GCSE ICT 
Education and ICTTheory
Page 6: Online resources
Teachers have always encouraged students to use encyclopedias as a research tool. Encyclopedias are a set of reference books containing a wide range of factual knowledge, usually arranged by topic or by alphabetical order. Full sets were expensive and most schools could only afford one or two, which were stored in the library.
There has been a move towards using electronic versions of encyclopedias which can be stored on the school network. This means that students can access them at any time using any computer in the school.
Paper-based Encyclopedias
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Advantages |
Disadvantages |
| Peer reviewed - can be relied upon for their accuracy | Very expensive to purchase a set |
| Cover a wide range of topics | Can't be updated or corrected |
| Usually kept as a reference set so always available for students during library opening hours | Schools generally can only afford one set which is kept in the library |
| Pages can be photocopied | Can be written to the wrong level e.g. Britannica is written for adults |
| Intended as reference rather than research - good for checking facts but not much use for in-depth research or understanding |
Challenge see if you can find out one extra fact on this topic that we haven't already told you
Click on this link: Online Encyclopedia
Digital Encyclopedias
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Advantages
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Disadvantages
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| Can be loaded onto the school network so all students can access them from any terminal | Need a computer in order to access them |
| Hyperlinks are provided for further research | If the network is down, they cannot be accessed |
| Multi-media often used with sound and video clips | Some people find it difficult to read a lot of text on the screen |
| Regular updates available so more likely to be up to date than a paper based encyclopedia | |
| Pages can be printed and altered |
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