold in the number of articles; is >85 times the size of 120-volume Encyclopedia Britannica, measured by word count; and has substantially improved its quality.