Encyclopedias are meant to summarize areas of learning into small and easily digestible entries of text. Encyclopedias are considered tertiary sources because they compile secondary sources and do not give their own interpretation of events like secondary sources do. Although it is usually inappropriate to cite an encyclopedia entry in a research paper, an easily searchable knowledge base can help give a new researcher ideas for research questions. In addition, every reputable encyclopedia will list the sources they compiled at the end of each article, giving the researcher a few secondary sources to examine and potentially cite in their paper.
Education | Encyclopedia of the Great Plains. Center for Great Plains Studies, 2011.
The Encyclopedia of the Great Plains covers the history of the Great Plains region, which according to their website includes ”all or parts of Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Kansas, Colorado, Nebraska, Wyoming, South Dakota, North Dakota, Montana, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba.” Contents are presented by subjects like gender, education, and protest & dissent. The webpage provides a basic search feature at the top where typing in a search term like “Haskell Institute” brings links to relevant subjects featured in the encyclopedia, like “Tribal Colleges” and “Indian Boarding Schools”. The education section has broad information on subjects like college towns, Indian boarding schools, and tribal colleges. The knowledge presented does not focus on Haskell specifically, but it still provides necessary context to understand Haskell’s history.
Image from the Defenders of Wildlife
Haskell Indian Nations University. Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, June 12, 2004.
Wikipedia, a crowdsourced encyclopedia, is known for having thorough coverage on a wide variety of subjects and its entry for Haskell Indian Nations University is no different. This entry provides information on the history of the school as well as current events and recent updates from reputable sources. Sources include the school itself; the city of Lawrence, Kansas; and federal agencies like the National Parks Service and the National Institute of Food and Agriculture. It is a quality synthesis about Haskell’s past and present due to its currency and use of authoritative sources.
The Haskell-Baker Wetlands in 2017, southeast of Lawrence, Kansas. Photo by By Gen. Quon.