The World Almanac for Kinds Online

The World Almanac for Kids Online

http://www.worldalmanacforkids.com/

About
The World Almanac for Kids is the online version of the book which is created by the editors of The World Almanac, the best-selling American reference book of all time.

Review
World Almanac for Kids Online provides kids with information on thousands of subjects presented with articles, photos, quizzes and games. It is filled with kid-friendly facts on topics such as “Faces and Places,” sports, magic, music, numbers, animals, and the United States. This a great online reference resource presented in an appealing, easy to use manner.

Genre: Digital Media - Website
Warnings: None
Advertisements: No
Target Audience: Age 9 -14

This is included because it is a fun and informative reference site designed for kids.

Encyclopedia.com

Encyclopedia.com

http://www.encyclopedia.com

About
Encyclopedia.com is powered by HighBeam Research. HighBeam Research is a paid search engine owned by Cengage Learning (through its Gale subsidiary) for newspapers and encyclopedias. It is headquartered in Chicago.

Review
Encyclopedia.com features more than 100 sources, including encyclopedias, dictionaries and thesauruses with facts, definitions, biographies, synonyms, pronunciation keys, word origins, and abbreviations. These resources include Oxford University Press and Columbia Encyclopedia. There are nearly 200,000 reference entries from citable sources. There is help with and examples of proper citations. Encyclopedia.com’s more than 50,000 topic summaries feature related articles, videos, pictures, facts, and biographies. Topics covered include the arts, science, sports, medicine, accounting, and management. This site is great for homework help.

Genre: Digital Media - Website
Warnings: None
Advertisements: Yes
Target Audience: Age 9 t0 14

This website is included because it is a source of citable information online.

Kids Konnect

Kids Konnect

http://www.kidskonnect.com/

About
Kids Connect is a website created by educator Jan Belzer in 1999 to provide portal pages for students in elementary school. Her stated goals are to allow children to safely and effectively utilize the internet, cover the curriculum areas covered in school, make sure there are lots of fun sites for kids to visit and to keep the site free so that all children can use it.

Review
This website provides basic facts about a variety of subjects and links students to 413 kid safe web pages on these subjects. There are fast facts followed by links to sites. It is an uncluttered and easy to navigate site. It skews towards the younger end of the tween range and would work well for ELL students.

Genre: Digital Media - Website
Warnings: None
Advertisements: Yes
Target Audience: Age 9 to 14

This site is included because it is safe for tweens and easy to use.

Fact Monster

Fact Monster: Online Almanac, Dictionary, Encyclopedia, and Homework Help

http://www.factmonster.com/

About
Fact Monster is a website geared towards children. It is owned by Infoplease. Infoplease is a subsidiary of Pearson which is an educational publishing company. Pearsons businesses and brands include Prentice Hall, Longman, Scott Foresman, Addison Wesley, Allyn & Bacon, Benjamin Cummings, PASeries, ELLis, Celebration Press, PEMSolutions, SuccessMaker, Waterford, and Family Education Network. Pearson's other primary operations include the Financial Times Group and the Penguin Group.

Review
Fact Monster features include a reference desk with a homework center, timelines, the Columbia Encyclopedia, Random House Dictionary, an atlas, maps and an almanac. Information is available on world history, geography and news, the United States, people, sports, science, math and money, books, language, and mythology. The information offered through Fact Monster is citable. There is help for writing citations. It also features quizzes, flashcards, and Flash-based games. There are teacher and parent resource pages. In 2001, it won a Webby Award for best kids' site.

Genre: Digital Media - Website
Warnings: None
Advertisements : Yes
Target Audience: Age 9 to 14

This website is included because it offers good information from citable sources.

Wikipedia

Wikipedia

http://www.wikipedia.org/

About
Wikipedia is run by the not-for-profit Wikimedia Foundation headquartered in San Francisco. The Foundation’s stated purpose is collecting and developing educational content and disseminating it effectively and globally. Since its creation in 2001, Wikipedia has grown rapidly into one of the largest reference web sites, attracting around 65 million visitors monthly as of 2009. There are more than 75,000 active contributors working on more than 14,000,000 articles in more than 260 languages.

Review
Wikipedia is a free online encyclopedia that anyone can edit. Articles are written collaboratively. Anyone with internet access can write and make changes to Wikipedia articles. Contributions to articles are made anonymously. Substandard or disputed information is subject to removal. Wikipedia's articles provide links to guide the user to related pages with additional information. Wikipedia maintains a vast trove of up-to-date information. It is a great place to start a search. Sources for articles on living people are verified and these articles can be cited. The other articles on Wikipedia are not to be cited as the sources have not been verified. But one may simply click the reference links and verify the sources that way.

Genre: Digital Media - Website
Warnings: Wikipedia makes no guarantee of the validity of the content of its articles.

Advertisements: No

Target Audience: Everyone

Wikipedia is included because it is a force in the online research world.