Free Online Encyclopedia, Medical Encyclopedia Online

Although the Internet itself could be called a giant encyclopedia, there is one very important difference: the Internet content is written by so many sources that you can never be sure in reliability of all of them. However, when you need background information for a college paper or a research project, you not only need it quickly, you also need to trust your sources. Here are our recommendations for trustworthy and free online encyclopedias.

Encarta offers 4,500 articles, hundreds of related multimedia clips, a talking dictionary, and a world atlas. Though a lot of the encyclopedia articles are behind the subscription wall, you can get a renewable two-hour pass free of charge.

High Beam's Encyclopedia contains 57,000 articles from the sixth edition of Columbia Encyclopedia. Each entry is short but includes hyperlinked references to other encyclopedia articles. The Web button is a search function that allows you to choose many engines to search simultaneously.

Information Please is an encyclopedia and a dictionary. It is a one-stop destination for all your information needs. This website integrates the various Information Please Almanacs with Random House Webster's College Dictionary and the Columbia Encyclopedia. It can be navigated by the integrated search function, or you can browse the almanacs by navigating topics. Be sure to test out the fun and helpful HotWords. Highlight any word on any Infoplease page, and then click the Hotwords button for a definition and links to related encyclopedia articles.

Wikipedia is a multilingual, web-based, free content encyclopedia project. Wikipedia is compiled collaboratively by volunteers from all around the globe. With rare exceptions, its articles can be edited by anyone with access to the Internet, simply by clicking the edit this page link.

Medical Encyclopedia Online

The example of online medical encyclopedia is A.D.A.M. Medical Encyclopedia. It contains over 4,000 articles about diseases, tests, symptoms, injuries, and surgeries. It also includes an extensive library of medical photographs and illustrations.