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A single consolidated search within any level can retrieve article, image, and video results, plus dictionary definitions provided by Merriam-Webster, magazine and journal content provided by EBSCO, and hand-picked Web’s Best Sites links. In addition, levels two and three offer Primary sources & E-Books and historical Britannica Year in Review supplemental articles.
Level can be changed on search results and on individual articles, making personalization easy, and meeting learners where they are. Just look for the 1 – 2 – 3 icon on search and article pages.
Explore
Carefully curated browses, data tables, and maps make it easy and fun to explore a variety of topics and discover relationships.
Article and Media Browses
From animals to plants, arts to sports, places to people, and history to technology, Britannica’s browses make it easy to pick a category. Scan a wide variety of related content or dig deep into a specific topic.
Biography Browse
Learn more about interesting people from the past and present. Filter Britannica’s biographical articles by their era, culture, field of knowledge, or gender.
Animal Kingdom Browse
(Available in level one only.) Investigate the wild, wide world of animals! Read about animal families and see animals that belong to the same family by group, learn about different types of environments and the animals that live there by habitat, or see all animal articles alphabetically by name.
Compare Countries
Evaluate the similarities and differences between two countries or territories of the world. Quickly find key statistics, see flags and maps, and locate related resources.
Tools for Research
Save Favorites
Most content items on Britannica’s site can be flagged as a favorite for easy access later. To add an item to your own list, look for the star icon to click or tap. Visit My Content to add notes and organize your favorites into resource packs. Please note that you must be signed in to a personal My Britannica account to add or manage favorites.
Cite Sources
Britannica’s citation tool makes it easy to properly cite our content in your papers and projects. When viewing any article, image, or video, look for the checkbox icon to click. Select from MLA, APA, Harvard, and Chicago Manual of Style and the tool will format the required information for you.
See Related Resources
Look for the Related button or tab on any article to find a topically relevant selection of other articles and Web’s Best Sites. Additionally, in levels two and three only, see related Primary Sources & E-books.
Tools for Sharing
For a formatted, print-friendly version of articles and images that includes a citation, look for the printer icon to click.
Your recipient(s) will receive a message from Britannica with a direct link to an article, media item, or other content. Look for the envelope icon to click; depending on the type of content, level, and subscriber account permissions, the envelope icon may be within a menu of Send to options (look for an arrow icon).
Save to Google Drive
For a formatted, text-only version of articles that includes a citation, look for the Google Drive icon to click. Depending on the level and your subscriber account’s permissions, the Drive icon may be hidden entirely or located within a menu of Send to options (look for an arrow icon). Follow Google’s prompts to complete the save. Please note that you must be signed in to your Google account to Save to Drive.
Share to Google Classroom
Create a post or an assignment containing a direct link to an article, media item, or other content. Look for the Google Classroom icon to click; depending on the type of content, level, and your subscriber account’s permissions, the Classroom icon may be hidden entirely or located within a menu of Send to options (look for an arrow icon). Follow Google’s prompts to complete the share. Please note that you must be signed in to your Google account to Share to Classroom.
Share to Microsoft Teams
Create a post or an assignment containing a direct link to an article, media item, or other content. Look for the Microsoft Teams icon to click; depending on the type of content, level, and your subscriber account’s permissions, the Teams icon may be hidden entirely or located within a menu of Send to options (look for an arrow icon). Follow Microsoft’s prompts to complete the share. Please note that you must be signed in to your Microsoft account to Share to Teams.
Tools for Learning & Accessibility
Adjust Reading Level
Each Britannica article has a Reading Level 1 – 2 – 3 tool, which quickly shows the current reading level and the other reading levels available for the same topic. Look for the numbers to click or tap. Choosing a different number will change the content of the article, but not the page design. This one-click complexity adjustment allows for meeting learners where they are, while keeping the decision to level up or down private to each user. Many topics are available in two or more levels of the site.
Change Text Size
Most content-based pages in Britannica’s site, including search results, articles, and content browses, have in-page font resizing tools. Clicking or tapping the plus or minus sign allows users to quickly adjust the font size up or down for optimal reading.
Translate Text
Machine translation, powered by Google Translate, is available on all Britannica articles as well as magazine and journal content from EBSCO. Look for the globe icon to click or tap and choose a language from the menu. Please note that text within images is not translated, some features and tools may not work properly after translation, and the translation may not accurately convey the intended meaning. Britannica does not review the converted text. A Google Translate toolbar will appear onscreen above the Britannica site header. To return to English, click or tap "Show original" on the Google Translate toolbar.
Listen to Read Aloud
Computer text-to-speech, powered by Amazon Polly, is available on all Britannica articles. In level one, look for the play (triangle) icon at the top of each section of an article. In levels two and three, look for the speaker icon in the main toolbar. All levels have play/stop, rewind (previous paragraph), and fast forward (next paragraph) controls.
Get Definitions
The double-click dictionary, powered by Merriam-Webster, is available on most content-based pages in Britannica’s site, including search results, articles, and content browses. Double-click or tap and hold on any word to see a popover containing dictionary information such as part of speech, phonetic spelling, an audio recording of pronunciation, and a shortlist of definitions. Click or tap “See full definition” to jump to a full list of the dictionary search results for the highlighted term.
Tools for Teaching
Curriculum Standards Correlations
Britannica School’s accurate, nonfiction, cross-curricular content is also standards aligned! Educators can quickly find curriculum standards correlated to specific topics. From an article page, look for the teacher button (level one) or teacher tab (level two). From the curriculum standards menu, select a relevant standard type, standard, subject, and grade. Results matching your criteria will include standards and their identifiers.
To browse Britannica articles by standards in any level, click or tap on the Educators link in the site header. Look for the Curriculum Standards Browse section of this valuable resources page, and select a relevant standard type, standard, subject, and grade. Results matching your criteria will include standards, their identifiers, and linked lists of Britannica articles from levels one and two correlated to the standards.
Lesson Plans
Save time by gathering multimedia content and establishing your Lesson Plan in the same place. Review and adapt ready-made lessons on a variety of subjects that have been shared publicly by other educators – or create a custom lesson plan from scratch. Please note that you must be signed in to a personal My Britannica account as an educator to use these features.
Ready-made lesson plans are included in search results. Use the keyword search, click or tap on the More tab, then click or tap on Lesson Plans to see a list of lesson plans for all subjects and grades that match your search. Alternatively, visit the Lesson Plan Browse where you can filter by grades and subjects to see available plans on a wide variety of topics.
To create a custom lesson plan from scratch, start by saving content items as favorites and collecting them within a resource pack. Visit My Content to convert a resource pack into a lesson plan. Capture the objective and assessment, a list of materials needed, and step by step procedures for the lesson. Collaborate within your own school or community by sharing a link to your lesson plan, or save and publish the plan to share it publicly with the entire Britannica educator community.
Lexile Filtering
(Available in the US domain only.) All Britannica articles have received Lexile® text measures based on factors like their vocabulary and complexity. Look for Lexile filtering of article search results in any level at the top of the page near the 1 – 2 – 3 icon. Click or tap to see the Lexile measure for every article displayed next to the title in article search results. Set the slider to a specific range to find articles that provide an ideal level of challenge while maintaining comprehension.
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