Megan Northcote
Concise Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy
1. What will each source tell you about:
a.
William of Occam was a medieval philosopher and Franciscan friar who taught
theology and Aristotelian logic and physics from 1317 to 1324 in Oxford and London. He
developed a new line of theological thought called nominalism where he believed that only
individuals exist. He rejected the Universalist belief because he felt that universals would
limit god’s power. He drew a clear line between theological speculation and the natural
sciences.
i. I searched “William of Ockham” in the search bar and received 25
results.
ii. The primary article, “William of Ockham” by Claude Panaccio stated
“See also: ARISTOTELIANISM, MEDIEVAL; LANGUAE, MEDIEVAL
THEORIES OF; NOMINALISM.” Some of the other 25 search results
were cross referenced with articles such as “Ailly, Pierre D’,” Burley,
Walter,” “Chatton, Walter,” and others.
b.
Pythagoras (570-497 BC) was a Greek sage who founded a religious community in
Southern Italy that focused on the immortality of the soul. His followers, known as
Pythagoreans, applied his teaching to math and science disciplines. His work and
philosophies have left their mark on the thoughts of later philosophers, including Plato and
Empedocles.
i. I searched “Pythagoras” in the search bar and received 14 results.
ii. The primary article, “Pythagoras by Hermann S. Schibli was cross
referenced with “See also: NEO-PYTHAGOREANISM; PRESOCRATIC
PHILOSOPHY; PYTHAGOREANISM.” One book, Lore and Science in
Ancient Pythagoreanism, was listed as further reading.
2.
Look up Freud to get some idea how the information they give differs from what is
found in subject encyclopedias.
According to biography.com, Freud was born in 1856 in the Czech Republic. He developed a
psychoanalysis theory as well as theories on child sexuality, libido and the ego, which were
highly influential concepts in the 20th century. The article talks about Freud’s friend, Josef
Breuer, a Viennese colleague, who discovered that talking about repressed feelings from
one’s childhood helps people cope. While the two men partnered in their research, Breuer
later left him, saying Freud was too caught up in the sexual tendencies to children in his
analysis. One of this best known published works is The Interpretation of Dreams. He
overdosed on morphine while exiled in England and died.
The Sigmund Freud article in the Encyclopedia of Philosophy was much more focused on
going in depth with Freud’s specific psychoanalysis philosophy and how it influenced later
philosophical scholars and practitioners.
A search for Freud yielded 33results, with cross references including “See also: c.g.;
PSYCHOANALYSIS, METHDOLOGICAL ISSUES IN; PSYCHOANALYSIS, POST-FREUDIAN” and
three further readings
3.
What sort of information does each give you on music?
While the keyword “music” revealed 31 search results, the biggest entry in this encyclopedia
was the “MUSIC, AESTHETICS OF” article. This article discussed music in terms of its
meaning or emotional quality, the nature, power, or purpose of music, and value judgments
placed around music. The cross reference for this article was “OPERA, AESTHETICS OF” with
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two further reading suggestions for music and emotions and meaning. The other references
to music were in regards to a person’s connection with music as listed in their specific
biographical article.
4.
Could I find anything on "Revisionist history" [meaning reinterpretation of the history
of the whole field, sometimes with respect to previously ignored minorities] in these
sources? How about "social democracy"?
Unless you knew the name of a specific philosopher to search whose teachings and work
centered on revisionist history or social democracy, there’s really no way to find information
on these broad concepts if there is no entry listed for that specific term in a quick keyword
search. No results appeared for a quick keyword search of “revisionist history.”
There were 10 results for searching “social democracy.” There was a brief article on social
democracy specifically which was cross referenced with democracy and justice. The other
entries reflected philosophers whose teachings incorporated the philosophy of social
democracy, as well as a brief mention under the entry, “political parties.”
5.
Think of one person and one general topic that you would expect to find in at least
three of the listed sources. Look them up in all five sources and see what you find.
I chose Christianity as my topic. There were over 100 references to Christianity after a quick
keyword search, although there was not a separate article specifically about Christianity.
Christianity was mentioned in the “Incarnation and Christianity” article, “Anti-Semitism,”
“Jewish Philosophy,” and in specific philosopher’s biographies who were raised Christian or
practiced Christian teachings. It was also made clear that Christianity was often conflict with
different philosophical teachings.
I chose Aristotle as my person. A very brief biography was given about him, citing him as
“one of the two most important philosophers of the ancient world.” Then the article broke it
down into three areas in which he contributed, including: logic, nature, metaphysics,
philosophy of mind, ethics and politics, and literary criticism.
There were cross references, particularly to the types of “Aristotelian logic,” which he
inspired, including Aristotle commentators, Aristotelianism, medieval, Aristotelianism in
Islamic philosophy.
Encyclopedia of Religion
6. What will each source tell you about:
c. William of Ockhami.
ii.
iii.
The primary article about Ockham went into far more detail than the
Philosophy Encyclopedia in describing Ockham’s teachings. It seemed
a bit more biased, making the claim that his attack up on the pope’s
power and his insistence that people had to decide questions of faith
for themselves “ did perhaps more than any other single thinker to
transform the philosophical and theological outlook of the later Middle
Ages.”
I found William Ockham in the index.
The primary article, “William of Ockham” stated “See also:
NOMINALISM.” Other index listings for him included Ockham: on the
existence of God, on free will and predestination, on knowledge,
metaphysics of, on problems of universals, and theology of.
d.
Much of the biographical information about Pythagoras remains the same (his death
year became 590). There was far more speculation surrounding who Pythagoras really was
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,talking about his supernatural faculties and extraordinary mental powers that made him
capable of healing, predicting the future, etc. There was speculation surrounding his dietary
practices and if they impacted his work. More emphasis was placed on his role as a
mathematician and scientist and there was more discussion of the extent that his teaching
spread.
i. I found “Pythagoras” listed in the index. The main article was cross
referenced with “NEOPLATONISM; ORPHEU; PLATO; AND PLATONISM.”
ii. Other cross-references to Pythagoras include: “and Apollo,”
“asceticism of,” “as god,” “on judgment of the dead,” “as
mathematician,” “on souls,” “travels of,” “writings of,” and many
others.
7.
Look up Freud to get some idea how the information they give differs from what is
found in subject encyclopedias.
Compared to the biography.com source, this encyclopedia was far more detailed, broken
into subheadings including “Life and Principle Works,” “Psychoanalytic Theory,” “Theory of
Culture and Religion,” and “Contribution to the Study of religion.” Although he was highly
skeptical toward religion, his teachings influenced many people. Many more of his specific
works were discussed in this article. The article certainly had more of a debatable bias to it.
There were well over 30 cross references with Freud, including “atheism of,” “on
circumcision,” and “on jokes.” There were also many references to Freudian psychology.
8.
What sort of information does each give you on music?
Searching music in the index yielded tons more entries than the philosophy encyclopedia.
Categories included music within specific ethnic religious groups, including African,
Buddhism, Christianity, Hindu, South American, and various other tribes. There were also
cross references to music as art, myths as songs, music in shamanism, types of music, such
as gospel, classical, or contemporary. Musical instruments was listed as a separate subject
head category. There was a link to the different definitions of music and diversity in music.
Clearly, music plays a large role in religious literature.
9.
Could I find anything on "Revisionist history" [meaning reinterpretation of the history
of the whole field, sometimes with respect to previously ignored minorities] in these
sources? How about "social democracy"?
Unless you knew the name of a specific philosopher to search whose teachings and work
centered on revisionist history or social democracy, there’s really no way to find information
on these broad concepts if there is no entry listed for that specific term in a quick keyword
search. No results appeared for a quick keyword search of “revisionist history.” Searching
“history” certainly yielded a lot of different groups’ interpretation on different religious
histories, including one entry titled “History of religious approaches,” which certainly might
have some alternate, subordinate views from minority groups.
I could find listings for democracy in the index as it’s practiced in different counties and by
different religions. There was also reference to democracy and journalism and debate
surrounding this.
10.
Think of one person and one general topic that you would expect to find in at least
three of the listed sources. Look them up in all five sources and see what you find.
Unsurprisingly, there were hundreds of subject listing for Christianity in the index.
Everything from apostles to baptism to how different cultural groups practice Christianity to
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conversion practices and traditional rituals surrounding the religion. There were of course
controversial subject headings about homosexuality or feminism in Christianity.
Aristotle is also listed extensively in the religion encyclopedia. The main Aristotle article
went into way more detail surrounding his philosophies, beginning with a subheading for his
“first philosophy” and seguing into his ethics and politics on happiness. This article certainly
has a biased slant, citing all the different knowledge fields his work influenced, making him
the leading philosopher of ancient times. There are lots of cross-references to Aristotle on
education, ethics, metaphysics, theology and other areas.
International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences
11. What will each source tell you about:
e. No information was found about William of Ockham since this is a social science
journal.
f. No information was found about Pythagoras.
12. Look up Freud to get some idea how the information they give differs from what is
found in subject encyclopedias.
The social science journal offered the most extensive information about Freud; not only did
the article include a biography of Freud, but a very extensive scholarly analysis of the
development of his ideas from a psychoanalytical, phylogenetic, and psychopathologic
perspective. His contributions to the fields he impacted as well as his primary weakness
were both discussed extensively, providing a more balanced, well-rounded analysis. The
article even provided historical context, discussing some of the psychological theories
prevalent during Freud’s time. An extensive bibliography followed. His name was crossreferenced numerous times with categories such as anxiety, conflict, defense mechanisms,
sexual behavior, unconsciousness, and the name of other psychologists who came after him
and were influenced by his works.
13.
What sort of information does each give you on music?
Music was referenced in articles about ethnomusicology and music and society. In regards
to ethnomusicology, the article discusses music’s role in influencing human behavior and
culture in general as well as the structure of music. In regards to music and society, music
was discussed more in laymen’s’ terms, including musical performance, musical professions
and music as communication. Music was certainly viewed in very anthropological terms for
this social science journal.
14.
Could I find anything on "Revisionist history" [meaning reinterpretation of the history
of the whole field, sometimes with respect to previously ignored minorities] in these
sources? How about "social democracy"?
Social democracy had a brief listing under the article for democracy; it’s different than
socialism, the article states, in that social democracy is not a standardized system of rules
imposed on society, but rather a lifestyle and way of life that tries to level unequal statuses,
among other things. Social democracy could also fall under the cross-referenced category of
social change, especially in terms of political ideologies.
I don’t see revisionist history as a separate article heading; however, you could search
history, specifically “culture history” and yield search headings such as ethnology or social
history, which highlights which points to references of the common people/natives having
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great influence or sway over the interpretation of history and the values used to guide a
minority group’s interpretation of history.
15.
Think of one person and one general topic that you would expect to find in at least
three of the listed sources. Look them up in all five sources and see what you find.
Christianity is definitely listed and cross-referenced with other religious sects (Eastern
Orthodox Church, Protestantism, Roman Catholicism, etc.) numerous times within this
journal. Christianity was discussed in terms of different value systems (civil disobedience,
equality, family, how to treat the homeless, and how slavery was dealt with according to
Christian values. There were also references to Christianity as a political theory or a form of
propaganda as well as Christianity being influenced by different cultural groups, such as
Jewish, Islam, etc.
Aristotle was referenced numerous times, including references to people he influenced
(Thomas Aquinas), political theory, his interpretation of natural law, and his analytical
relevance to discussing power, and social class surrounding his ideas. There was not a
separate article specifically about Aristotle. The primary encyclopedia entry for Aristotle
provided a brief biography of him, explanation of his methodology and views on religion,
logic, ethics, politics, economics, education, and legal issues. Several of his works were
listed in the bibliography for this entry.
New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians
16. What will each source tell you about:
g.
Searching William of Ockham revealed only two small cross-references. One was
listed in Franciscus de Florentia’s biography indicating that he wrote a poem praising William
of Ockham’s logic. A second entry, Franciscan Friars, indicates that William was trained in
the Franciscan Order of Friars Minor along with some other scholars. It’s stated the friars
like William have been the guardians of the traditional sites of Christianity in the Holy
Lands.
h.
Surprisingly, there was a while biographical entry about Pythagoras regarding his
philosophy that that physical world represents truth, which is often translated into music. It
details his musical theory. Once while passing a blacksmith shop, he listened to the
knocking of the hammers to create a numerical basis of acoustics. He determined that notes
are made up of parts and that pitch is raised or lowered through the addition or subtraction
of percussions. He further compared the distances from earth to other planets to the rations
of various musical intervals. Additionally, numerous other individuals’ biographies were
cross-referenced to Pythagoras’s work, which undoubtedly were influenced by his work.
There were also some entries about different musical theories, which Pythagoras had also
played a part in.
17. Look up Freud to get some idea how the information they give differs from what is
found in subject encyclopedias.
While there is not a separate article entry for Freud, there are several cross references to
biographies and subject entries of people who were influenced by his teachings; compared
to biography.com, very little was discussed about Freud about his personal biography, but
rather, his influences on the field of music. For instance, his psycho-analytical teachings
were incorporated into a drama created by Greek composer Samarus. A subject entry about
sexuality described sexuality as a topic which heavily influences composer’s works as well as
their personal lives; this entry traced the history of the theories on sexuality of which Freud
was highly instrumental in the 20th century. In another article about musical therapy, it was
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suggested the Freud never gained much from pleasure from music, being unable to
rationalize how it impacted him.
18.
What sort of information does each give you on music?
Obviously, music is the central focus of this encyclopedia. In the music article, it’s stated
that music is discussed throughout the encyclopedia from many different vantage points,
including “linguistic, biological, psychological, philosophical, historical, anthropological,
theological, and even legal and medical.” Countless music reference sources are crossreferenced in this subject encyclopedia, including extensive biographical coverage on
famous musicians, types of music (gospel, country, etc.), instrument and notation
information, and individual works. There were also an abundance of images of musicians
and instruments as well as scans of sheet music from around the world.
19.
Could I find anything on "Revisionist history" [meaning reinterpretation of the history
of the whole field, sometimes with respect to previously ignored minorities] in these
sources? How about "social democracy"?
The most interesting article regarding social democracy references French author and
politician Victor Hugo, who is included in the encyclopedia for his opposition toward music,
specifically, his resistance to his most famous novel, Les Miserables, being turned into an
opera. All other entries referenced either socialism or democracy, particularly how each of
these political thoughts influenced a geographic location or time period, which in turn,
influenced the themes prevalent in musical compositions produced then.
Searching “revisionist history” yielded on entry about the historiography of women in
history, specifically the 1970s feminist revival which “produced and explosion of activity in
revisionist history and a new discipline initially named ‘women’s studies.’” New scholarship
was being produced surrounding women in music and their influence as a separate gender.
The search mechanisms were not specific enough to search for other variations of
“revisionist history.”
20.
Think of one person and one general topic that you would expect to find in at least
three of the listed sources. Look them up in all five sources and see what you find.
Christianity was discussed in terms of how the religion influenced different composers and
their music. For instance, South African composer Bhekizizwe Joseph Shabalala converted to
Christianity in 1975, leading him to produce a series of religiously inspired pieces of music.
Specific subject entries, such as the Middle East, discussed the three major religions of the
region – Islam, Judaism, and Christianity – and how they each influenced and were
influenced by music in that region differently.
There was a separate entry for Aristotle, which discussed how his philosophical beliefs
shaped his interpretation of music. For instance, he classified harmonics as a physical
science and a technical theory of music. There’s discussion of his theories on sense
perception and ethical behavior, which also influence music. Aristotle also saw a strong
connection between music and education. As expected, Aristotle’s name was crossreferenced in the biographies of the people he influences as well as in the subject entries of
the theories he influenced, such as mimesis, the aesthetic ideal underlying music and art
found in Greek literature.
The New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture (I chose to look in Volume 15
about Urbanization)
21. What will each source tell you about:
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i.
j.
As expected, searching William of Ockham yielded no results, as this is a very
contemporary encyclopedia about a very specific geographic region, where as
William of Ockham is a very antiquated religious leader and philosopher from Europe.
Likewise, Pythagoras did not turn up in search results within this encyclopedia as he
too is a very antiquated figure.
22. Look up Freud to get some idea how the information they give differs from what is
found in subject encyclopedias.
Freud was also not listed in such a modern encyclopedia as he focused on
psychological issues, which are beyond the realm of this encyclopedia.
23.
What sort of information does each give you on music?
References to music were sprinkled throughout this encyclopedia. There was discussion how
music has helped shape different Southern cities and towns, including country music in
Nashville and hip-hop in more urban cities. There’s even much diversity within certain
Southern cities, leading to a discussion of Latino music through Latino radios in and around
Texas. Foreign music is also something that has migrated into the South in recent years.
There are even some very specific types of music that are unique to the South, including
Crunk music, known for group chants, call and response, and rhythms and base found in
hip-hop. At the end of the encyclopedia, specific towns and cities were featured, including
Austin, Texas and Memphis, Tennessee, which highlighted the different types of music that
have put them on the map as major local and tourist music destinations.
24.
Could I find anything on "Revisionist history" [meaning reinterpretation of the history
of the whole field, sometimes with respect to previously ignored minorities] in these
sources? How about "social democracy"?
There are no references to social democracy that I could find in this encyclopedia.
While I could not find any direct results for “revisionist history,” I would argue that they
certainly exist within this encyclopedia. The encyclopedia introduction discusses the fact that
there are many marginal cultures which overlap with Southern cultures, in which case, I
would imagine you could look under entries for different migrant populations, such as
Latinos, or marginalized populations, such as African-Americans to get a few brief glimpses
into the minority version of history of the South. There was also discussion in the
introduction of Southern history being reinterpreted in terms of the wider context of North
American history.
25.
Think of one person and one general topic that you would expect to find in at least
three of the listed sources. Look them up in all five sources and see what you find.
Christianity by itself does not appear in anywhere in the encyclopedia as a keyword search.
However, there are several references to churches and religions of the Christian faith. There
was significant discussion about megachurches becoming more popular among young,
single individuals in larger, metropolitan areas. There was also discussion of an increase in
migrant families attending churches reflective of their specific religions as well as an
increased in the rise of African-Americans during industrialization as they moved back into
the cities. Very little discussion of the more traditional types of Christian religion was
included as this encyclopedia is more focused on contemporary trends in the South.
For obvious reasons, Aristotle was not included in an encyclopedia about the New South.
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World Book Encyclopedia
1. Ironically, my hometown and state are also Greensboro, NC. The only thing that was
surprising to me about Greensboro in World Book was the listing of the city as a
manufacturer of brick and clay products, chemicals, electronic equipment, and
pharmaceuticals products, a center for petroleum marketing. I was aware, however, of the
city’s textile and furniture industry since they were factoring in High Point as part of the
larger metropolitan area. The Wikipedia did not really mention any of these industries as
having prominence in Greensboro. In the Wikipedia entry, I did not know that Greensboro
was involved in the Greensboro Massacre during the Civil Rights movement involving an
anti-KKK rally and protest. I also didn’t know how instrumental the Elon University School of
Law was in revitalizing downtown Greensboro. Most surprising was the 2010 census data
indicating that the black and white population was nearly equal in Greensboro, with 48.4%
white and 40.6% black.
In the World Book entry for North Carolina, one of the biggest things that stood out to me
about the state’s economy was that only one percent of the state’s gross domestic product
comes from agriculture, according to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. I was also
surprised to learn that about 70 percent of the state’s people live in metropolitan areas. I
had envisioned a lot more rurally settled populations that relied on farming as a primary
form of income, but I guess those days are over. One of the most impressive discoveries is
that the state is called “Nature’s Sample Case” for have more than 300 different mineral
and rock deposits. I also didn’t realize we were a leading turkey raising state.
According to the Wikipedia article about North Carolina, the state’s 2010 census statistics
for demographics seemed to be significantly different than what I expected. It lumped the
whites together as white Hispanic and non-white Hispanic to account for 68.5% of the total
and blacks as 21.5%. World Book didn’t seem to even include a demographic breakdown. I
was surprised to learn that the first musical genre mentioned in in music section was jazz; I
didn’t think our state boasted a large number of jazz musicians!
Overall, I’d say there was not too terrible much in the Wikipedia entries or the World Book
entries about Greensboro and North Carolina that surprised me too much. If anything, I was
impressed by the amount of images of visual graphics, charts, etc. that both mediums used
to illustrate the city and state. I can’t really think of anything that was glaringly missing or
obviously incorrect.
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I found three encyclopedias pertaining to North Carolina:
Crutchfield, James A. The North Carolina Almanac and Book of Facts 1989-1990. Nashville,
Tenn: Rutledge Hill Press, (1990). Print
Encyclopedia of North Carolina. New York, N.Y.: Somerset Publishers, Inc. (1992)
Powell, William S. Encyclopedia of North Carolina. Chapel Hill, N.C.: The University of North
Carolina Press. (2006)
2. A. Crazy Horse – in the World Book Encyclopedia, I learned that Crazy Horse (1844) was
a leader of the Oglala Indians, also known as the Teton Sioux. He possessed unusual super
powers and showed remarkable bravery. He led several victories against U.S. troops,
namely defeating Lieutenant Col. George A. Custer at the Battle of Little Bighorn. He
voluntarily surrendered to American troops in 1877, shortly before being killed later that
year.
The Wikipedia entry indicates that he was wounded by a military guard while resisting
imprisonment at Camp Robinson in Nebraska, however, this opinion was heavily debated
further in the encyclopedia entry. A lot more information was given about Crazy Horse’s
family lineage. The Wikipedia article also talked about the visions or trances he would
experience. For instance, one of his visions took him to the South where a person goes to
die, so he was given medicine to protect himself. He was also given the nickname, “shirt
Wearer” for his fighting ability. There was also discussion of the memorials honoring Crazy
Horse today as well as debate over whether or not there was actually a photograph taken of
Crazy Horse.
B. Marie Curie - The World Book entry lists Marie Curie (1867-1934) as “a Polish-born
French physicist who became famous for her research on radioactivity. Marie Curie partially
discovered radium through her work with her husband, Pierre, also a physicist. Ironically,
she died in 1934 of leukemia, probably due to years of radiation exposure. She was the first
woman to receive a Nobel Prize and the first and only woman to win twice.
More information was given in the Wikipedia article about Marie’s lie growing up in Russia,
which influenced her decision to pursue science as for a career. It was also discussed why
she left Russia for Paris and there discovered her husband, Pierre. It also discusses her work
during WWI to create a field radiology center near the front lines of battle, creating mobile
radiography units. Numerous awards, honors, and tributes have been given to her
postmortem in her honor.
C. Sadam Hussein –
According to the World Book article on Sadam Hussein, he was the president of Iraq from
1979 to 2003 whose rule ended after U.S. troops invaded Iraq and executed him in 2006.
He utilized ruthless, dictatorial action against the Kurds, using chemical weapons against
them. I learned that he had actually been involved in an attempt to kill Iraqi Prime Minister
Abdul Kassem, which was overthrown.
The Wikipedia provides a lot more background, which could potentially be construed as
painting the picture of a slightly more humane Hussein. A large section was devoted to his
wife, children and family. He nationalized the oil and banking industries and fought against
Israel. Oil revenue even benefited Hussein politically in earning more votes. He was trained
in law and joined the Ba’ath party at one point. There were many details about the War in
Iraq and thorough information about his execution, including the letters that his lawyers
presented just prior to his execution.
D. Sacco-Vanzetti case – According to World Book, the Sacco-Vanzetti case pertained to a
series of controversial murder trials held in Massachusetts in 1921. The two Italian
defendants, Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, were both executed. At the time, they
were both accused of robbing and killing two custodians of a shoe company because they
were carrying the suspected guns and supported anarchism. Six years later, the two were
executed; however, controversy still exists among historians today suggesting that they
may, in fact, have been innocent.
The Wikipedia goes into far more detail surrounding the background of the two men, the
circumstances surrounding the robbery and guns used, and the trials and retrials and
numerous appeals to the Supreme Court justice. Much, much detail is given about the
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protests both before and after their execution in the men’s’ defense. There is a lengthy
judicial and historical debate surrounding this case today, as the article points out.
Numerous films, plays, and books have been written and produced surrounding these trials.
E. Lizzie Borden- The World Book took a definitive opinion about Borden murdering her
parents only so far as the legal facts were concerned. It was stated that “she was accused
of killing her father and stepmother with an ax. A jury found her not guilty.”
The Wikipedia article states that Borden “was tried and acquitted for the 1892 axe murders
of her father and stepmother,” although “speculation about the crimes still continues more
than 100 years later.” The Wikipedia article cites several authors who give their own
interpretations of who might have been the murderer, including Borden, Bridget Sullivan,
“William Borden” (the father’s illegitimate son), Emma Borden, and John Morse (Lizzie’s
maternal uncle.) This Wikipedia article didn’t take a definitive position either.
3. The World Book Encyclopedia article on swimming includes images of competitive lane
swimmers, children received in swimming lessons, synchronized swimming, and the proper
positioning for conducting a swimming race. There are also graphic drawings of illustrating
the body movements required for four different types of swim strokes; there’s another
graphic of a swimming pool and how the lands are divided for competitive swimming. The
literature about swimming briefly traces its history, water safety tips, descriptions of the
basic kicks and strokes, measurements for an Olympic size pool, and the different types of
races, meets, and relays popular in swimming as a sport.
Swimming in the Wikipedia article gets a little more detailed in the science behind
swimming that impacts people’s ability to sink, float and increased or decrease their speed.
There’s also discussion on infant swimming, types of swimming techniques, and the history
of swimming. Unique to this article is a rather extensive list about the purposes of
swimming (health, recreation, sport, etc.). There’s also information about the risks
surrounding swimming and the proper swimsuit and accessories needed to swim safely.
Most of the pictures are contemporary of people actively swimming. There are no charts or
graphics.
4. In the World Book relativity entry, I’d say the entry was written for a middle school to
high school level audience. Everything was written in very simple sentences that were clear
and easy to understand. There were a lot of examples used to illustrate Galileo’s theory of
relativity versus Einstein’s theories. For instance, under Einstein’s theory, it clearly states
that “the key disagreement [between the two men’s theories] lay in the descriptions of how
objects exert forces on one another” which was then followed by an example.
The Wikipedia article on the Theory of Relativity seemed slightly more difficult to
understand. While the theories were clearly stated, they didn’t make much sense by
themselves and could have really benefited from some more in-depth discussion and
examples to make the theories clearer.
Compare the print and online versions of the encyclopedias by responding to the following:
1. How easy is it to find out who wrote an article and what the author's qualifications
were?
In the Word Book entries, the author’s name is listed immediately after the article
entry; however, there’s not a supplemental volume that gives biographical
information about all the encyclopedia author contributors. Sometimes Googling an
author yields a website with biographical credentials that seems probable to relate to
that author. For instance, Googling Michael Dine, author of the relativity entry, yield
a link to a professor’s website who has authored a book on string theory.
If you take a really close look at the “view history” tab at the top of each Wikipedia
page, you can see exactly who added edited information to the article entry and
when. However, all of these contributors’ names are listed in code and only if you’re
lucky can you click on a contributor’s hyperlinked code name where it will tell you a
little bit more about who they are without revealing their real name. Definitely not
enough to prove their credentials.
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2. Are bibliographies included in the articles? Are they useful or do they have outdated
references?
No bibliographies are included in the print World Book encyclopedia.
Every Wikipedia entry concludes with a bibliography. For the most part, it looks like
the entries are useful and pretty recent. The relativity article, for example, linked to
article and books published at least since 2000, and many published since 2010. A
lot of the hyperlinks are still active and accurate.
3. What are all those pictures for?
You definitely need pictures to illustrate the subject discussed. Graphics and
drawings, in particular, make the topic clearer to visualize and understand.
4.
Make sure you record the date of publication of each encyclopedia you used. (Why is
this important?) Can you tell when the online article that you found was last
updated?
The World Book Encyclopedia I cited was published in 2012. It’s important to consult
the most current sources to get the most current, updated, and accurate
information.
The Theory of Relativity Wikipedia article was last updated on February 20, 2015.
The swimming article was last updated on February 9, 2015. The Lizzie Borden
article was last updated on February 21, 2015. So it seems, for the most part, that
the Wikipedia articles are constantly updated; however, that’s not to assume that
they’re actually fact checked as people could continually be adding information to the
article, but no subject expert is going through to vet the updates.
5. What sorts of questions will be answered by using a general encyclopedia?
A general encyclopedia answers very broad, general questions covering who, what,
when and where questions, but not as much on the why or how. There’s not
supposed to be as much analysis, although multiple viewpoints can be presented.
Biographies of people, places, historical events, scientific movements and
achievements, etc. are typical entries found in a general encyclopedia.
6. Is there any way to tell when you should check more than one encyclopedia or
perhaps another source entirely?
I would say when you read a claim that doesn’t seem to be well supported by
evidence or supporting facts, you should consult another source. If the entry seems
too limited, you might want to consult other sources for additional viewpoints. If the
bibliography reference in the Wikipedia article’s bibliography seems questionable,
consult another source. Or if you’re just thoroughly confused by what the source is
saying, consult another source.
One page essay
For all of the entries I examined, the entries were significantly longer in Wikipedia than in
the World Book. I would imagine this is because the length of the articles in the printed
version of the World Book is limited by the funding available for printing the encyclopedia,
which determines how long the entire encyclopedia can be and therefore, how long each
entry can be. Since Wikipedia is a free server and can be continually updated and edited by
anyone, there certainly would be restrictions on how long or short the articles should be.
I think the length of the articles in the print version of World Book are based on however
long it takes to concisely state the main facts surrounding the topic without getting into too
much background information. For instance, the Marie Curie article in World Book was only
¾ of a column, but it very succinctly stated what she was known for, the prominent awards
she won, a summary of theories of radiation and what she discovered followed by a
concluding paragraph about her biographical life. This was just enough information to
satisfy all my immediate questions about her and her accomplishments; the list of related
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articles and additional resources at the end of the article were handy for me to find out
more detail about her if I was going to do a full-fledged paper on the woman. The
Wikipedia article, on the other hand, gave far too much detailed information surrounding
her biographical life, broken down by decade, and her legacy and honors she received postmortem. If I was wanting to just get a sense of who she was, I would have just read the
first 2-3 paragraphs at the top of the article, which is comparable to the short entry in the
World Book Encyclopedia.
As far as articles of the same topic being different lengths in different encyclopedias,
certainly, the bias and credentials of the author writing the encyclopedia entry would
determine the length of the article or the emphasis the subject receives. If the author thinks
providing biographical background information about a person or historical context
surrounding an event is most important for explaining the person or event, then their article
would be longer than an author who is more concerned with just hitting the highlights about
the significance of the person or event. Also, subject encyclopedias would certainly provide
more detailed information about a person, place, or event than a general encyclopedia
would.
I would also think that certain topic entries are far more general in nature than specific
persons or events and would therefore require a lot more space to thoroughly describe the
topic from all angles. For instance, general noun topics like computers or agriculture, which
have far reaching applications in many fields, are undoubtedly going to be accompanied by
a more detailed listing of all the different areas they have influenced, all the different types
of computers and agriculture, how they’ve evolved over the years. People and events,
however, are much more specialized, and don’t require as much space to be able to
succinctly describe why they are significant enough to be included in the encyclopedia.
Finally, the amount of professional, scholarly research that has been done on a topic would
greatly influence the length of an article. For instance, more recent topics, such as Sadam
Hussein or Lady Gaga, may not be as robust as a topic that people have been writing about
for decades, such as the Civil War or Lizzie Borden.
Works Citied
"Crazy Horse." Wikipedia,The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 22
February 2015. Web. 24 February 2015.
"Greensboro." Wikipedia,The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 4
February 2015. Web. 24 February 2015.
Grove, George, and Stanley Sadie. The New Grove Dictionary of Music and
Musicians.1980. Web.
Jones, Lindsay, Mircea Eliade, and Charles J. Adams. Encyclopedia of Religion.
Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA, 2005. Web.
"Lizzie Borden." Wikipedia,The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 21
February 2015. Web. 24 February 2015.
"Marie Curie." Wikipedia,The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 10
February 2015. Web. 24 February 2015.
"North Carolina." Wikipedia,The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 22
February 2015. Web. 24 February 2015.
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Routledge Firm. Concise Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy. London: Routledge,
2000. Web.
Rushing, Wanda. The New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture: Volume 15. Chapel Hill:
University of North Carolina Press, 2010. Web.
"Saddam Hussein." Wikipedia,The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 22
February 2015. Web. 24 February 2015.
Sills, David L, and Robert K. Merton. International Encyclopedia of the Social
Sciences. New York: Macmillan, 1968. Web.
"Swimming." Wikipedia,The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 9
February 2015. Web. 24 February 2015.
"Theory of Relativity." Wikipedia,The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.
22 February 2015. Web. 24 February 2015.
World Book Encyclopedia. Chicago, Illinois: World Book, Inc., 2012. Print
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