El Dorado High School Public Library

Reference Tools
From El Dorado High School Library

The sites listed here are meant to supplement and support the books in our Reference Section of the library. Look here for quick answers to questions that relate to established data, facts, people, places or similar information. The categories of information include:

General References

EBSCO Online Resources: The MAS Ultra database in EBSCO includes Reference Books, Biographies, Primary Source Documents and an image collection of over 100,000 images. Simply type in your search topic, then at the top of the result list click on "Magazines, Rreference Books, Newspapers, or Images" to limit your search. (Get your password from the library.)
Virtual Reference Desk (Refdesk): "A very thorough listing of reference-type materials such as newspapers, encyclopedias, atlases, etc."
MSN Learning: Access to Encarta Encyclopedia, Encarta World Dictionary, and the Dynamic World Atlas.
Webopedia: An online encyclopedia that covers technology and all things related to computer technology and the Web.
Teaneck Public Schools CyberLibrary: "The Teaneck Public Schools CyberLibrary website consists of links to useful reference and informational web resources for students, teachers, administrators, and parents. These sites are organized by subjects and arranged according to the Dewey Decimal Classification Numbers."

Almanacs

Information Please Almanacs: A comprehensive almanac. Categories include: World, United States, History & Gov't, Biography, Sports, Entertainment, Business, Society & Culture, Health & Science, and weather.
Afro-American Almanac: "The AFRO-American Almanac ® is an on-line presentation of the African in America. A historical perspective of a nation, its people, and its cultural evolution. From the beginning of the slave trade through the Civil Rights movement, to the present. Information that will give you a better understanding of the problems we face today as a nation."
CIA World Factbook: Provides detailed information about countries.
Political Reference Almanac: Data and background information on political parties, processes, politicians and leaders. Searchable or browsable according to subject. Please note the buttons on the right of the page which help narrow down your search topic.
50 States.com: Look here to find out about the states of the U.S. and their capitals.
The Old Farmer's Almanac: "SINCE 1792, The Old Farmer's Almanac has published useful information for people in all walks of life: tide tables for those who live near the ocean; sunrise tables and planting charts for those who live on the farm; recipes for those who live in the kitchen; and forecasts for those who don't like the question of weather left up in the air."

Dictionaries and Thesauruses

Merriam-Webster Online: Use the online dictionary and thesaurus, play word games, and more.
Roget’s II: The New Thesaurus: "Containing 35,000 synonyms and over 250,000 cross-references in an easy-to-use format, this thesaurus features succinct word definitions and an innovative hyperlinked category index."
Your Dictionary.com: Specialty Dictionaries: "Not even a native speaker knows all the words of his own language. Technical vocabulary is used only by specialists and so is not generally known by non-specialists. Here you will find dictionaries and glossaries of specialized words in the English language."

Encyclopedias

Infoplease Encyclopedia and Dictionary: "Encyclopedia Search gives you access to more than 57,000 articles from the Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition."
Encarta.com: Thousands of articles and multimedia, a talking dictionary, and a world atlas.
Encyclopedia.com: "...free encyclopedia! Newly updated and expanded with more than 50,000 articles plus links giving you access to millions of articles and pictures in Electric Library..."

Quotations

Bartlett's Quotations: "A Collection of Passages, Phrases, and Proverbs Traced to Their Sources in Ancient and Modern Literature."

Government Information

Interactive Democracy: The Source for Interactive Democracy provides you with links to enable you to contact your elected representatives.
Chiefs of State and Cabinet Members of Foreign Governments: "The Central Intelligence Agency publishes and updates the online directory of Chiefs of State and Cabinet Members of Foreign Governments weekly. The directory is intended to be used primarily as a reference aid and includes as many governments of the world as is considered practical, some of them not officially recognized by the United States. Regimes with which the United States has no diplomatic exchanges are indicated by the initials NDE."
Uncle Sam - FORMS FROM THE FEDS: This page contains downloadable government electronic forms.
United States Postal Service: Your letter carrier will love you if you use the services of this site, which retrieves a nine-digit ZIP code for any address you enter. Returns also include county name and, in case you were curious, carrier route number and route delivery points. There's also a section where you can access all the ZIP codes serving a specified city and vice versa.
American Governmental Institution Resources From the Chico High School Library: This site provides an extensive listing of links to U.S. and California Governmental Institutions and Resources.
Ben's Guide to U.S. Government: This comprehensive site is designed for all ages. The high school links cover history, election process, debate topics, games and more.
California: Your Government: Links from the Governor's office to information on California's elected officials, courts, state agencies, local government, voting and elections, regulations, etc
The Political Reference Almanac: Huge amount of information on national and world politics: covers all branches of the government, economics, history, and primary source documents.
Supreme Court Multimedia Database (Oyez, Oyez): An attractive, user-friendly site that includes a virtual tour as well as information about the justices and court cases. There is also a subject search option.

Geography and Maps

Atlapedia Online: "Atlapedia Online contains full color physical and political maps as well as key facts and statistics on countries of the world."
Map Machine - National Geographic: Find maps and lots more information on geography and exploration.
National Atlas of the United States: This site "...delivers easy to use, map-like views of America's natural and sociocultural landscapes."

Statistics

Statistical Resources on the Web: Information here is clustered by subject. Coverage is from agriculture to weather and everything in between.

Biographies

Lives, the Biography Resource: "Links to thousands of biographies, autobiographies, memoirs, diaries, letters, narratives, oral histories and more. * Individual lives of the famous, the infamous, and the not so famous."
Biography.com: Contains biographical magazines and books, over 20,000 searchable and browsable in-depth biographies, discussion lists, etc.
Catharton.com: "A guide to artists, authors, directors, and musicians."
Teaneck Public Schools CyberLibrary - Biography: Links to a wide range of collective biographies, as well as a Biography Maker "designed to help you convert facts into insights, dull and boring information into fascination and magic."
The Invention Dimension: Search the Inventor of the Week Archives or the Invention Related Links and Resources.
Teachers First Inventors Workshop: A set of resources for exploring inventors and inventions.
Biographical Dictionary: "This dictionary covers more than 28,000 notable men and women who have shaped our world from ancient times to the present day. The dictionary can be searched by birth years, death years, positions held, professions, literary and artistic works, achievements, and other keywords."
Great Thinkers and Visionaries on the Net: This is an interesting collection of biographies of people

Reference Tools From El Dorado High School Library

Reference Tools
From El Dorado High School Library