Editing Encyclopedia (section)

=== Four major elements ===

Four major elements define an encyclopedia: its subject matter, its scope, its method of organization, and its method of production:

# Encyclopedias can be general, containing articles on topics in every field (the English-language ''[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]'' and German ''[[Brockhaus Enzyklopädie|Brockhaus]]'' are well-known examples).<ref name="what" /> General encyclopedias may contain guides on how to do a variety of things, as well as embedded dictionaries and [[gazetteer]]s.{{Citation needed|date=February 2010}} There are also encyclopedias that cover a wide variety of topics from a particular cultural, ethnic, or national perspective, such as the ''[[Great Soviet Encyclopedia]]'' or ''[[Encyclopaedia Judaica]]''.
# Works of encyclopedic scope aim to convey the important accumulated knowledge for their subject domain, such as an encyclopedia of [[medicine]], [[philosophy]] or [[law]]. Works vary in the breadth of material and the depth of discussion, depending on the [[target audience]].
# Some systematic methods of organization are essential to making an encyclopedia usable for reference. There have historically been two main methods of organizing printed encyclopedias: the [[alphabetical order|alphabetical]] method (consisting of several separate articles, organized in alphabetical order) and organization by [[hierarchy|hierarchical]] categories.<ref name="webster" /> The former method is today the more common, especially for general works. The fluidity of [[electronic media]], however, allows new possibilities for multiple methods of organization of the same content. Further, electronic media offer new capabilities for search, [[Subject indexing|indexing]] and [[cross reference]]. The [[epigraph (literature)|epigraph]] from [[Horace]] on the title page of the 18th century ''Encyclopédie'' suggests the importance of the structure of an encyclopedia: "What grace may be added to commonplace matters by the power of order and connection."
# As modern multimedia and the information age have evolved, new methods have emerged for the collection, verification, summation, and presentation of information of all kinds. Projects such as [[Everything2]], [[Encarta]], [[h2g2]], and [[Wikipedia]] are examples of new forms of the encyclopedia as [[information retrieval]] becomes simpler. The method of production for an encyclopedia historically has been supported in both for-profit and non-profit contexts; such was the case of the ''[[Great Soviet Encyclopedia]]'' mentioned above which was entirely state-sponsored, while the ''Britannica'' was supported as a for-profit institution.