Reference Shelf

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.

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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.

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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.

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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

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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.

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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

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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.

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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

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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.

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SPECIALIZED SEARCH ENGINES

All-purpose search engines & directories: