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Useful Links: Reference


Websites for:


The following are suggestions for links to sites outside Alliant. We are not responsible for the content.
Reference
Internet Public Library: Reference
Has links to almanacs, associations, biographies, calendars, demographics, dictionaries, encyclopedias, periodicals directories, quotations, and style & writing guides.

Refdesk.com
Extensive list of links to news, reference resources, facts-at-a-glance (area code finders, calculators, calendars), weather, dictionaries, encyclopedias, and links grouped into subjects like business/career, education, environment, health, language, literature, arts & culture.

Dictionaries

English Dictionary
Dictionary with links to a Thesaurus, Encyclopedia, All Reference The Web

Onelook Dictionary Search
Can search over 100 dictionaries of various languages or browse through dictionaries by topics which include business and medicine.

Yourdictionary
Online dictionary; dictionaries of many different languages; glossaries of over 50 topics like business, education, and psychology; grammar guides; thesaurus; and translation help.

Encyclopedias and Almanacs

Bartleby.com
Search various encyclopedias, books of quotations, and anthologies of poetry, fiction, and non-fiction. 

Infoplease.com
Almanacs, biographies, dictionary, encyclopedia. Information on the world, U.S., history, biography, business, culture, health and science.

Wikipedia
The free encyclopedia that anyone can edit.

Statistics

FedStats
Offers links to statistics from over 100 United States federal agencies. Can access by topic, agency, or geography.

National Center for Education Statistics
NCES is the major U.S. agency for collecting education statistics. Covers elementary, secondary, postsecondary, early childhood and international education.

National Survey of Families and Households
Includes data from initial 1987-88 surveys of 13,007 households with follow-up interviews with original respondents in 1992-94 and with eligible focal child in 2001-02.

Scroll down to Data Documentation Availability and click on "here". You will see a screen of pdf files. Scroll to the one labeled NSFHFILE.LIS. Open file. The notation in the left-hand margin is the name of the file. Exit the directory and choose needed file.

SPSS
Using SPSS to Understand Data Analysis, by David Arkkelin, Valparaiso University.

Statistical Resources on the Web
Links to statistics on business and industry, demographics, economics, education, the environment, finance, foreign economies, foreign governments, foreign trade, health, labor, and sociology (including child abuse, divorce, and families).

U.S. Census Bureau
From the U.S. Department of Commerce. Has information and statistics on demographics, business, economics, foreign trade, and geography. Also has quick facts by state and county. 

U.S. Department of Labor: Bureau of Labor Statistics
The Bureau of Labor is the major fact-finding agency of the US government for labor economics and statistics. Links to information on inflation, wages, productivity, international statistics, occupations, demographics, industries, geographical information and more.

Search Engines

Here's a short list of some popular search engines, and a few tips for getting the most out of any of them. To find many more search engines, as well as reviews and comparisons of search engines, and anything else you might want to know, Search Engine Watch 

Google
This is at the top of almost everyone's list of favorite search engines. In addition to a general web search, you can click on buttons and limit your search to image files, or information from newsgroups, or information from a directory where information from the web is organized into subject categories.

Vivisimo
Uses a "clustering engine" to group documents into related categories.

Ask.com
Uses a technology that ranks a site based on the number of same-subject pages that reference it. In theory, this will enable you to retrieve more relevant results.

Alta Vista 
The first searchable, full-text database on the World Wide Web. 

Dogpile
A very useful search engine that queries many other search engines. Also known as a "metasearch engine".

Style Guides

Free Databases

BUBL LINK

A catalogue of about 11,000 Internet resources organized by subject area and "selected, evaluated, catalouged and described" by librarians. 

INFOMINE
Subtitled "Scholarly Internet Resource Collections," offers 23,000 academic resources. Infomine is "an information cooperative created through the efforts of over 20 librarians from the University of California, California State University, University of Detroit Mercy and other colleges and universities

Librarians' Index to the Internet
A project of the Library of California, this is a searchable, annotated subject directory of more than 11,000 Internet resources selected and evaluated by more than 100 volunteer librarians. 

Links last checked on January 26, 2009.