Academic Reference
Dictionaries & Encyclopedias
Merriam Webster Online. Collegiate Dictionary and Thesaurus.
Search 675 online dictionaries.
Cambridge Dictionaries Online.
Provides access to “free online English dictionaries from Cambridge University Press: International English, American English, Spanish-English, and French-English.”
Language dictionaries and translators.
Enter a word in the online text boxl, and explore meanings with an interactive map.
WordIQ.com offers “search results from a diverse array of dictionary, encyclopedia, thesaurus, and other valuable references.”
Plethora of dictionaries, including “English, Medical, Legal, and Computer Dictionaries, Thesaurus, Encyclopedia, a Literature Reference Library, and a Search Engine”.
Internet encyclopedia, almanac, and atlas.
Encyclopedia Brittanica Online.
Paid service, however you can use it free for 14 days.
Comprises over 4500 glossaries, including those in the major disciplines.
iTools! comprises general and subject specific dictionaries (including IT), synonyms, antonyms, thesauruses, and the ability to hear the word pronounced.
Reference search engine linking to dictionaries, encyclopedias, quotations, thesauri, and more. Searchable by keywords.
Reference Desks
Virtual Learning Resource Center.The Virtual Learning Resource Center comprises approximately 6,000 learning resources arranged by categories from the American Civil War to Writing Style Guides. Some resources are searchable and a directory of search engines are included. Check it out for your next term paper project.
Library of Congress Virtual Reference Shelf.
Internet reference shelf compiled by the Library of Congress organized into thirty subjects. A librarian can be contacted through email if you need research help.
Acronymn Finders
The Acronym Finder. Billed “the Web’s most comprehensive database of acronyms, abbreviations, and initialisms.” Over 259,000 definitions.
Includes the Top 50 acroynms people search for.
TradeWorld’s Acronym Finder. From advertising terms to state abbreviations.
Interscience Acronym Finder.
Search categories from aerospace to physics.
Biographies
Biography.com. Search for information on over 25,000 personalities.
Contains more than 28,000 entries and can be searched by birth years, death years, positions held, professions, literary and artistic works, and achievements.
Biographies comprising educators, scientists, politicians, civil rights crusaders, artists, writers, entertainers, and more.
LitWeb.
More than 500 biographies of writers are included in the Authors Index.
Lives, the Biography Resource.
Directory of biographies, autobiographies, memoirs, diaries, letters, narratives, and oral histories.
Who2 helps you find famous persons quickly with an A-Z index and searchable database. The database is designed to be “the Web’s most direct guide to facts about famous people”, including date of birth and death, famous works, and other details.
Gale Group Biography Resource Center.
A one-stop biographical research system containing more than 400,000 biographies on nearly 275,000 people. Requires subscription.
Quotations
Bartlett’s Quotations.
Over 11,000 searchable quotations.
Classic and motivational quotations (even quotations for the cynic.)
Quotations by topic, by author, and literary quotations.
Inspirational quotes, leadership quotes, it’s all here. See also GIGA, a collection of 50,000 ancient and modern quotations, aphorisms, maxims, proverbs, and sayings.
Fagan Quote and Proverb Finder.
This specialty engine for quotations may come close to “having it all”.
Style Guides
A Guide for Writing Research Papers. MLA style documentation.
APA Documentation Style.
APA style guide from the University of Wisconsin.
Online! Citation Styles.
MLA, APA, and Chicago style guides for the citation of Internet resources.
William Strunk’s classic reference book, searchable and provided by Bartleby.
See also Academics and Academic Research.
Dictionaries & Encyclopedias
Merriam Webster Online. Collegiate Dictionary and Thesaurus.
Search 675 online dictionaries.
Cambridge Dictionaries Online.
Provides access to “free online English dictionaries from Cambridge University Press: International English, American English, Spanish-English, and French-English.”
Language dictionaries and translators.
Enter a word in the online text boxl, and explore meanings with an interactive map.
WordIQ.com offers “search results from a diverse array of dictionary, encyclopedia, thesaurus, and other valuable references.”
Plethora of dictionaries, including “English, Medical, Legal, and Computer Dictionaries, Thesaurus, Encyclopedia, a Literature Reference Library, and a Search Engine”.
Internet encyclopedia, almanac, and atlas.
Encyclopedia Brittanica Online.
Paid service, however you can use it free for 14 days.
iTools! comprises general and subject specific dictionaries (including IT), synonyms, antonyms, thesauruses, and the ability to hear the word pronounced.
Reference search engine linking to dictionaries, encyclopedias, quotations, thesauri, and more. Searchable by keywords.
Reference Desks
Virtual Learning Resource Center.The Virtual Learning Resource Center comprises approximately 6,000 learning resources arranged by categories from the American Civil War to Writing Style Guides. Some resources are searchable and a directory of search engines are included. Check it out for your next term paper project.
Library of Congress Virtual Reference Shelf.
Internet reference shelf compiled by the Library of Congress organized into thirty subjects. A librarian can be contacted through email if you need research help.
Acronymn Finders
The Acronym Finder. Billed “the Web’s most comprehensive database of acronyms, abbreviations, and initialisms.” Over 259,000 definitions.
Includes the Top 50 acroynms people search for.