Reference Sites
|
The purpose of this page is to provide annotated links to selected resources available freely on the Internet that are of a more general reference nature. Our aim is not to be a megasite of reference links (there are a few listed under the General Information category and more on the Internet Searching Tools page) but to select some sites in each category which we deem useful to SOU students, faculty, staff and the community. For additional resources that pertain to specific subject areas please check the listings of Research Guides. |
Abbreviations and Acronyms
- Acronym Finder - a searchable, large database of acronyms.. good place to start if you have the acronym. Searching by word produces a set number of entries per page, making it harder to browse.
- Acronyms and Abbreviations (Yahoo) - Yahoos links to acronym & abbreviation sites.
- Abbreviations.com - good for links to acronym sites in very specific areas such as Adoption, Biodiversity, Education, etc.
- The WorldWideWeb Acronym and Abbreviation Server - from the University College Cork; searchable by acronym or by word within an acronym. Easier to browse long results than Acronym Finder, but not as comprehensive.
Addresses, Phone & Zip Codes
- Area Codes
- Yellow Pages
- QwestDex - Business Listings
- AT&T Toll Free Directory
- Big Yellow
- LookupUSA - Locate addresses, phone numbers, and credit ratings for businesses.
- E-mail and Telephone Directories
- QwestDex
- Residential Listings
- QwestDex
- Residential Listings
- infoUSA.com - Seems to focus on mailing lists but their online directories (under Free Services) are excellent and more complete than most online services.
- Switchboard - Residential and Business telephone listings.
- Internet Address Finder
- WhoWhere People Finder
- Yahoo People Search
- Zip Code Directories
Almanacs
- Information Please Almanac - for those basic factual questions.
- Old Farmer's Almanac - includes weather information.
Ashland
- City of Ashland, Oregon - the city's home page includes information on city officials, directory of city employees, employment listings, and more.
- Internet Resources: Ashland - a fairly comprehensive list of web resources related to Ashland, including information on lodging, travel guides, arts & entertainment, and more.
- Oregon Shakespeare Festival - the festival's home page includes information on the current season of plays, ticket information, and more.
Biographies
- American President.org - There are two sections. The "Presidency in History" section provides biographies and timelines for each president, first lady, cabinet member and staff, as well as key events and an image gallery. The "Presidencey in Action" section provides an organization chart of administrative units and office holders, along with essays and bibliographies on key areas of presidential responsibilities.
- Biography.com - biographies of over 25,000 personalities. Entries vary in length, but one and a half pages seems to be the norm. The site also includes A&E's monthly schedule of the Biography television series.
- Biographical directory of the United States Congress: 1774-Present - searchable not only by name, but by position and state. You can do a search on Speaker of the House and United States and get a listing of all the speakers who served since 1774.
- Nobel Prize Winners - this links directly to the Nobel Foundation's web page listing all Nobel prize winners with brief biographical information about the recipients.
- Presidents of the United States - a page from the White House site, each entry includes a portrait and links to the respective presidents' inaugural addresses.
- Women's History Month: Biographies - the biographies of notable women in history also include references for further reading.
Citation Style Guides
- Hannon Library's Links to Citing Print and Electronic Resources - Hannon Library's list of recommended web sites for citing various citation styles.
- Citing Sources, Guide to Library Research (Duke University Libraries) - you can select or search from the drop down box the type of source material (journal, book, website, etc.) and the result will show you examples of APA, Chicago, MLA and Turabian citation styles. A listing of the essential elements that comprise the citation of that source, regardless of which style you use is also included. An excellent site.
- American Medical Association's Style Guide
- Plagiarism and How to Avoid It
Colleges and Universities
- College and University Rankings (Education and Social Science Library University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) - an annotated listing of sites that rank Colleges and Universities. Organized according to type (e.g. undergraduate, graduate, law, etc...includes print sources)
- College Navigator - from the National Center for Education Statistics in the U.S. Department of Education. You can search for colleges that meet certain criteria (location, programs, degrees offered, etc) and basic information and costs are provided for each.
- CollegeNet - a site with multiple areas of information, including searching for scholarships, on-line applications, and financial aid information.
- CollegeView - another site with a variety of information, including study abroad, graduate school and international students coming to the US.
- General Education Online -"provides a database of links to web sites of educational facilities worldwide".
- Online Colleges in Oregon - provides easy access to online schools in Oregon through Oregon Colleges Online.
- Peterson's Education Center - this publisher of education and scholarship directories provides a variety of online information.
- Web U.S. Higher Education - listings of US universities and community colleges either alphabetically or by state. Also includes higher education related organizations.
Company Information
- Companies Online
- EDGAR Database of Corporate Information
- Hoover's Database - Company information
- Thomas Register of American Manufacturers - search for company name, product/service, brand name; free registration required.
Consumer and Legal Information
- Charity Navigator - provides independent evaluations of over 5,000 American public charities.
- The Consumer Law Page - hosted by a law firm so the slant is on legal action; however there is useful information on a variety of consumer law issues.
- ConsumerSearch, Inc. - "At ConsumerSearch, you will not find reports that read like advertising copy or warmed-over press releases. We strive to make our content tough and precise, and at no point are our editors influenced by advertising or other commercial considerations. Our purpose is to report the truth about what the experts are really saying." (Quoted from the webpage)
- Edmund's Automobile Buyer's Guides
- Federal Citizen Information Center - "For years, consumers have written to Pueblo, Colorado 81009 for timely, practical information they trust. FCIC provides the answers to questions about the Federal Government and everyday consumer issues whether citizens write, call or log on."
- FreeAdvice.Com - a really good legal resource. A particularly useful feature is online access to many legal forms organized by state.
- Kelley Blue Book - the online version of this popular source for pricing motor vehicles.
- National Criminal Justice Reference Service - "NCJRS is a federally funded resource offering justice and substance abuse information to support research, policy, and program development worldwide."
Copyright
- Copyright and Multimedia Law for Webbuilders and Multimedia Authors - an index maintained by the University of Iowa of web sites dealing with copyright.
- United States Copyright Office: The Library of Congress
- Plagiarism and How to Avoid It
Country Information
- Background Notes - from the U.S. State Department. These publications include facts about the land, people, history, government, political conditions, economy, and foreign relations of independent states, some dependencies, and areas of special sovereignty. The Notes are updated/revised by the Office of Electronic Information and Publications of the Bureau of Public Affairs.
- Country Studies - from the Federal Research Division of the Library of Congress. Includes a table of contents for each country, which covers everything from a historical overview to current information about the people, politics, economy, etc.
- Foreign Government Resources on the Web - University of Michigan's comprehensive gateway to every official government website that could be located, as well as embassies, tourist authorities and quasi-official sites. Related sites for foreign information are included.
- NationMaster - A massive central data source and a handy way to graphically compare nations.
- World Factbook - produced by the CIA, this site provides material on economic, geographic, and political conditions. Includes online maps.
Dictionaries, & Thesauri
- American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language - a good undergraduate dictionary which includes about 90,000 entries.
- Babel Fish - Not a dictionary, per se, but a great resource for translating text from one language to another.
- The
Dictionary of Phrase and Fable - hypertext version of E. Cobham Brewer's
1894 edition. Browsable by alphabet and searchable.
- Merriam-Webster Thesaurus - the thesaurus and dictionary are linked to each other and both have links to other word related pages.
- Webster's Online Dictionary - key in your word, click, and get the definition, pronunciation and etymology of your word. If the word can't be found it will return a list to browse through for the correct spelling.
Directories
- Emergency Management - online directory of emergency services in Jackson County.
- Health and Aging Organizations - maintained by the National Institute on Aging and the Administration on Aging, "this online, searchable database lists more than 300 national organizations that provide help to older people."
- FindLaw West's Legal Directory - a searchable directory of lawyers & legal firms; also includes a variety of legal information.
Encyclopedias
- EH.Net Encyclopedia - "EH.Net Encyclopedia of Economic and Business History is designed to provide students and laymen with high quality reference articles in the field. Articles for the Online Encyclopedia are written by experts, screened by a group of authorities, and carefully edited."
- SYMBOLS - "the world's largest online encyclopedia of graphic symbols!" Searchable by graphic characteristics in the graphic index or by meaning in the word index. Both indexes are essentially composed of browsable sections.
- TechEncyclopedia - "More than 20,000 IT terms" defined. Enter your word or term in the search box for a definition.
Financial Aid
- fastWEB Scholarship Search
- The Financial Aid Information Page
- Oregon State Scholarship Commission
- The Student Guide - "...the most comprehensive resource on student financial aid from the U.S. Department of Education."
- FAFSA form - Free Application for Federal Student Aid.
General Information
- Digital History - This Web site was designed and developed to support the teaching of American History in K-12 schools and colleges and is supported by the Department of History and the College of Education at the University of Houston.
- Fast Facts:Almanacs/Factbooks/Statistical Reports & Related Reference Tools - a compilation of sources for facts about almost anything.
- How Stuff Works - concise and clearly written articles on how things work. Car engines, web pages, rocket engines, toilets, cell phones, and fats, are but a few of the "stuff" that is covered.
- Internet Public Library - one of the most comprehensive sites of web resources covering a wide array of subjects.
- iTools - easy access to a variety of reference tools.
- KnowPlay? - a quickie search tool that allows you to search specific reference sources like dictionaries, atlases, encyclopedias on this particular page; or try the other options such as maps, financial info, products, music, etc.
- Martindale's "The Reference Desk" - easy, updated access to a variety of reference information.
- Printerinks.com - A compilation of handy sites for research.
- Refdesk.com - a handy ready reference tool.
- Scout Report Signpost - a project funded by the National Science Foundation, this site is essentially an annotated catalog of the better sites on the Web.
Government Information
- FirstGov - The U.S. Government's official web portal.
- FedForms - "... provides "one-stop-shopping" for forms needed for the top 500 Government services used by the public."
- Government Publications - compiled and maintained by the government documents librarian at SOU, this contains annotated links to selected government resources on the web.
- Meta-Subject Index to Government Information - links to subject guides created by universities and other government libraries.
Health & Medical Information
- The Merck Manual of Medical Information - an online version of the print source. You can find information by using the Search box or pick a topic area from the list on the left.
- National Institutes of Health - from the US Dept. of Health and Human Services, this is the home page of the NIH, an excellent source for reliable information.
- NIH Institutes, Centers & Offices - includes links to and descriptions of the various institutes and centers.
- National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine - one of the many NIH institutes and centers.
- Nutrition.gov - "Nutrition.gov provides easy access to the best food and nutrition information from across the federal government. It serves as a gateway to reliable information on nutrition, healthy eating, physical activity, and food safety for consumers, educators and health professionals."
- PubMed - "PubMed is a service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine that includes over 16 million citations from MEDLINE and other life science journals for biomedical articles back to the 1950s. PubMed includes links to full text articles and other related resources."
Jackson County, Oregon
- County DataBooks - Oregon Vital Statistics County Data from the Oregon Department of Human Services.
- Jackson County Library Services - the home page of JCLS including a link to their online catalog.
- Jackson County Online - the home page of Jackson County.
- Jackson County SmartMap - excellent source for all kinds of map information related to Jackson County including county parks, election precincts, vernal pools and street maps.
- Rogue Valley Genealogical
Society - Obituary Index 1953-2008
Jobs and Careers
- CareerInfoNet - a component of CareerOneStop, this federal and state sponsored portal provides access to a variety of useful career information which can be searched by state.
- careers.wsj.com - site sponsored by the Wall Street Journal with information on all aspects of careers in executive, managerial and professional jobs.
- CityTownInfo.com - information and analysis on U.S. places, careers and colleges.
- JobHuntersBible.com
- Oregon Career Network - a variety of information pertinent to job seekers and employers which can be accessed by region within Oregon.
- SOU Career Services Cybrary - websites researched and recommended by SOU Career Services.
Library Resources
- Dewey Decimal Classification System - a good, basic outline of the classification system used by most public libraries.
- Libraries of Oregon - a website that connects Oregon residents to statewide library resources and local public libraries.
- Library and Information Science Resources on the Web - a variety of resources of interest to librarians.
- Library of Congress Classification System - a good, basic outline of the classification system used by most academic libraries. (From Florida International University Library)
Newspapers
- Local
- Ashland Daily Tidings - updated daily with an archive of recent past issues.
- Medford Mail Tribune - to search for past articles go to the News section's Archive Search.
- News Services and Newspapers - links to numerous news services and newspapers on the internet.
- New York Times Archive - Use the free archive to search for articles in the New York Times from 1851 - 1980. Actual copies of the articles need to be obtained from the Microforms section of the Hannon Library.
- Oregon Newspaper Index- an index to the Oregonian covering 1852 to 1987. Also indexes the Oregon Daily Emerald and The Register-Guard.
Public Opinion Polls
- The Gallup Poll News Service - one of the best known poll services. Some polls are available for free, although most require a paid membership. Use SOU's subscription to EBSCO's Business Source Premier database for free access to most polls. Polls from 1989-2002 are also available in the SOU Print Holdings.
- PollingReport.com - an "independent survey of trends affecting elections, government, and business." The site is updated whenever a new poll is released.
- Public Opinion Poll Question Database - from the Odum Institute. You can search for a poll by keywords, and limit by date and to a particular poll.
- Public Agenda Online - a
"nonpartisan, nonprofit public opinion research and citizen education
organization." You can select from a variety of social and political
issues from the "Issue Guides" dropdown menu. The "Understanding
the Issue" section of each topic presents the facts and policy alternatives,
while the "Public Opinion" section of each topic offers a detailed
profile of public thinking about the issue.
Quotations
- Famous Quotes and Authors - over 25,000 quotes online from over 6,700 famous authors.
- LifeQuotesLib.com - more than 36,000 quotations from over 6,000 famous people.
- The Quotations Page - over 26,000 quotations online from over 3,100 authors.
State Information
- Data for Local Communities - statistical, spatial, and descriptive information about the cities, counties and other civil, economic and natural regions of Oregon.
- KFF State Health Facts Online - provided by the Kaiser Family Foundation, this site contains statistical data and health related information for all 50 states. Information can be displayed that let's you easily compare data from different states.
- Oregon Department of Human Services - the home page with links to all kinds of information and data related to human services including: employment, health, teens, etc.
- State and County Quick Facts - provides frequently requested Census Bureau information at the national, state and county level.
- States and Capitals - links to an array of information on each of the 50 states.
Statistics
- Fedstats: One Stop Shopping for Federal Statistics
- Labor Statistics
- NationMaster (Statistics) - NationMaster currently has more than 5700 different Country statistics.
- OFFSTATS:
Official Statistics on the Web - contains: "Free statistics from
official sources; Current data; Time series are frequently available;
Many data are downloadable as text or spreadsheet files."
- Statistical Abstract of the United States - good source to use if you don't have access to the print edition, where it is much easier to find information. The most recent print edition is available at the reference desk.
- Statistical Resources on the Web (University of Michigan) - quick and easy access to statistics by topic.
- U.S. Census Bureau Web Page - latest population information.
Tax Information
- Federal
- Internal Revenue Service-Forms And Publications
- Federal Forms - current year (most currently requested)
- Oregon
- California
Travel, Time and Weather
- MapQuest - driving directions, maps, traffic reports, lodging and restaurant information for the U.S. and Canada.
- World Time Server - provides not only the current time but location of countries around the world.
- United States Naval Observatory Astronomical Applications Department: Data Services - data for all kinds of astronomical phenomena, by user specified geographic location, such as sun and moon positions, eclipses, seasons, sunrise, sunset, moonrise, moonset, twilight times, etc.
- The Universal Currency ConverterT- an easy and straightforward site for converting from one currency to another with the assurance of the provider that rate exchanges are kept current.
- Yahoo Maps and Driving Directions - similar to MapQuest.