In what now seems like a bygone era, kids would turn to big, often dusty encyclopedias to help them complete school research projects. Nowadays, reference resources such as encyclopaedias, almanacs and dictionaries can be accessed much more manageably online. These online resources offer a fantastic tool for research and pupils could end up spending many hours clicking through links as their curiosity takes them onto different topics and new intellectual horizons. However, with such an amazing proliferation of online resources for kids to use, how can you be sure which one is best suited to their needs. More importantly, which ones offer the greatest safety and security for young internet explorers?
In general, there are two broad categories of online reference resources. One consists of unstructured sites that are aimed at a general audience. Perhaps the best example of such a resource is Wikipedia, which offers probably the greatest database of information on the entire web. Wikipedia has already gained a high profile in schools and is used regularly by young learners as an introduction to new and unfamiliar topics.