Reference Tools

A list of useful education related reference tools.

American Heritage Dictionary
Over 90,000 entries feature 10,000 new words and senses, 70,000 audio word pronunciations, 900 full-page color illustrations, language notes and word-root appendixes.

ArtLex Art Dictionary
You'll find definitions for more than 3,500 terms used in discussing visual culture, along with thousands of supporting images, pronunciation notes, great quotations and cross-references.

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.

CIA - The World Factbook
The first classified Factbook was published in August 1962, and the first unclassified version was published in June 1971. The NIS program was terminated in 1973 except for the Factbook, map, and gazetteer components. The 1975 Factbook was the first to be made available to the public with sales through the US Government Printing Office (GPO). The Factbook was first made available on the Internet in June 1997. The year 2003 marks the 56th anniversary of the establishment of the Central Intelligence Agency and the 60th year of continuous basic intelligence support to the US Government by The World Factbook and its two predecessor programs.

Columbia Encyclopedia
Containing nearly 51,000 entries (marshalling six and one-half million words on a vast range of topics), and with more than 80,000 hypertext cross-references, the current Sixth Edition is among the most complete and up-to-date encyclopedias ever produced.

Dictionary of Algorithms and Data Structures
This is a dictionary of algorithms, algorithmic techniques, data structures, archetypical problems, and related definitions. Algorithms include common functions, such as Ackermann's function. Problems include traveling salesman and Byzantine generals. Some entries have links to implementations and more information.

Dictionary.com
This is a free online English dictionary, thesaurus and reference guide, crossword puzzles and other word games, online translator and Word of the Day.

Encyclopedia.com
Encyclopedia.com, the Internet's premiere free encyclopedia, provides users with more than 57,000 frequently updated articles from the Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. Each article is enhanced with links to newspaper and magazine articles as well as pictures and maps - all provided by eLibrary.

Fact Monster
Fact Monster is an ideal reference site for kids ages 8-14 that provides entertainment and educational resources. It combines the contents of an encyclopedia, a dictionary, an atlas, and several almanacs loaded with statistics, facts, and historical records. A single search engine allows you to search all these sources at once.

Google Scholar
Google Scholar enables you to search specifically for scholarly literature, including peer-reviewed papers, theses, books, preprints, abstracts and technical reports from all broad areas of research. Use Google Scholar to find articles from a wide variety of academic publishers, professional societies, preprint repositories and universities, as well as scholarly articles available across the web.

HighBeam Research
Search this extensive archive of more than 32 million documents from 2,800 sources — a vast collection of articles from leading publications, updated daily and going back as far as 20 years. Save your searches, save articles and set up alerts to save time and increase your efficiency. HighBeam Research offers both basic (free) and full membership options.

HomeworkSpot
HomeworkSpot.com is a free homework information portal that features the very best K-12 homework-related sites together with engaging editorial in one high-utility, educational spot. With the help of students, parents and teachers, HomeworkSpot's team of educators, librarians and journalists has scoured the Web to bring you the best resources for English, math, science, history, art, music, technology, foreign language, college prep, health, life skills, extracurricular activities and much more.

Internet Public Library
All of the basic research tools such as dictionaries and encyclopedias that you expect to find in a library -- and more!

Librarians' Index to the Internet
Librarians' Index to the Internet (LII) is a searchable, annotated subject directory of more than 12,000 Internet resources selected and evaluated by librarians for their usefulness to users of public libraries. LII is used by both librarians and the general public as a reliable and efficient guide to Internet resources.

LibrarySpot.com
LibrarySpot.com is a free virtual library resource center for educators and students, librarians and their patrons, families, businesses and just about anyone exploring the Web for valuable research information. Sites featured on LibrarySpot.com are hand-selected and reviewed by an editorial team for their exceptional quality, content and utility.

Math.com
Math.com is dedicated to providing revolutionary ways for students, parents, teachers, and everyone to learn math. Combining educationally sound principles with proprietary technology, Math.com offers a unique experience that quickly guides the user to the solutions they need and the products they want.

Mathematics Help Central
Are you stumped on a math problem? Help is on the way! Mathematics is a challenging subject that mystifies many. Imagine the problem as a complicated puzzle that you must solve. All the pieces must fit in order for you to realize your success. This web site is devoted to helping you through your math worries!

MedTerms Medical Dictionary
MedTerms online medical dictionary is the medical reference for MedicineNet.com, containing easy-to-understand explanations of over 10,000 medical terms. This online medical dictionary provides quick access to hard-to-spell medical definitions through an extensive alphabetical listing.

Merriam-Webster Online
Merriam-Webster provides a free online dictionary, thesaurus, audio pronunciations, Word of the Day, word games, and other English language resources.

MSN Encarta - Encyclopedia Article Center
Search more than 4,500 articles on the world of knowledge--from aardvark to Zambia.

On-Line Medical Dictionary
OMD is a searchable dictionary created by Dr. Graham Dark and contains terms relating to biochemistry, cell biology, chemistry, medicine, molecular biology, physics, plant biology, radiobiology, science and technology. It includes: acronyms, jargon, theory, conventions, standards, institutions, projects, eponyms, history, in fact anything to do with medicine or science.

Professor Freedman's Math Help
This site provides information about basic math, algebra, study skills, math anxiety and learning styles and specifically addresses the needs of the community college adult learner. A student who is frustrated by college math can be helped by identifying his individual learning style and recognizing the instructor's teaching style. This site provides links for students and teachers to information about learning styles, study skills tips, and ways to reduce math anxiety and gives the students access to tutorials, algebra assignments, math videos, and a forum for discussing with the professor a variety of math topics.

Questia
Questia is the first online library that provides 24/7 access to the world's largest online collection of books and journal articles in the humanities and social sciences, plus magazine and newspaper articles. You can search each and every word of all of the books and journal articles in the collection. You can read every title cover to cover. Questia requires a monthly, quarterly or yearly subscription.

RhymeZone
A language arts reference tool and comprehensive search engine for words. Includes the functions of a rhyming dictionary, thesaurus, and spelling checker, as well as an integrated full-text search engine for all of Shakespeare's works and thousands of quotations and poems.

Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition
Containing 35,000 synonyms in an easy-to-use format, this thesaurus features succinct word definitions and an innovative hyperlinked category index by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary.

Roget’s International Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases
Mawson’s modernization of the classic structure becomes even more user-friendly on Bartleby.com with 85,000 hyperlinked cross-references. Additionally, over 2,200 quotations from classic and modern authors illustrate the 1,000-plus entries.

S.O.S. MATH
S.O.S. MATHematics is a free resource for math review material from Algebra to Differential Equations! Get help to do your homework, refresh your memory, prepare for a test. Browse more than 2,500 Math pages filled with short and easy-to-understand explanations - from simplifying fractions to the cubic formula, from the quadratic equation to Fourier series, from the sine function to systems of differential equations - this is the one stop site for your math needs. You can also check out CyberExams to prepare for a test, or ask a question on the popular CyberBoard!

SYMBOLS.com
SYMBOLS.com contains more than 2,500 Western signs, arranged into 54 groups according to their graphic characteristics. In 1,600 articles their histories, uses, and meanings are thoroughly discussed. The signs range from ideograms carved in mammoth teeth by Cro-Magnon men, to hobo signs and subway graffiti.

Webmath
Is is late at night? Stuck on math homework due tomorrow? Big exam coming up? Perhaps Webmath can help! This site is composed of many math "fill-in-forms" into which you can type the math problem you're working on. Linked to these forms is a powerful set of math-solvers, that can instantly analyze your problem, and when possible, provide you with a step-by-step solution, instantly!

Webopedia
An online computer dictionary and internet search engine for computer and Internet technology definitions.

Wikipedia
Wikipedia is a free content wiki encyclopedia being written collaboratively by contributors from around the world. As of May 2004, there are 261003 articles in English; every day hundreds of thousands of visitors from around the world make tens of thousands of edits and create thousands of new articles.

World Almanac for Kids
Cool facts from the publishers of the World Almanac and Book of Facts for kids about animals, the environment, birthdays of famous people, inventions, countries of the world, population, U.S. Presidents, world religions, space, sports, the 50 U.S. states, and a timeline of U.S. history.

Yahoo! Directory Dictionaries > By Language
Yahoo! Search Directory's listing of language dictionaries from Afrikaans to Yiddish.

Yahoo! Reference
Whether you're a student, a parent, or just plain curious, Yahoo! Reference offers a handy selection of books and materials to help you find the information you need. Look up a definition in the dictionary, find map and flag images for every country in the world in the World Factbook, get in-depth information from the encyclopedia, and much more.