Ready Reference: Encyclopedias

The Catholic Encyclopedia: A useful resource for information about Catholicism.
Columbia Encyclopedia: Sixth edition (2000) of the desk encyclopedia. Brief entries with keywords linked to related entries.
Encarta Encyclopedia: A website that has articles of general interest for the user.
Encyclopedia Britannica: The 1911 Edition: Online version of the original 1911 edition with over 44,000,000 words.
Encyclopedia Britannica’s Guide to Shakespeare: This page contains information about the famous playwright, his life and his work. A useful resource for English majors.
The Encyclopedia Mythica: A useful resource for finding myths from various cultures
An Encyclopedia of Gay. Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender & Queer Culture: A useful resource for Gay and Lesbian Studies.
Encyclopedia of Life: "Comprehensive, collaborative, ever-growing, and personalized, the Encyclopedia of Life is an ecosystem of websites that makes all key information about all life on Earth accessible to anyone."
Encyclopedia of Television: "More than 1,000 original essays that examine specific programs and people, historic moments and trends, major policy disputes and such topics as violence and tabloid television."
Encyclopedia of the Orient: This site is useful for information about Middle Eastern Studies.
The Encyclopedia of World History: This resource contains an overview of world history ranging from prehistoric times to the modern age. The site has over 20,000 entries.
Encyclopedia Smithsonian: Compiled to answer frequently asked questions or to provide guidance in finding requested information. Updated continually.
Facts Encyclopedia: MVE, like its parent (My Virtual Reference Desk), has three goals: (1) fast access, (2) intuitive and easy navigation and (3) comprehensive content, rationally indexed.
Gale Virtual Reference Library: This website contains several encyclopedias for use, including the Encyclopedia of Aging, the Encyclopedia of Food and Culture and the Encyclopedia of Small Buisness among others. Please check the title list link on the main page for a complete list of available encyclopedias.
Highbeam Encyclopedia: A useful resource for general information about a number of disciplines. This resource has over 57,000 articles available for free.
The Instrument Encyclopedia: A good resource for music majors. This encyclopedia contains information about a variety of different musical instruments from around the world.
The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Articles in the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy are currently from three sources: (1) adaptations from public domain sources, (2) adaptations from student papers, and (3) original contributions by professional philosophers.
Open Site: This encyclopedia features information on a wide variety of subjects.
TechWeb Technology Encyclopedia: Over 10,000 definitions to technology terms and concepts; from the Computer Desktop Encyclopedia.
Wikipedia: Wikipedia offers a vast number of encyclopedia articles from many fields in different languages. However users should be aware that the articles on Wikipedia are not subject to scholarly review or accurate fact checking and therefore may not be reliable.