Web Exercises

Skill Goal: Using online encyclopedias
Subject: Medieval popes and emperors

Many students like encyclopedias as handy reference tools, so this week we are going to evaluate what you find in online encyclopedias about the people we have been studying, and compare that information with what you yourself see after you have read something written by the same people.

Let's stick with three figures [you only need do the project on one of them].

• Pope Gregory VII
• Pope Innocent III
• Frederick Barbarossa
• Frederick II

You can find information about them at:

• The Encyclopedia Britannica [This should be accessible from computers at your schools. If you are at home, you can get a "trial subscription" for a week]
• Encarta [Concise version is free. Full version can be had for free for seven days]
• The Columbia Encyclopedia
• Compton's Online Encyclopedia [This also has a seven day trial subscription. For those with AOL it is available already: the keyword is "comptons"]
• Hutchinson's Encyclopedia [This one is only available on AOL. Use keyword "encyclopedias", then choose "More Encyclopedias"]
• The Catholic Encyclopedia

• Explain which encyclopedia is best for your subject, and why? Explain the strengths and weaknesses of each encyclopedia.
• What do you gain by looking at the original texts by the author rather than just looking at an encyclopedia?