ReferenceAnswers, the resident trivia wiz over at Answers.com, got a new look this week. Not to worry, it’s still the home of Today’s Highlights, where you’ll find newly updated trivia about today, every day.
So get going - find out today’s Answer of the Day, and what it has to do with… Patrick Dempsey!?
Pop quiz: What do you get when you mix ReferenceAnswers, new resources and awesomeness?
Answer: You get your questions answered (and a lot of homework help, too).
The content team behind Answers.com’s reference library has been adding more titles to bring you more great topics with quality info. And just in time for spring semester!
I’d like to highlight two of those today, if you please.
American Annals:
Speeches, essays, biographies, landmark court decisions, editorials, and more bring history to life. Noted contributors include Barack Obama, George W. Bush, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and the author of “America the Beautiful.”
Wordsmith Words: A.Word.A.Day is about the magic and music of words. AWAD includes a vocabulary word, its definition, pronunciation information with audio clip, etymology, usage example, quotation, and other interesting tidbits about words to subscribers every day. You can think of it as a word trek where we explore strange new words. Words are usually selected around a weekly theme.
Care to check out the entire reference selection? Leave your library card behind and click here.
There’s something warm and fuzzy about being labeled “useful,” as Jeanne Duffey calls encyclopedias, including Answers.com, in her well-written column for news-leader.com:
In print or on the Web, encyclopedias are useful
Donna Bacon, a reference librarian interviewed for the article, offers Answers.com as a good example for where to turn for reference information.
Yes, online encyclopedias are convenient, handy and useful. Bacon recommends Answers.com. “This site uses reputable sources for their encyclopedia-type entries. The reference content is derived from publishers known for their accuracy and reliability.”
Information on the site’s 4 million topics is updated frequently and it’s easy to find what you need, either via a search box or by linking to a list of 18 subjects, from Arts to Zoology. Under each topic are hundreds of subtopics. (source)
I don’t know about you, but I feel pretty damn warm and fuzzy. The truth is, it’s really wonderful to be noted like that by a reference librarian.
While WikiAnswers is most certainly a user-contributed effort, Answers.com certainly embraces the reference side of the coin with its 100’s of resources (almanac, dictionary, government, and of course - encyclopedia).
Sometimes you want straight definitions and fast facts (Answers.com), and sometimes you want advice and experience (WikiAnswers). You could say that one picks up where the other leaves off.
