The information in Encarta Online is never more than a few clicks away. Fascinating articles, images, and activities await your exploration. We offer many different ways to search for information; choose one that suits your needs.
Note: To make sure you have the best possible experience with Encarta Online, see our System Requirements page.
Finding your way around
Use the buttons on the Encarta Online navigation bar at the top of every page to visit the following areas of the site.
- Home - Go back to the Encarta Online home page.
- Find - Search for information in Encarta Online.
- Help - Step-by-step instructions for using the Encarta Online site and the encyclopedia, as well as customer support.
There are five ways to explore the features and information on the Encarta Online Web site.
- On the Encarta Online home page, type a search word in the Find box, and then click Go to search our concise encyclopedia. You can also sign up from the home page to begin a trial subscription to Encarta Online Deluxe and access premium encyclopedia articles and media.
- Explore with our Atlas. On the Encarta Online home page, choose from the list and go directly to comprehensive maps and related articles for the country of your choice.
- On the Encarta Online home page, visit a category page to browse articles, features, activities, and Web links organized by category.
- On the Encarta Online Deluxe home page, click one of the links in the Features section to open great features such as the weekly 360-degree view.*
- On the Encarta Online Deluxe home page, scroll down to the Latest Updates section to read in-depth articles on current events.*
*Only in Online Deluxe.
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Encarta Online showcases the depth of Microsoft's award-winning reference products. Use the links on the Encarta Online home page to go to each of the features described below.
Category pages are your gateway into nine areas—History; Geography; Life Science; Physical Science and Technology; Social Science; Art, Language, and Literature; Religion and Philosophy; Performing Arts; and Sports, Hobbies and Pets—to study and explore. Each category page lists the latest encyclopedia updates, current articles, and Web links to lead you to various levels of information in that area.
Encarta Online Atlas provides you with both spectacular and informative portraits of the countries of the world. Different perspectives allow you to zoom in for details or zoom out for views from space. Links will take you to articles about your selected city or country.
360-Degree Views* are stunning panoramas of some of the world's most beautiful and interesting locations. Every week we feature a different image.
Microsoft TerraServer* brings you satellite images of places on Earth. Start miles above the planet and progressively click your way down to street level. View famous places, natural landmarks, or try to find your neighborhood.
Schoolhouse contains the Encarta Lesson Collection and other useful information for teachers and students.
Encarta Challenge Game is a fast-paced quiz game, with questions relating to all areas of Encarta Online Encyclopedia. You must have Shockwave installed on your computer to play Encarta Challenge Game. Shockwave is a software application that optimizes multimedia delivery across the Web, making movies and games in Encarta Online run faster. Use the link on the game page to download Shockwave if you don't already have it.
Links to Latest Updates Articles* are located on the Encarta Online Deluxe home page and on the appropriate category page to provide an in-depth look at a topic of current interest.
Encarta Presents Content Tools. Offer your visitors fast and easy access to the Encarta Online Concise Encyclopedia with its content of 16,000 reference articles. Add our search tools to your Web site, free of charge, as an incentive for your visitors to return regularly. And even better, visitors don't leave your Web site. Each time they use the tool to find information, their selection appears in a separate instance of a browser window. To find out more and sample Content Tools, go to the Content Tools home page.
*Only in Online Deluxe.
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Encarta Schoolhouse includes the Encarta Lesson Collection, where you can find lessons developed by professional educators or submit your own lesson for inclusion in the collection, as well as many links to other online education resources for teachers and students.
Encarta Lesson Collection
You can begin searching for a lesson directly from the Schoolhouse home page. See Searching for Lessons for more information. You can also submit a lesson for the collection by clicking the Contribute a Lesson link on the Schoolhouse home page. See Submitting a Lesson for more information on submitting a lesson for the Encarta Lesson Collection.
Teacher Resources
From the Schoolhouse home page you can go to lists of useful resources for teachers by clicking the Selected Education Sites link. You can open a list of Microsoft resources for educators by clicking the Microsoft and Education link.
Student Resources
From the Schoolhouse home page you can also go to a list of useful resources for students by clicking Student Resources. This gives you a list of Web links for homework help and other fun learning resources.
To go to the Schoolhouse home page
- From Encarta Concise Encyclopedia, click the Schoolhouse link on the navigation bar at the top of the home page.
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From Encarta Online Deluxe, in the Features section of the home page, click the Schoolhouse link.
Searching for Lessons
On the Schoolhouse home page you'll find a list of lesson categories and a link to the Make a Lesson page. Click the categories listed on the Browse tab to look through the lessons in each category, or choose the Search tab for a more precise search. The Make a Lesson page gives you detailed instructions for submitting a lesson.
To browse through the Lesson Collection
- On the Encarta Concise Encyclopedia home page, click the Schoolhouse link on the navigation bar at the top of the page.
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On the Encarta Online Deluxe home page, click the Schoolhouse link in the Features section.
- In the left pane of the Schoolhouse home page, click a lesson category.
- Click a subcategory if you want, and then click a lesson title to display the lesson plan.
To use Lesson Search
- On the Encarta Concise Encyclopedia home page, click the Schoolhouse link on the navigation bar at the top of the page.
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On the Encarta Online Deluxe home page, click the Schoolhouse link in the Features section.
- In the left pane of the Schoolhouse home page, click the Search tab.
- Type a keyword, or select a Primary Subject, Secondary Subject, Source or Grade to search on. You can choose just one of these criteria to search on, or you can combine them for a more precise search.
- Click GO.
- Click a lesson title to display the lesson plan.
Using Lesson Plans and Activity Sheets
Lesson plans always include the teacher's outline for the lesson and some include activity sheets that you can print out for students. You can also save an electronic copy of the lesson plan or activity sheet and edit it for your class.
Note: To view an activity sheet for a lesson, click the Activity Sheet link to the left of the lesson plan.
To print a lesson plan or activity sheet
- Open a lesson plan.
- Click the Print View link at the left of the lesson or activity sheet.
This gives you a page without the Encarta Online navigation bar.
- Use the Print command on your Web browser to print a copy of the page.
To save and edit an electronic copy of a lesson plan or activity sheet
- Click the Print View link at the left of the lesson or activity sheet.
This gives you a page without the Encarta Online navigation bar.
- Use the Save or Save as command on your Web browser and save the page to your computer's hard drive or to a floppy disk.
The page is now saved as an HTML file.
- Open the HTML file in a word processing application, such as Microsoft Word, in which you can convert the HTML file to a document file.
You are now ready to edit the lesson plan or activity sheet as you would any other document.
Note: Be sure to save the document as HTML rather than text to preserve the formatting and text styles used on the page.
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Submitting a Lesson
In addition to searching through the lessons in the Encarta Lesson Collection submitted by other educators, you can also submit your own lesson. Any lesson you contribute to the Encarta Lesson Collection must be your original work. You may include material from outside sources if the sources are acknowledged.
Note: By submitting a lesson you agree to allow Microsoft to publish your lesson on the Encarta Lesson Collection Web site, and in other Web sites and software products at Microsoft's discretion, including Encarta Encyclopedia, Encarta Africana, Encarta Virtual Globe, and Encarta Interactive World Atlas.
There are two ways to submit a lesson for the Encarta Lesson Collection:
- Send the text in an e-mail or as an e-mail attachment to eschool@css.one.microsoft.com
- Add the text directly to the Encarta Schoolhouse lesson template and submit it on the Web.
To add text to the template
- On the Schoolhouse home page, click the Contribute a Lesson link.
- Follow the directions on-screen for adding text and submitting the lesson.
If you want examples of how to format your lesson plan using HTML, click the Data View link for any of the lessons in the Encarta Lesson Collection.
Notes:
If you're sending a lesson via e-mail, you do not need to use the same section headings as the lesson template.
If you want to include graphics with your lesson, please send an e-mail message to eschool@css.one.microsoft.com and include the details of the graphics. The Encarta Schoolhouse editors will advise the best format for the graphics and how to send them to Encarta Schoolhouse.
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With Electric Library you can search for and examine library reference materials and periodicals without leaving your desk. By connecting to the Electric Library Web site, you have access to tens of thousands of authoritative newspaper and magazine articles that you can copy, quote, or print. You can get access to Electric Library for a small monthly fee. For more information, visit Electric Library. Please note, Electric Library requires a separate subscription from Encarta Online Deluxe.
To connect to the Electric Library Web site
- On any Search Results list, click the underlined search words in the Periodicals section.
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- On the contents page of any article, click the link in the Periodicals section at the bottom right of the article text.
Electric Library displays a list of periodicals that relate to the article. You can view the article abstracts for free or you can view the full articles for an extra fee.
To search further in Electric Library, follow the instructions on the Electric Library Web site.
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