Microsoft Adds Extra Homework Help to Encarta Encyclopedia New Edition Aids in Researching and Planning School Projects Eric Grevstad
Mon 7/1/02 -- You'd expect this year's edition of Microsoft Corp.'s Encarta encyclopedia to contain updated information about advances in cloning and the crisis in the Middle East. But Encarta Reference Library 2003 also provides all-new homework tools to help students research assignments, plan steps to complete various school projects, and gain insights into popular works of literature.
The five-CD or one-DVD reference set ($75) combines a multimedia encyclopedia with an interactive world atlas, dictionary, thesaurus, and Encarta Africana, an exploration of the history and achievements of African people and their descendants including a music timeline and Library of Black America. It can be updated on a weekly basis via the Internet.
Among the new features, a Homework Center with Project Starters helps kids plan and develop projects from writing a poem to completing a science-fair exhibit, while Translation Dictionaries provide quick and easy translations between English and Spanish, French, German, and Italian. A Chart Maker lets students create charts and graphs for reports or presentations.
In addition to familiar and contemporary quotations from literature, TV, the news media, and more, Encarta Reference Library 2003 takes a page from Cliff's-Notes-type handbooks with a series of Literature Guides that give info about the authors and genres behind works ranging from The Grapes of Wrath to Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.
