A good word about World Book

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For this entry, I'd like to follow up on our recent class discussion about encylopedia formats and evaluation of Grolier's, Brittanica, and World Book on-line. Overall, Brittanica got the class vote for presentation and especially its grade-level organization, while Grolier's Multi-Media was praised highly for visual content.

I'd like to include here a good word about World Book (WB) and its information breakdown. WB cuts up dense information on a broad topic into multiple sections with subtitles, helping frame main ideas. There's even an option to "print this section" at the end of each - a possible paper saver. I don't disagree with observations about Grolier's and Britannica, but I didn't want to overlook this appealing quality found in WB.

Overall, I also preferred the writing in WB. In comparing written entries on same topics, I felt WB's tone, organization, and depth of information would likely be most helpful and satisfying for middle schoolers on up; possibly younger groups as well. Granted, this a rather subjective evaluation.

More than anything, I wonder how kids themselves would rank each site and its elements. I'd love to hear back from any and all in that regard!