Showing posts with label research. Show all posts
Showing posts with label research. Show all posts

Wednesday, April 2, 2008

English will turn into Panglish in 100 years

English as it is spoken today will have disappeared in 100 years and could be replaced by a global language called Panglish, researchers claim.

  • Children read gossip magazines over books
  • New words will form and meanings will change with the most dramatic changes being made by people learning English as a second language, says Dr Edwin Duncan, a historian of English at Towson University in Maryland, in the US.

    According to the New Scientist, the global form of English is already becoming a loose grouping of local dialects and English-based common languages used by non-native speakers to communicate.

    By 2020 there may be two billion people speaking English, of whom only 300 million will be native speakers. At that point English, Spanish, Hindi, Urdu and Arabic will have an equal number of native speakers.


    Dr Suzette Haden Elgin, a retired linguist formerly at San Diego University in California, said: "I don't see any way we can know whether the result of what's going on now will be Panglish - a single English that would have dialects... or scores of wildly varying Englishes, many or most of them heading toward mutual unintelligibility." How long will it take to find out? "My guess, a wild guess, is less than 100 years."

    Thursday, March 27, 2008

    Top Encyclopedia Sites for Student Research Papers


    There are tons of encyclopedia sites online that offer instant access to the information you need to complete your research paper. Here is a list of the best encyclopedia sites to get you started.
    1.

    Encyclopedia Britannica Online

    The online version of the Encyclopedia Britannica is a trusted source used by more than 4,755 universities worldwide, including Oxford, Yale and Harvard. The site includes access to all 32 volumes of the Encyclopedia Britannica, a dictionary, a thesaurus, newspaper and magazine articles and a world atlas. You'll have to work fast though. You can only use this source for free for seven days. After that, you'll need to pay $69.95 a year for full access.


    2. Encyclopedia.com

    Encyclopedia.com is a free online encyclopedia that allows you to search more than 57,000 articles from the Columbia Encyclopedia. Each article contains links to images, as well as magazine and newspaper pieces. Encyclopedia.com also includes other reference works, such as the Oxford Dictionaries and the Britannica Concise Encyclopedia.


    3. Bartleby

    Bartleby.com has a great collection of free reference materials, books and verse. Searchable encyclopedias include the Columbia Encyclopedia, the Encyclopedia of World History, the Columbia Gazetteer of North America, and the World Fact Book.


    4. Infoplease

    Pearson Education's Infoplease provides free access to more than 57,000 articles from the Columbia Encyclopedia (Sixth Edition.) Other references, such as an almanac, dictionaries and a thesaurus make this site a good all around tool for research papers.

    5. Questia


    The free encyclopedia from Questia includes more than 52,000 entries from the Columbia Encyclopedia (Sixth Edition.) There are also loads of supplemental goodies in the reference library, such as full-text books and articles from journals, magazines and newspapers.

    6. LoveToKnow Classic Encyclopedia

    The LoveToKnow Classic Encyclopedia is a new Internet project that revives the renowned 1911 edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica. In some circles, this edition is considered to be one of the best encyclopedias ever written. Most entries have been updated with links and new information.

    7. Encyclopedia of Life

    Encyclopedia of Life is a relatively new Internet venture. Launched in May of 2007, the site's goal is to document all species of life on Earth. The collaborative and constantly updated encyclopedia is free for everyone to use and perfect for students who are writing research papers on science or biology.

    8. Scholarpedia


    The Scholarpedia site is similar in format to Wikipedia, but it is a much better free resource for research papers. All of the entries have been written and approved by an actual scholar, which means you will have no problems when it comes time to cite sources. Featured encyclopedias cover topics like computational neuroscience, dynamical systems, computational intelligence and astrophysics.

    9. MSN Encarta

    MSN Encarta is a fantastic online encyclopedia and would rank much higher on this list of you could use it for free. As it is, you must pay $4.95 per month or $29.95 per year for the subscription service that lets you view most encyclopedia entries. Other tools that are available on the site include a thesaurus, homework tools and message boards.

    10. Wikipedia


    Wikipedia is one of the most popular sites in the world, but it is not without its problems. Anybody can write and edit Wikipedia entries. This means that you can't always count on the site for factual information. You also can't cite Wikipedia as a source for most student research papers. Nevertheless, Wikipedia is worth visiting because it is free and it can lead you to more valuable and reliable sources of information.

    Tuesday, March 25, 2008

    TOP ENCYCLOPEDIA SUTES FOR STUDENTS


    There are tons of encyclopedia sites online that offer instant access to the information you need to complete your research paper. Here is a list of the best encyclopedia sites to get you started.
    1.

    Encyclopedia Britannica Online

    The online version of the Encyclopedia Britannica is a trusted source used by more than 4,755 universities worldwide, including Oxford, Yale and Harvard. The site includes access to all 32 volumes of the Encyclopedia Britannica, a dictionary, a thesaurus, newspaper and magazine articles and a world atlas. You'll have to work fast though. You can only use this source for free for seven days. After that, you'll need to pay $69.95 a year for full access.


    2. Encyclopedia.com

    Encyclopedia.com is a free online encyclopedia that allows you to search more than 57,000 articles from the Columbia Encyclopedia. Each article contains links to images, as well as magazine and newspaper pieces. Encyclopedia.com also includes other reference works, such as the Oxford Dictionaries and the Britannica Concise Encyclopedia.


    3. Bartleby

    Bartleby.com has a great collection of free reference materials, books and verse. Searchable encyclopedias include the Columbia Encyclopedia, the Encyclopedia of World History, the Columbia Gazetteer of North America, and the World Fact Book.


    4. Infoplease

    Pearson Education's Infoplease provides free access to more than 57,000 articles from the Columbia Encyclopedia (Sixth Edition.) Other references, such as an almanac, dictionaries and a thesaurus make this site a good all around tool for research papers.

    5. Questia


    The free encyclopedia from Questia includes more than 52,000 entries from the Columbia Encyclopedia (Sixth Edition.) There are also loads of supplemental goodies in the reference library, such as full-text books and articles from journals, magazines and newspapers.

    6. LoveToKnow Classic Encyclopedia

    The LoveToKnow Classic Encyclopedia is a new Internet project that revives the renowned 1911 edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica. In some circles, this edition is considered to be one of the best encyclopedias ever written. Most entries have been updated with links and new information.

    7. Encyclopedia of Life

    Encyclopedia of Life is a relatively new Internet venture. Launched in May of 2007, the site's goal is to document all species of life on Earth. The collaborative and constantly updated encyclopedia is free for everyone to use and perfect for students who are writing research papers on science or biology.

    8. Scholarpedia


    The Scholarpedia site is similar in format to Wikipedia, but it is a much better free resource for research papers. All of the entries have been written and approved by an actual scholar, which means you will have no problems when it comes time to cite sources. Featured encyclopedias cover topics like computational neuroscience, dynamical systems, computational intelligence and astrophysics.

    9. MSN Encarta

    MSN Encarta is a fantastic online encyclopedia and would rank much higher on this list of you could use it for free. As it is, you must pay $4.95 per month or $29.95 per year for the subscription service that lets you view most encyclopedia entries. Other tools that are available on the site include a thesaurus, homework tools and message boards.

    10. Wikipedia


    Wikipedia is one of the most popular sites in the world, but it is not without its problems. Anybody can write and edit Wikipedia entries. This means that you can't always count on the site for factual information. You also can't cite Wikipedia as a source for most student research papers. Nevertheless, Wikipedia is worth visiting because it is free and it can lead you to more valuable and reliable sources of information.