Comparing Wikipedia, Encyclopedia Britannca And Facts About The Bloody Sunday

Comparing Wikipedia, Encyclopedia Britannica and Fact Monster entries about the Bloody Sunday (Northern Ireland 1972)

Introduction: Every encyclopedia aims to provide detailed and factual information concerning a multitude of subjects. In other words, they are sources of information by which one can come to know about particular subjects. In this short study, we will be comparing three encyclopedias (Wikipedia, Encyclopedia Britannica, and FactMonster) and the information they provide on the Bloody Sunday (Northern Ireland). Very succinctly, the bloody Sunday refers to a civil right demonstration of 1972 in Northern Ireland that ended with the death of 14 civilians by the British Army . This paper aims at finding out how much information the above encyclopedias provide, and the credibility and authority of each on the subject matter.

In fact, Fact Monster does not explore the Bloody Sunday as a major story. The story only fits in as a short chronological element of a bigger topic which is the Northern Irish Conflict. On the other hand, Encyclopedia Britannica handles the subject as a major topic and provides thorough details - the day, the month, the year of the event; the places of the event; the people involved in the event and how the event unfolded. Though the latter provides extensive information about the Bloody Sunday, Wikipedia provides a sea of information on the subject with supporting pictures. For instance; while Britannica mentions the number of those killed in the demonstrations, Wikipedia additionally provides the names and ages of those who were shot and/or killed, how they were shot and killed, including witness