Reference Sites

Facts, figures, definitions, addresses, and information on people and places can be found on many free websites. A selection of these reference sites are listed under these categories:

Biography

Online Book Index

College Guides

Dictionaries/Thesauri

Encyclopedias

General Reference

Grammar/Writing

Guides to Internet Resources

Library Catalogs

Library Homepages

New York

Quotations

Specialized Search Engines
(Healthcare, Law, Multimedia, Science)
Statistics

Style Manuals

Tax & Taxation

GENERAL REFERENCE

REFDESK.COM

http://www.refdesk.com
Well-organized and intuitive guide to useful information; a good starting place.

RESEARCH-IT: YOUR ONE STOP REFERENCE DESK
http://www.itools.com/research-it
Quick access to general and specialized dictionaries, biographical and geographical information, currency converters, stock quotes and more.

BIOGRAPHY

AMERICAN NATIONAL BIOGRAPHY
http://www.anb.org/articles/index.html
A biographical dictionary with almost 30,000 entries on Americans who died prior to 1996, whose lives or careers directly influenced the course of American history.

BIOGRAPHY.COM
http://www.biography.com
The Arts and Entertainment Network's biography site of over 20,000 entries of persons living and dead.

BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY
http://www.S9.com/biography
Over 22,000 entries with flexible searching capabilities and links to other sites.

BIOGRAPHY AND GENEALOGY MASTER INDEX
http://galenet.gale.com
Not the biographies themselves, but a very comprehensive index to biographies found in printed sources.

LIVES, THE BIOGRAPHY RESOURCE
http://amillionlives.com
Links to individual biographical sites and collections of biographies are included in this megasite.

COLLEGE GUIDES

COLLEGE AND UNIVERSITY RANKINGS
http://www.library.illinois.edu/edx/rankgrad.htm
A comprehensive collection of links to sites that rank institutions of higher learning, with caveats about their validity.

PETERSONS.COM
http://www.petersons.com
Commercial online access to the Peterson's huge database of educational institutions and services, with auxiliary help features.

STUDY ABROAD SEARCH ENGINE
http://www.studyabroaddirectory.com/search.cfm
Pulls together thousands of overseas study opportunities from higher education institutions. Up-to-date, with necessary links.

ENCYCLOPEDIAS

THE CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen

ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA
http://www.britannica.com

FUNK & WAGNELLS NEW WORLD ENCYCLOPEDIA
http://search.epnet.com/login.asp?custid=2425031&profile=web&defaultdb=funk

DICTIONARIES/THESAURI

MERRIAM-WEBSTER ONLINE
http://www.m-w.com
Online dictionary and thesaurus; includes usage, pronunications and brief etymologies.

OXFORD ENGLISH DICTIONARY
http://www.oed.com
Since 1928, the source for etymology, variant spellings, pronunciations, and authoritative definitions for more than half a million English language words.

THESAURUS.COM
http://www.thesaurus.com
Online synonyms and antonyms.

GRAMMAR/WRITING

ELEMENTS OF STYLE
http://www.bartleby.com/141/index.html
The 1918 classic from William Strunk, Jr.

GUIDE TO GRAMMAR AND WRITING
http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/
Basic grammar and writing help, comprehensive and accessible.

TOOLS FOR COLLEGE WRITING
http://www.cabrillo.edu/services/writingcenter/links.html

STATISTICS

CHILDSTATS.GOV
http://childstats.gov
Access to federal and state statistics and reports on children and their families.

KIDSCOUNT
http://www.aecf.org/kidscount

NATIONAL CENTER FOR EDUCATIONAL STATISTICS
http://nces.ed.gov
NCES is the primary federal entity for collecting and analyzing data that are related to education in the United States and other nations.

NATIONAL CENTER FOR HEALTH STATISTICS
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs

STATISTICAL RESOURCES ON THE WEB
http://www.lib.umich.edu/govdocs/statsnews.html
Compilation of links to hundreds of statistical files from federal, foreign and academic sources, searchable by broad topic or more narrow subdivision.

QUOTATIONS

BARTLETT'S FAMILIAR QUOTATIONS
http://www.bartleby.com/100/
The tenth edition of this class, published in 1919.

QUOTELAND.COM
http://www.quoteland.com
Two commercial quotation finders, both with word and author searching. Quoteland also features a subject arrangement.

QUOTATIONS PAGE
http://www.quotationspage.com

GUIDES TO INTERNET RESOURCES

ACADEMIC INFO
http://www.academicinfo.net

ARGUS CLEARINGHOUSE
http://www.clearinghouse.net

BEST INFORMATION ON THE NET
http://library.sau.edu/bestinfo

BUBL LINK
http://bubl.ac.uk/
Academic subjects directory.

INFOMINE
http://infomine.ucr.edu

Internet Public Library
http://www.ipl.org/

LIBRARIAN'S INDEX TO THE INTERNET
http://lii.org

VOICE OF THE SHUTTLE
http://vos.ucsb.edu
Humanities search engine/index.

SPECIALIZED SEARCH ENGINES

All-purpose search engines & directories:

Specialized engines & directories:

Multimedia - search for photographs, audio, and video

* indicates a directory that reviews all of its sites

STYLE MANUALS

AMA-APHA Citation Style Guide

American Sociological Association Documentation Style

APA Citation and Bibliography Form (pdf)

APA Citation Style Information and Tutorials

Chicago Manual of Style Documentation (pdf)

CitationMachine.net
An interactive Web tool designed to assist teachers in modeling the proper use of information property. Students are welcome to use this as well.

Citation Style Guides for Internet and Electronic Sources

Diane Hacker's Research and Documentation Online

MLA Documentation Style (pdf)

New MLA Online Tutorial

OWL- Online Writing Lab at Purdue University

Research Writing Rescue

Sample pages of a Research Paper in MLA Style

Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals
From the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors.

UW-Madison Writer's Handbook

LIBRARY CATALOGS

Brooklyn Public Library
CATNYP (New York Public Library - Research Libraries)
CLIO (Columbia University)
LEO (New York Public Library - Branch Libraries)
New York Academy of Medicine
BobCat (New York University)
Mt. Sinai School of Medicine
Long Island University
Queens Borough Public Library
Milbank Library (Teacher's College - Columbia University)
Tri-Cat (Cornell, Sloan Kettering, Rockefeller)