Questia was an online commercial digital repository of books and articles that had an academic orientation,[1] with a particular emphasis on books and journal articles in the humanities and social sciences. All the text in all the Questia books and articles were available to subscribers; the site also included integrated research tools. As of December 21, 2020, it ceased operations.
Questia, based in Chicago, Illinois, was founded in 1998 and purchased by Gale, part of Cengage Learning, in January 2010.[2][3]
Service
Questia offered some information free of charge, including several public domain works, publication information, tables of contents, the first page of every chapter, Boolean searches of the contents of the library, and short bibliographies of available books and articles on some 6500 topics.
Questia did not sell ownership to books or ebooks, but rather sold monthly or annual subscriptions that allowed temporary online reading access to all 94000+ books, and 14 million + journal, magazine, and newspaper articles in their collection. The books were selected by academic librarians as credible, authoritative works in their respective areas. The librarians also compiled about 7000 reference bibliographies on frequently researched topics. The library was strongest in books and journal articles in the social sciences and humanities, with many older historical texts. Original pagination was maintained. The Questia service also featured tools to automatically create citations and bibliographies, helping writers to properly cite the materials.
A limitation to the Questia library was that new additions were available in a "beta" version only. Unlike Questia's earlier publications, these prevented users from copying text directly from the website, although one page from the publications could be printed free of charge. A charge was made for printing a range of pages.
Questia launched their Q&A blog on September 21, 2011.[4] Q&A was divided into "Education news," "Student resources" and "Subjects" categories. "Subjects" was further broken down so readers could find specific content based on their academic needs.[5]
Questia released an iPhone app in 2011, which was extended to the iPad the following year.[6] Then in January 2013 Questia launched tutorials, including videos and quizzes, to teach students the research process.[7]
Criticism
Questia was criticized in 2005 by librarian Steven J. Bell for referring to itself as an academic library, when it concentrated on the liberal arts and treated users as customers rather than students. Moreover, Bell argued, Questia did not employ academic librarians or faculty. Although some of its employees had advanced library degrees, they did not work or collaborate with faculty to develop collections that served distinctive student populations.[8]
On November 24, 2020, Cengage sent email to Questia's subscribers – including those who had bought a lifetime subscription before Cengage purchased Questia – to the effect that Cengage would be closing down Questia as of December 21, 2020, thus nullifying all subscription contracts while continuing to offer the same sort of service directly through Cengage.
^"Questia Unveils New And Improved Website to Help Students Write Better Papers Faster". Equities.
^. January 28, 2010. Archived from the original on April 26, 2010. Retrieved April 24, 2019. Gale
^"Questia After more than twenty years, Questia is discontinuing operations as of Monday, December 21, 2020". Questia School.
^. Prnewswire. Chicago. September 20, 2011. Archived from the original on April 18, 2012. Retrieved August 10, 2012.
^. Questia. Archived from the original on July 29, 2019.
^"Making College Students' Lives Easier: Questia Launches Free iPad App to Help Write Research Papers". Cengage Learning. Retrieved May 12, 2014.
^"Questia Research Tutorials Help Students Learn the Process and the Skills Necessary to Write a Research Paper by Improving Writing and Researching Proficiency". PR Newswire. January 31, 2013. Retrieved April 26, 2019.
^Steven J. Bell, "Electronic libraries can't be academic" Chronicle for Higher Education September 30, 2005 (Subscription required.)
External links
. Questia.com. Archived from the original on June 22, 2014. Retrieved September 10, 2017.
January 20, 2023
questia, online, library, questia, online, commercial, digital, repository, books, articles, that, academic, orientation, with, particular, emphasis, books, journal, articles, humanities, social, sciences, text, questia, books, articles, were, available, subsc. Questia was an online commercial digital repository of books and articles that had an academic orientation 1 with a particular emphasis on books and journal articles in the humanities and social sciences All the text in all the Questia books and articles were available to subscribers the site also included integrated research tools As of December 21 2020 it ceased operations QuestiaQuestia logoFull page screenshotType of siteOnline digital libraryAvailable inEnglishFounded1998DissolvedDecember 21 2020HeadquartersChicago Illinois United StatesOwnerGaleCommercialYesCurrent statusClosed Contents 1 Company history 2 Service 3 Criticism 4 See also 5 References 6 External linksCompany history EditQuestia based in Chicago Illinois was founded in 1998 and purchased by Gale part of Cengage Learning in January 2010 2 3 Service EditQuestia offered some information free of charge including several public domain works publication information tables of contents the first page of every chapter Boolean searches of the contents of the library and short bibliographies of available books and articles on some 6500 topics Questia did not sell ownership to books or ebooks but rather sold monthly or annual subscriptions that allowed temporary online reading access to all 94000 books and 14 million journal magazine and newspaper articles in their collection The books were selected by academic librarians as credible authoritative works in their respective areas The librarians also compiled about 7000 reference bibliographies on frequently researched topics The library was strongest in books and journal articles in the social sciences and humanities with many older historical texts Original pagination was maintained The Questia service also featured tools to automatically create citations and bibliographies helping writers to properly cite the materials A limitation to the Questia library was that new additions were available in a beta version only Unlike Questia s earlier publications these prevented users from copying text directly from the website although one page from the publications could be printed free of charge A charge was made for printing a range of pages Questia launched their Q amp A blog on September 21 2011 4 Q amp A was divided into Education news Student resources and Subjects categories Subjects was further broken down so readers could find specific content based on their academic needs 5 Questia released an iPhone app in 2011 which was extended to the iPad the following year 6 Then in January 2013 Questia launched tutorials including videos and quizzes to teach students the research process 7 Criticism EditQuestia was criticized in 2005 by librarian Steven J Bell for referring to itself as an academic library when it concentrated on the liberal arts and treated users as customers rather than students Moreover Bell argued Questia did not employ academic librarians or faculty Although some of its employees had advanced library degrees they did not work or collaborate with faculty to develop collections that served distinctive student populations 8 On November 24 2020 Cengage sent email to Questia s subscribers including those who had bought a lifetime subscription before Cengage purchased Questia to the effect that Cengage would be closing down Questia as of December 21 2020 thus nullifying all subscription contracts while continuing to offer the same sort of service directly through Cengage Questia followed Highbeam Research in exiting Wikipedia s program to enable editors free access to paywalled research websites and electronic publications Source links to Questia s library material on Wikipedia become unreachable when Questia s parent shut down Questia in 2021 See also EditList of digital library projects List of academic databases and search enginesReferences Edit Questia Unveils New And Improved Website to Help Students Write Better Papers Faster Equities Gale acquires questia January 28 2010 Archived from the original on April 26 2010 Retrieved April 24 2019 Gale Questia After more than twenty years Questia is discontinuing operations as of Monday December 21 2020 Questia School Questia the Premier Online Research Paper Writing Tool Launches Q amp A Blog Prnewswire Chicago September 20 2011 Archived from the original on April 18 2012 Retrieved August 10 2012 Q amp A Research paper tips from Questia Questia Archived from the original on July 29 2019 Making College Students Lives Easier Questia Launches Free iPad App to Help Write Research Papers Cengage Learning Retrieved May 12 2014 Questia Research Tutorials Help Students Learn the Process and the Skills Necessary to Write a Research Paper by Improving Writing and Researching Proficiency PR Newswire January 31 2013 Retrieved April 26 2019 Steven J Bell Electronic libraries can t be academic Chronicle for Higher Education September 30 2005 Subscription required External links Edit Official Website Questia com Archived from the original on June 22 2014 Retrieved September 10 2017 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Questia Online Library amp oldid 1130224805, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
