How to use an encyclopedia for grades 3 and 4.

1. W is an encyclopedia?
hat
An encyclopedia is a reference source
W would we use an
hy
encyclopedia?
W use an encyclopedia to
e
get information for a report,
to find an answer to a
question, or to read about
something in which we are
interested.

2. If you are looking for information about a topic
for a report the encyclopedia is a good place to
start. The article will give you a good general
overview of the topic. You will want to find
additional information sources as well.
The encyclopedia gives you information about
persons, places and things and answers the
questions “who?” “where?” “when?” and “how?”
But an encyclopedia does not usually answer the
question “why?”

3. Two types of encyclopedias:
 print encyclopedias
 online encyclopedias

4. What is a print encyclopedia?
A print encyclopedia is a
set of books that contains
information about many
different subjects.
Because the amount of
information cannot all be
put into one book, it is
divided into many smaller
books. Each book is
called a volume.

5. How are the volumes of an
encyclopedia organized?
The volumes in each set are arranged in
alphabetical order to make it easy to find the
information. They are also numbered to make it
easy to keep them in order.

6. How are the subjects in an
encyclopedia organized?
On the pages, the subjects are
arranged in alphabetical order
with guide words on each page
like a dictionary.

7. To find a subject, look for the
letter it begins with and
choose that volume. The
subjects on each page are
usually printed with large,
dark letters. Example:
dinosaurs

8. To find a person, look for the
person’s last name.
Example: George Washington

9. If a person has a title, you will find
information about him or her under
the last part of his/her name.
Example: Queen Elizabeth
would be found under “E”
for Elizabeth

10. To find a place named with two parts,
look for the first part.
Example: Grand Canyon

11. No one knows the answer to
everything, but clever people know
where to find answers. Many answers
to questions can be found in the
encyclopedia. But you must know
what to look for. When you
have a question, look for the
most important or specific name
(key word or words).This will
most likely will be the topic,
or subject, to look under for the
information you want.

12. In which volume of an encyclopedia
would you find the answers to these
questions?

13. W is a UFO?
hat

14. In what year was
George W Bush
.
born?

15. W hen was the first Thanksgiving Day
celebrated?

16. W is Prince Charles?
ho

17. Where is Easter
Island?

18. What does a python
eat?

19. How many legs
does an arachnid
have?

20. W hat are the
names of the nine
planets in our solar
system?

21. Let’s go find it in
the encyclopedia!