ENCYCLOPEDIA

The popular term “Encyclopedia” possesses the innate connection with the ancient Greek word “ enkyklia paideia” which stands for

Fundamental Knowledge. This literary genre is defined as a collection of information which provides the readers with relevant facts regarding one specific subdivision or all of the subdivisions of knowledge. The concept of accumulating information relating to every single aspect of knowledge of the universe was regarded as a vague idea through the ages but was later developed and organized to take the form of encyclopedias.

Various knowledgeable and enlightened people through centuries have made great endeavors to generate this compilation. Since 18 th century, the encyclopedia has been enhanced from the fundamental dictionary by providing substantial and profound information on each and every subject. Encyclopedias are found to be bestowed with various attributes, like:

•  Some Encyclopedias deal with general topics

•  Some Encyclopedias describe specific subject matter and their related fields.

•  Several Encyclopedias are found to include a huge array of fields related to any specific culture or nation

The encyclopedias are usually composed following two separate procedures like; Alphabetical Order procedure and Hierarchic Order procedure . Nowadays the online encyclopedias offer outstanding arrangements of data for easy-searching.

Various encyclopedias are composed to meet the increasing quest for knowledge worldwide in several languages. Names of some well known encyclopedias and their publishers are:

•  Encyclopedia Britannica by Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc.

•  Children's Encyclopedia by Educational Book Company Ltd

•  Cambridge Encyclopedia by Cambridge University Press

•  Pears Cyclopedia (originator Pears Soap)

•  The Penguin Encyclopedia by Penguin Group

•  Columbia Encyclopedia by Columbia University Press

A few of the online encyclopedias are:

•  Encyclopedia of Life Sciences

•  Encyclopedia DG

•  Probert Encyclopaedia

Thus the innumerable resources of encyclopedias enrich and satiate the thirst for knowledge of the readers all over the world.