Infoplease.com is a free online reference website that combines an encyclopedia, dictionary, atlases and almanacs into one searchable site. It has over 5 million visitors monthly and is popular among students, teachers and parents for authoritative yet accessible facts. The site draws information from various TIME and Information Please print publications and features tools like calculators, converters and perpetual calendars as well as daily features and search options by keyword, source or category.

1. INFOPLEASE®
ALL THE KNOWLEDGE YOU NEED.
A Ready Reference Instructional Guide

2. WHAT IS INFOPLEASE.COM? WHERE
CAN I FIND IT?
Infoplease.com is the world’s largest free reference website, and an excellent
one-stop shop for information.
It combines an encyclopedia, a dictionary, atlases, and several up-to-the-minute
almanacs into one comprehensive, fully searchable website!
And it’s available on any Internet-connected computer or device.
Simply, type www.infoplease.com into your browser and, viola!, you’re there!

3. WHY USE INFOPLEASE.COM?
Infoplease.com is dedicated to providing:
Reliable and engaging information
Easy accessibility
Straightforward searching
The site has over 5 million visitors per month!

4. WHO SHOULD USE
INFOPLEASE.COM?
Everyone!
Infoplease.com is especially popular with teachers, students, and
parents, but anyone can, and should, use it.
It’s a great place to search for a variety of authoritative, but fun,
facts.
Fully accessible, with little jargon.

5. INFOPLEASE.COM: A HISTORY
Infoplease.com began as the Information Please!
weekly radio quiz show, which ran from 1938–
1952 on NBC.
 Due to the show’s popularity, the creators began
publishing an annual Information Please
Almanac in 1947, which they still publish today.
 In 1997, Information Please partnered with TIME
to publish their almanac as The TIME Almanac
with Information Please.
Infoplease.com launched in 1998, and users
have flocked to it ever since.

6. AWARDS
Best of the Net 2001, Wall Street Executive Library
Family PC Recommended Site, April 2001, Family PC Magazine
100 Best Sites, September 2000, Entrepreneur Magazine
10 Best Geographical Resources of 1999, About.com

7. WHAT CAN YOU FIND?
World—Countries, news, world rulers, statistics, etc.
U.S.—States, cities, history, military, gender issues, etc.
Homework Help—Geography, math, mythology, science, etc.
People—Academia & culture, arts & entertainment, newsmakers, etc.
History & Gov’t—U.S. elections, U.S. Supreme Court, timelines, etc.
Science & Health—Aviation, inventions, weather, etc.
Calendar & Holidays—Seasons, holidays, holiday features, etc.
Business—Consumer resources, employment & labor statistics, etc.
The Fifty States—Profiles for each state with maps.

8. WHERE DOES ALL THIS
INFORMATION COME FROM?
The TIME Almanac with
Information Please
The TIME for Kids Almanac with
Information Please
The Information Please Business
Almanac and Desk Reference
The Information Please
Environmental Almanac
The ESPN Sports Almanac with
Information Please
The Information Please Baseball
Almanac
The Information Please Women’s
Almanac and Sourcebook
The Arts and Entertainment Almanac
with Information Please
The Information Please Kids’
Almanac
The Information Please Almanac for
Girls
Random House Webster’s College
Dictionary and Thesaurus
Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th Edition

9. TOOLS
Infoplease.com also includes these handy tools:
 Calculator  Conversion Tool
 Spelling Checker  Perpetual Calendar
 Place Finder  Year by Year
 Distance Calculator  Fact Monster (for kids 9–13)
 Periodic Table

10. POPULAR AREAS
The most popular areas on Infoplease.com are:
 Year-by-Year  Encyclopedia
 Dictionary  50 States
 Thesaurus  Country Profiles
 Atlas  Homework Center

11. OTHER FEATURES
Each day Infoplease.com’s homepage features:
A main topic of general interest for the day
Most popular searches and terms
A biography of the day
Poll question
Just for fun games, quizzes, and crosswords

12. SEARCHING
You can search infoplease.com in several easy ways:
Keyword search
Browse by source
Browse by category

13. KEYWORD SEARCHING
First, let’s search by keyword…

14. KEYWORD SEARCHING
Search box
Enter your search term in the search box, in this case, we’re looking for information
about “halloween.”
Press “Enter” on your keyboard or click on the “search” button.
The search engine will automatically search the almanacs, atlases, encyclopedia,
dictionary, and thesaurus simultaneously.

15. KEYWORD SEARCHING
 Results are displayed 15 at time, with the most
relevant listed first.
 Everything related to “halloween” is displayed
(120 total hits), including games, costume
ideas, history, movie references, etc.
 You can refine your search by limiting the
search to one source. Let’s limit ours to the
encyclopedia only.
 Click on “encyclopedia” on the “Refine your
search” bar.
Refine your
search Additional
searches
Number of
hits

16. KEYWORD SEARCHING
 We now have only six hits, a much more
manageable number.
 From this page, you can also conduct the
same general search on Google, search for
parenting materials on Family Education, or
find lesson plans and teaching resources at
teachervision.com.
Additional
searches
Number
of hits

17. BROWSING BY SOURCE
Now, let’s browse by source…

18. Click on the appropriate icon at the top of the page or select your source from the
Infoplease Sources box.
Let’s select “Dictionary” for our example.
BROWSING BY SOURCE
Sources

19. BROWSING BY SOURCE  We want to know the definition of
“halloween.”
 From the dictionary page, type “halloween”
into the keyword search box.
 Here is our result:
“halloween”

20. BROWSING BY CATEGORY
Lastly, let’s browse by category…

21. To browse by category, click on the
appropriate tab on the top
navigation bar.
For our example, let’s choose
“World” and “Structures &
Buildings.”
With your mouse, scroll over to
“World” and drag the cursor down
until “Structures & Buildings” is
highlighted and click.
BROWSING BY CATEGORY
Navigation Bar

22. BROWSING BY CATEGORY
From here, we can click on “The Seven Wonders
of the Ancient World,” and get a list of them
with a brief history of each one.
Or, we can click on “Skyscrapers History” to
learn about the development of skyscrapers.
Or, we can click on “World’s Tallest Buildings,”
where we will find a list of the tallest buildings in
the world ranked by height with the year of
completion.

23. CONCLUSION
Whether you want to find general information about a holiday, or a word definition,
or specific information about a building or structure, Infoplease.com can help you
find it.
You may also discover serendipitous knowledge you didn’t even know you needed!
Infoplease.com is a great resource for all manner of questions and curiosities. It’s
reliable, it’s informative, and it’s fun!
Give it a try!

24. CITATION
Infoplease. Boston, MA: Pearson Education. http://www.infoplease.com/.

25. HELP!
If you have any questions about this resource, or if we can be of any other help to
you, please either click the ASK A LIBRARIAN icon on our webpage or give us a call at
312-444-1111.
We look forward to assisting you in the future!
Kristin A. Sumner
October 27, 2014