Encyclopedia.com vs Infoplease

Encyclopedia.com is a free web reference service with over 300,000 entries from published sources including Oxford University Press and the Columbia Encyclopedia. It also offers more than 50,000 topic summaries with related pictures, videos, and newspaper and magazine articles. The site says it continually updates partner content and allows searches across more than 200 encyclopedias and reference books. Users can search with keywords or browse alphabetically. Results are ordered by relevance according to how often a search term appears in an article. The FAQ gives citation details for The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition, including its 2008 publication information. The service is available on the web, and its privacy policy also refers to a mobile application named “Encyclopedia.” Terms allow personal searching, display, downloading, and printing, but prohibit systematic downloading or scraping without permission. The privacy policy describes collection of account, device, browsing, cookie, and session information, as well as an advertising affiliation with CMI Marketing, doing business as CafeMedia.

Infoplease is a free web reference and learning site that brings together encyclopedia, dictionary, thesaurus, atlas, and almanac material. Its resources cover topics such as history, science, geography, current events, arts, and entertainment, with reference documents, quizzes, timelines, and news. The atlas includes continent, physical, country, and outline maps, geography quizzes, a distance calculator, and a latitude-longitude finder. Country profiles cover subjects ranging from maps and history to population, languages, economy, and government. The Homework Center spans geography, history, language arts, mathematics, science, and social studies, with resources for writing, research, speaking and listening, and study skills. Math and science materials include conversion calculators, a periodic table, virtual chemistry labs, and a glossary. Infoplease says experts create content using verified sources and fact-checking, and readers can report errors for investigation. It is part of the Sandbox Learning family of educational and reference sites for parents, teachers, and students. The site's curated resources are described as free.