Online Ready Reference Resources

Bob Gorman
Reference Librarian
Winthrop University
June, 2008

Dictionaries and Thesauri

Oxford English Dictionary (On Dacus Library Online)

A historical dictionary of the evolution of the English language

Merriam-Webster Online ( http://www.m-w.com/netdict.htm )

Provides online versions of both their Collegiate Dictionary and Collegiate Thesaurus.

YourDictionary.com ( http://www.yourdictionary.com/ )

Accesses a wide variety of English language and foreign language dictionaries.  Also includes a number of subject specialty dictionaries.

Roget's Thesaurus Search Form ( http://humanities.uchicago.edu/forms_unrest/ROGET.html )

The ARTFL Project at the University of Chicago provides access to the 1911 version of Roget's Thesaurus.

Encyclopedia

The Columbia Encyclopedia ( http://www.bartleby.com/65/ )

Contains nearly 51,000 entries and more than 80,000 hypertext cross-references from the 6th edition of the encyclopedia.

Dacus Library Online ( http://www.winthrop.edu/dacus/ )

Dacus Library provides online access to the Encyclopedia Americana, the Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia, and the New Book of Knowledge for Winthrop University students, faculty, and staff.

Almanacs

InfoPlease.com ( http://www.infoplease.com/ )

Includes the online version of Information Please Almanac as well as links to an online atlas, encyclopedia, and dictionary.

Guinness World Records ( http://www.guinessworldrecords.com/ )

For those looking for world records on a wide variety of topics and events.

Government and Politics    

SC.gov ( http://www.sc.gov)

This "Official Web Site of South Carolina" covers news, government, education, business, health, public safety, environment and tourism.

SCIWAY ( http://www.sciway.net )

"South Carolina's Information Highway" links users to all sorts of information on the state.

World Factbook ( http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/index.html )

Compiled by the CIA, this source provides facts and figures for every country in the world.

Statistics

Population Reference Bureau ( http://www.prb.org )

Provides international and U.S. demographic data.

Nationmaster ( http://www.nationmaster.com )

Generates graphs to statistically compare nations in a variety of categories.

Statistical Abstract of the United States ( http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/ )

Statistics on social and economic conditions in the United States

Directories

AnyWho ( http://www.tollfree.att.net/tf.html )

ATT's online directory of toll-free telephone numbers.

SuperPages.com ( http://www.bigyellow.com )

Searches for people and businesses both in the U.S. and internationally.

ZIP Code Look-Up and Address Information ( http://zip4.usps.com/zip4/welcome.jsp )

The United States Postal Service site used to find ZIP Codes and ZIP Code information.

Calculators

See Also:  Online Calculators and Converters

Miscellaneous Resources

Acronym Finder ( http://www.acronymfinder.com/ )

Supplies nearly 200,000 acronyms, initialisms, and abbreviations.

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations ( http://www.bartleby.com/100/ )

Nearly 11,000 quotations from the 1919 edition of Bartlett's.

Ready Reference Megasites

Gale Virtual Reference Library (On Dacus Library Online)

Full text of 29 specialized reference sources in a variety of subject areas.

Credo Reference (On Dacus Library Online)

Full-text of hundreds of authorative reference books covering a broad range of subjects.

Bartleby.com ( http://www.bartleby.com )

Provides access to hundreds of general reference resources (dictionaries, encyclopedias, and handbooks) as well as books on literature, poetry, and authors.

Infomine ( http://infomine.ucr.edu/ )

This service provided by the Libraries of the University of California connects users to over 23,000 scholarly Internet resource sites.

The Internet Public Library (http://www.ipl.org)

Provides access to librarian recommended web sites.

Librarians' Internet Index (http://www.lii.org)

Selected by librarians as "websites you can trust."

ReferenceDesk.org ( http://www.referencedesk.org/index.html )

Bills itself as "The Internet's Best Reference Source". Links to thousands of resources and information sites.