Weekly Online Lesson Online Lesson Archives Grade Level: 3-12 Subject: Multidisciplinary/Reference

Information Please

The Internet is an enormous storehouse of information. Some of the information is true and reliable, some of it is not-so-reliable . . . and some of it is flat-out false. Still, the need to find out information is what lures most of us to the Internet, and it's what keeps us coming back.

There are millions of sites you can go to on the World Wide Web, enough to find as much information as you'd ever want. How much information can possibly be squeezed into a single site? No one really knows, but Information Please is a Web site that seems obsessed with finding out.

Information Please started more than 50 years ago as a popular quiz program on NBC. It ran from 1938 to 1952. The knowledge collected from years of gaming evolved into a reference book, the Information Please Almanac, first published in 1947. They now publish annual sports and entertainment almanacs as well.

With its electronic debut on the Web in 1998, the site includes an up-to-the-minute almanac, a complete dictionary, a comprehensive encyclopedia, and many other regular features. If there's any information worth knowing, this is the place to find it.

Info Search

You may not pay much attention to it at first, but the most powerful feature of the Information Please site is the Search box at the top of each page. To find information about anything—anything at all—type a keyword or two in the search box on the left. In the box on the right you can pick the kind of source you want to search, or you can search them all.

Try searching for information about polar bears. Type the words "polar bear" in the Search box, and then click the GO! button. When the results come back, you'll see links for every listing in the data base that includes the words polar bear. Click the links to encyclopedia listings, dictionary definitions, and so on. Not only will you be able to learn about polar bears, you can find out about places and things related to the subject.

Information Headings

If you prefer to have your information neatly categorized, you can find things by clicking the subject headings on the left side of the page. For example, click on the sports link to pull up the facts and stats related to all of your favorite sports. Click sci & tech for information related to science and technology, including facts about new inventions and discoveries.

To help you with your study of current events, click the daily almanac heading. There you will find almanac information related to current news. From the Daily Almanac page click today in history to find out about important historical events that took place on that day. You can find out which famous people are celebrating birthdays by clicking the today's birthday link, and click what does it mean? to add a new word each day to your vocabulary.

Kids' Almanac

If the Information Please almanac is a bit too hard for you, try clicking the kids' almanac, a simplified version of the almanac written for adults. You can still search for kid facts by entering a word in the Search box, or you can click on any of subjects below. Check out whatever you find interesting.

Homework Help

Having so many facts at your fingertips is fine, but what you really want to know is:

"How will this help me do my homework?"

No problem. Go to the Homework Center. There you will find links to Homework Facts divided by subject area: English, Math, Geography, Science, History, and Social Studies.

If that doesn't help, you can Ask someone at Information Please anything you want. Just don't send in your question an hour before the test; you might not get your answer back in time. And no, they won't write your essay for you.

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