be general or subject specific
be one volume or multi-volume works
have an index in the last volume or they may only be one alphabetical list of topics without an index
be numbered on the spine with numbers or with letters
be in electronic format on CD-ROM or on the Internet and those on the Internet may be free or may require a subscription.

Here are examples of some titles:

General encyclopaedias

- Academic American encyclopaedia
- Compton's encyclopaedia & fact-index
- Collier's encyclopaedia : with bibliography and index
- The Dorling Kindersley children's illustrated encyclopaedia
- The New Encyclopaedia Britannica
- World book encyclopaedia

Subject encyclopaedias

- The concise encyclopaedia of archaeology
- The encyclopaedia of alternative medicine and self-help
- Grzimek's animal life encyclopaedia
- Illustrated encyclopaedia of plants and animals
- McGraw-Hill encyclopaedia of science technology
- The world encyclopaedia of coffee

Encyclopaedias on CD-ROM

Below are some examples. Ask your Librarian which encylopaedias are available on CD Rom in your Library. These will normally be kept at the audio visual department in the Library.

- World Book Speech Deluxe.
- Microsoft Encarta encyclopaedia deluxe 99

Online encyclopaedias

(often not the best choice when you are in a hurry or in the middle of the day, due to slow Internet downloading times)

Remember you will only be able to access these web sites if the computer you are working on is connected to the internet.

Free access to over 300,000 entries - facts, words, concepts, people & quotations covering art, music, history, business, law, literature, health, science and more.
Xrefer contains encyclopaedias, dictionaries, thesauri & books of quotations from the world's leading publishers. All cross-referenced, all in one place - providing you with a single source for reliable factual information.

Encyclopaedia.com - This site conveniently places an extraordinary amount of information at your fingertips. More than 14,000 articles from The Concise Columbia Electronic Encyclopaedia, Third Edition, have been assembled to provide free, quick and useful information on almost any topic.

Encyclopaedia Brittanica