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Encyclopedia.com also provides innovative tools that allow you to rate and sort the reference content you find to be the most useful.</p></div><div class="content-gate" style="display: none;"><div class="mailchimp-form-wrapper"></div></div><div class="full-content" style="display: none;"><h2>Frequently asked questions (FAQs)</h2><ul><li><a href="#faqwhatisencyclopedia">What is Encyclopedia.com?</a></li><li><a href="#faqbestsearch">What are the best ways to search Encyclopedia.com?</a></li><li><a href="#faqresultsort">How are search results sorted?</a></li><li><a href="#faqcitations">How do I cite entries from The Columbia Encyclopedia?</a></li><li><a href="#faqcomments" id="faqwhatisencyclopedia">How do I send comments or feedback to Encyclopedia.com?</a></li></ul><h2>What is Encyclopedia.com?</h2><p>As the Internet's premier collection of online encyclopedias, Encyclopedia.com provides you reference entries from credible, published sources like <strong>Oxford University Press</strong> and <strong>Columbia Encyclopedia</strong>.</p><p>At Encyclopedia.com, you get free access to nearly 200,000 reference entries from sources you can cite. Plus, more than 50,000 topic summaries feature related <strong> pictures</strong>, <strong>videos</strong>, <strong>topic summaries</strong>, and <strong>newspaper</strong> and <strong>magazine articles</strong> from around the world. Encyclopedia.com also provides innovative tools that allow you to rate and sort the reference content you find to be the most useful.</p><p>Other Web sites that allow anyone to rewrite reference entries can be fun. But when you need <strong>credible information</strong> from reliable sources you can cite, Encyclopedia.com (<a href="/" rel="nofollow">www.encyclopedia.com</a>) is the place to go. <a id="faqwhatishighbeamresearch"></a></p><p><a href="#" id="faqbestsearch" rel="nofollow">See all FAQs <i class="fa fa-arrow-up"> </i></a></p><h2>What are the best ways to search Encyclopedia.com?</h2><h3>Searching effectively at Encyclopedia.com</h3><p>We simplify the process of finding encyclopedia entries with two easy ways to search:</p><ul><li>Enter keywords in the search box</li><li>Browse by selecting a letter of the alphabet</li></ul><h3>Search with keywords</h3><p>Because the words you type in the search box are what Encyclopedia.com looks for in its database of reference entries and articles, choose your search words carefully. Here are a few suggestions:</p><ul><li>Use quotes around multiple-word search terms where certain words are more meaningful when they’re considered as a whole (e.g., "<span class="fsi">Golden Gate Bridge</span>").</li><li>For search terms with multiple words, try inserting “and” or “or” between words that don’t necessarily need to go together (e.g., <span class="fsi">Auto and Transportation)</span>.</li><li>When using a person’s name for a search term, it’s often effective to list the last name first (e.g., <span class="fsi">Washington George</span>).</li><li>If your search gives you unexpected results, make sure there isn’t a typo in the search term.</li><li>If your search term has too many words, that may broaden the variety of results you get back instead of making those results more specific. This is because our search engine uses relevancy (i.e., the number of times a search term appears in a specific document) as its guide when scanning the database. To get more precise results, it’s often best to use only the most important words and consider using quotes or instances of “and” or “or” as noted above.</li></ul><h3>Browse the alphabet</h3><p>Just like printed and bound encyclopedias, Encyclopedia.com contains a volume for each letter of the alphabet. Simply select a letter to browse subjects and find what you want.</p><p>Note that when browsing for a person’s name, it’s often best to start with his or her last name if you can’t find what you’re looking for using the first name.</p><p><a href="#" id="faqresultsort" rel="nofollow">See all FAQs <i class="fa fa-arrow-up"> </i></a></p><h2>How are search results sorted?</h2><p>Encyclopedia.com displays search results in a list where the results that are the most relevant to the search term are shown first. Relevancy is based on the number of times a search term appears with the article the search result represents.</p><p><a href="#" id="faqcitations" rel="nofollow">See all FAQs <i class="fa fa-arrow-up"> </i></a></p><h2>How do I cite entries from The Columbia Encyclopedia?</h2><p><span class="fwb">Title:</span> The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition.<br /><span class="fwb">Published:</span> New York: Columbia University Press, 2008.<br /><span class="fwb">Notes:</span> Last Update: April 2008.<br /><span class="fwb">Citation:</span> <span class="fsi">The Columbia Encyclopedia</span>, Sixth Edition. New York: Columbia University Press, 2008. www.encyclopedia.com.<br /><span class="fwb">Online Ed.:</span> © Copyright 2008 Columbia University Press. Published by HighBeam Research, Inc. 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