User:Kayosin87/sandbox

=Kate A Wilson=

Ballet
"Ballet." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 20 Sep. 2013. Web. 24 Sep. 2013.

"ballet." ''Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online Academic Edition.'' Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2013. Web. 23 Sep. 2013.

"ballet." Encyclopedia.com. The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2013. Web. 23 Sep. 2013.

Yoga
"Yoga." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 22 Sep. 2013. Web. 24 Sep. 2013.

"Yoga." ''Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online Academic Edition.'' Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2013. Web. 23 Sep. 2013.

Dupler, Douglas; Frey, Rebecca. "Yoga." Encyclopedia.com. Gale Encyclopedia of Medicine,'' 3rd ed.. 2006. Web. 23 Sep. 2013.

Liberal Party of Canada
"Liberal Party of Canada." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 22 Sep. 2013. Web. 23 Sep. 2013.

"Liberal Party of Canada." ''Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online Academic Edition.'' Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2013. Web. 23 Sep. 2013.

Mcall et al. "Liberal Party." The Canadian Encyclopedia. Historica-Dominion 2012. Web. 23 Sep. 2013.

Search Process
I chose my topics based on personal interest. Ballet is my preferred genre of dance to perform. I am a long time dancer of various genres and I knew ballet would have the most information written about it. I love doing yoga and I enjoy the many benefits that it possesses. There are many forms of yoga but I chose to keep it broad as there would be more articles on the topic as a whole. The Liberal Party of Canada is the political party that I support. I wanted to choose one topic that I knew for sure would be in the Canadian Encyclopedia to vary my sources.

When I started to examine the articles more closely, I noticed a few differences. All the articles appeared to be current, but the amount of detail the different sources offered on each subject varied. The Wikipedia article for "Yoga" and "Liberal Party of Canada", offered the most information on the topics compared to the other sources I chose for those topics. Whereas, the Wikipedia article for "Ballet", offered the least information about the topic when compared to the other sources I cited.

I wanted to find each topic in the Encyclopedia Britannica Online so that I could compare the articles on the different topics from the same source. The Encyclopedia Britannica offered more of an overview for the topics of yoga and the Liberal Party of Canada. They are fairly short articles but they do provide quite a few hyperlinks for further reading. The Britannica article on Ballet is quite long and offers a wider scope on the topic then the Wikipedia or Encyclopedia.com articles. It seemed more overwhelming and less organized than the articles from the other sources.

The Columbia Encyclopedia offered information about ballet from more of a historical stand point in comparison to the other articles that took into account both the historical and technical aspects. If I wanted to know information about ballet as a practice this encyclopedia would not be one I would recommend. It also did not offer as many hyperlinks or further reading suggestions as the other sources did.

As expected, the article on yoga from the Gale Encyclopedia of Medicine offered a medical perspective on yoga opposed to the other sources that focused more on the history and spiritual sides. It was the only article that really talked about the medical aspects of yoga which was a nice change. Even though I enjoyed the medical benefits that this article discussed, I would have liked to have seen more information on the different aspects of the topic.

I did not enjoy how the Canadian Encyclopedia chose to present its information about the Liberal Party of Canada. It was more of a timeline of what happened during different liberal leaders' tenure. I was looking for more of a general overview of the philosophy and values of the party which were discussed in the other articles.

Overall, I like the layout and user friendliness of Wikipedia the best. I like the contents box that it has near the beginning of each article which allows you to see an overview of the article and allow for jump to navigation. The other sources require a more thorough read through to find the information you are looking for and do not have a list of contents to preview the article's content. All sources provide links and titles for additional reading which is delightful. It's amazing that there can be so many differences in the way that relatively the same information can be displayed.

Assignment 2
Wikipedia and the Gale Encyclopedia of Medicine, both have detailed articles on yoga. Yoga is gaining popularity with various demographics, making it essential for quality information to be available. Upon comparing and contrasting the two articles, many differences and similarities emerge.

Wikipedia Article Summary
The Wikipedia article on yoga, contains a lengthy write up, several pictures, and notes for further explanation. The write up covers details such as terminology, the origins of yoga, medical implications, and a comparison to other forms of meditation. The origins of yoga consume the majority of the article. In areas where less information is provided, hyperlinks and citation have been added for further exploration. The pictures are mostly of statues and deities in various traditional yoga poses. These pictures, demonstrate the culture and history of yoga. Throughout the article, there are many links to the notes section. The notes that they provide, offer further reading and insight into the topics covered. The language and terms used can present a slight comprehension issue when reading. The Wikipedia article is well laid out, and has a hyperlinked contents list for ease of navigation.

The Gale Encyclopedia Article Summary
The Gale Encyclopedia of Medicine’s article on yoga, is a compact article. The write up is focused on the physical practice of yoga. There is a separate area to access pictures and videos related to yoga. The pictures are primarily of people in various yoga poses. The videos are links to demonstrations of different yoga practices. This article has a chart of yoga poses and how to perform them. It also contains very few hyperlinks for further exploration, and does not have a contents box for jump-to navigation.

Compare and Contrast
Both articles provide general knowledge about yoga. Both have sections on medical implications, and how yoga is currently perceived in North America. The information contained in these two sections are fairly similar. The Gale Encyclopedia’s article is more concise in this section. This is because each section of their article contains medical information, whereas Wikipedia confines it to one section. They have similar section headings including definition (terminology in Wikipedia), purpose, and origins. The information in these three sections is where the articles differ. The articles’ definitions of yoga are similar. Both define yoga as union, but Wikipedia dives deeper by giving more than one basic definition. Wikipedia also includes how yoga is used in compound with other words to create a deeper meaning. For example, pum-yoga is a compound term that means “connection or relation with a man.” The Gale Encyclopedia’s definition, focuses more on yoga being a physical activity opposed to the more philosophical definition offered by Wikipedia.

The section related to the purpose of yoga, varies the most between the two articles. The Gale Encyclopedia focuses the purpose on the physical aspects of yoga, stating that it is used to alleviate medical issues and for exercise. Only mentioned briefly, is the purpose of yoga as a spiritual mind-body connection. Wikipedia however, presents an opposite point of view about the purpose of yoga in comparison to the Gale Encyclopedia. Wikipedia says that yoga is all about achieving spiritual goals like peace, liberation, and a clear mind. Wikipedia briefly mentions yoga as a physical practice for health and exercise.

Wikipedia elaborately explores the history and origins of yoga, whereas the Gale Encyclopedia presents a more concise version. After reading Wikipedia’s version of the origins of yoga, the Gale Encyclopedia’s version focuses more on the current history opposed to the ancient origins. Wikipedia breaks down the history, and explains how the origins of yoga are greatly disputed. They go further, by providing the history of each suspected ancient origin chronologically. Wikipedia provides references to yoga texts and historical findings, to provide a more complete understanding of yoga origins.

Titles for further reading are provided by both articles but under their resources. They do not have a specific suggested reading section. The listed resources, are all relevant to yoga and the information provided in their articles. A noted difference would be the dates. The dates that correspond to the Wikipedia article range from 1899-2012, many of which are dated in the mid-twentieth century. This could pose an issue when it comes to the currency of an article. The Wikipedia article contains a lot of origin based information, that doesn’t change with time, therefore the age of the resources will not matter as much. The dates of the resources for the Gale Encyclopedia article are all within the past 15 years. The variety of the resources also differ for each article. The Gale Encyclopedia lists not only book sources but periodicals, organizations, websites, and clinical trials. Wikipedia only lists other Wikipedia articles or book sources.

The nature of Wikipedia, does not allow one to identify the people who wrote or contributed to the article. The Gale Encyclopedia’s article is written by Douglas Dupler and Rebecca Frey. Even though the authors are named, it does not provide any further information as to who they are or where to find out more information about them.

Both articles demonstrate good quality. Wikipedia’s article is listed as a good article in the talk page, based on the good article criteria. The criteria states that for an article to be considered a good article it must be well written, contain no original research, cover a wide scope of the topic, and contain no bias. For example, the summary for Wikipedia’s article, demonstrates a neutral overview of the wide variety of information that is to come. The ideas are tagged to sources, and is written in an easy reading grammatically correct way.

Even though the article from the Gale Encyclopedia of Medicine is reliable and much attention is put into fact checking, it lacks depth. It is a good article to read as a starting point for further research and for a basis of practicing yoga. Wikipedia’s article on yoga went in to greater detail in regards to the origins of yoga. For example, the Gale article has a very short piece on ancient origins before it shifts to yoga in current society. Wikipedia’s article, breaks down the origins and provides a lengthy explanations.

The readability of each article and the amount of information provided, differs between the articles. The Gale Encyclopedia article could be considered a quick concise read, whereas the Wikipedia article requires additional time to read. With that said, there is more information in the Wikipedia article. The appearance of the Gale Encyclopedia article is easier to read because it has a consistent text colour, fewer interjections, and a less busy layout. Wikipedia’s article is slightly overwhelming with its’ blue underlined hyperlinks, busy screen, and added information in brackets. One thing that helps out Wikipedia’s format, is their contents box with jump-to navigation. This allows users with a specific information request, to find their answer easier. The Gale Encyclopedia lacks jump-to navigation and requires one to scroll through to locate their desired section.

Final Assessment
In conclusion, both articles offer a plethora of information related to yoga. Overall, Wikipedia seems to pull out on top with a more in depth look at the subject. If one is looking for more information about the physical practice of yoga, the Gale Encyclopedia would be a more valuable resource. One must also consider that Wikipedia is free to access, and anyone can edit the information in the articles. This can leave on questioning the validity of the information. The Gale Encyclopedia is created in a more scholarly format.