Find links here for General Reference, Newspapers & other Current Events Sources, Dictionaries, Encyclopedias, Calculators, & Biography resources.
General Reference
- OPLIN (Ohio Public Library Information Network)
- Click on any of the terms in the left frame and get a useful collection of links for that subject. You can also access their research databases from home or school if you have a valid library card from an Ohio public library.
- Refdesk.com
- Search dictionaries, a thesaurus, Reuters/AP headlines, the Refdesk site, or the entire web from the home page. Many, many links--you should visit this site. I've seen it recommended as the best reference site on the web.
- InfoPlease
- Up-to-the-minute facts and statistics integrated from the various Information Please Almanacs on sports, entertainments, and general knowledge and Webster's College Dictionary, and the Columbia Encyclopedia. Also includes quizzes, crossword puzzles, and games.
- Internet Public Library
- Has a Reference Collection, Exhibits (similar to a multimedia gallery), and a Teen area that features homework help links as well as life issues information.
- Librarian's Internet Index
- This "is a searchable, annotated subject directory of more than 7,600 Internet resources selected and evaluated by librarians for their usefulness to users of public libraries. It's meant to be used by both librarians and non-librarians as a reliable and efficient guide to described and evaluated Internet resources."
- DeweyBrowse
- A no-frills table of links arranged as the Dewey system arranges libraries. Frequent up-dates and additions make this a reliable source for K-12 students.
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Current Events & Newspapers
- NewsLink
- The New York Times Learning Network
- Sections for grade levels 3--12. Excellent source for current events. Also has a crossword puzzle, a daily news quiz, science questions and answers, help with test prep, and an extensive section for teachers.
- CNN Student News
- News reports updated daily, and presented under categories of World Events/Geography, World History/Government, Science/Technology, Economics/Mathematics, Language & Fine Arts/Media, and Health/Life Skills. Also includes games, surveys, a student bureau, and links to "Partner Resources."
- refdesk.com Newspapers USA & Worldwide
- Links to newspapers around the country and around the world. Includes a separate list of searchable newspaper archives.
- The Los Angeles Times
- Besides local, national, and international news, this site features a searchable database of movie reviews from 1995 to the present. Display, downloading, and printing of full-text archived news stories is fee-based and requires a credit card (so you can't do this from a school computer).
- The New York Times
- The daily online version is free (archived articles are available for a fee), and offers some really helpful features. Selected articles from September 11 and its aftermath are archived and available free of charge. The NY Times is also a good place to look for book reviews and to read first chapters of best sellers.
- USA Today
- Provides pictures and full-text news stories in its Front Page, News, Sports, Money, Life, Weather, and Marketplace sections. Archived stories are available for a fee.
- The Wall Street Journal Interactive Edition
- The no-cost version of the daily is a limited edition. Links are provided for a few top news stories, reports, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average at market close on the previous day. Also offers information on careers, technology, and travel.
- The Washington Post
- This daily from the nation's capital includes the Daily Book World for news about books and reviews, a business glossary, and a Federal Job Finder, besides all the local, national, and international news coverage you would expect.
- NOTE: Ebsco Information Resources (available through INFOhio), also includes a database of current and past newspaper articles.
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Encyclopedias
- Britannica & Britannica Intermediate
- This link takes you to the Infohio home page. If you're at home, you'll need the user name and password. When using Britannica, don't miss the Internet links provided with most articles.
- Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th edition
- An up-to-date encyclopedia that contains over 50,000 articles, 40,000 bibliographic citations, and 80,000 cross-references. From Bartleby.com.
- Encarta Online from MSN
- This is an abridged version of the software. The link accesses MSN Learning and Research, but reference questions are directed to Encarta. There's a lot more to this site than encyclopedia searching--like news, quizzes, college prep help, and articles of interest to students and teachers.
- How Stuff Works
- From Marshall Brain (he says it's his real name).
- My Facts Page: Encyclopedias
- From Refdesk.com. There are 45 encyclopedias linked here.
Dictionaries
- American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 4th edition, 2000.
- Over 90,000 entries, 70,000 audio word pronunciations, 900 full-page color illustrations, language notes and word-root appendixes. This link is to Bartleby.com.
- Onelook Dictionaries
- Includes technical, business, medical, science, slang, sign language, and other specialty dictionaries. An amazing number of dictionaries.
- All Free Dictionaries
- The Glossarist
- Have you ever been stumped by the meaning of a medical, scientific, or legal term? The vocabulary of a specific discipline can seem like Greek to the rest of us. At the Glossarist, you can search for a glossary of terms for subjects as diverse as "Medieval Church Architecture," a "Glossary of Music to Help With Demos," or a "Glossary of Astrophysics." Search for the glossary you need by typing in a search term or by working your way through the Glossarist's directory.
Thesauri
- Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, 3rd edition, 1995.
- Contains 35,000 synonyms in an easy-to-use format. From Bartleby.com.
- Roget's International Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases, 1922
- A modernization of Roget's format with over 85,000 hyperlinked cross-references. Also a link to the bartleby.com site.
Calculators & Converters
- Bankrate.com
- Calculators for savings, auto loans, household budgeting, mortgages, small business loans, and investing. Just for fun, you can compare your spending power with that of a professional sports star (it's not pretty).
- Calculators from math.com
- Here you can choose from a basic calculator, scientific calculator, square root, circle, prime number, quadratic equation, percent, probability calculator, and savings calculator.
- Converters from math.com
- Links to all kinds of online conversion tools for math, science, engineering & physics.
- Graphing Vector Calculator
- This is an interactive Java applet.
Note: If your teacher doesn't want you to use a calculator for your homework, that means online calculators, too!
Biography
- Biography Magazine
- From A & E, this site claims over 25,000 biographies. Related people and web sites are also offered with each bio. There are quizzes and even a few BioBytes, one-minute video biographies produced expressly for this web site.
- Biographical Dictionary
- Includes over 33,000 entries of notable men and women from ancient times to the present.
- American National Biography
- This link takes you to the Infohio home page--our provider of this fee-based site. You can access it from any computer at school. For home access you'll need the username and password which are available from any teacher or from the librarian. ANB is a great source for biographies of notable Americans of the past.
- Biographies: The Scientists
- This is more of a biographical dictionary--most of the entries are one or two sentences in length. Highlighted names can be clicked to reveal slightly more information.
- Biographies of NASA Astronauts
- Bios of current astronauts, astronaut candidates, former astronauts, and payload specialists, from the Johnson Space Center.
- Biographies
of Mathematicians