Encyclopedias

• Encyclopedia.com

http://www.encyclopedia.com/
The premier online library and research Web site, Encyclopedia.com puts millions of articles from some of the world’s most authoritative and highly respected publications at your fingertips.

A free online encyclopedia, Encyclopedia.com features premier titles like The Columbia Encyclopedia, Oxford’s World Encyclopedia, and the Encyclopedia of World Biography.

• The Catholic Encyclopedia

http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/
The Catholic Encyclopedia is the most comprehensive resource on Catholic teaching, history, and information ever gathered in all of human history. This easy-to-search online version was originally printed in fifteen hardcopy volumes.

• Bible Encyclopedia Online

http://bibleencyclopedia.com/

• Blackwell Encyclopedia of Sociology Online

http://www.sociologyencyclopedia.com/public/
The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Sociology Online provides an innovative resource for the academic community in sociology. Updated three times a year with new material, this vast online library gives instant access to the most authoritative and up-to-date scholarship in your field.

• International Encyclopedia of Communication Online

http://www.communicationencyclopedia.com/public/
A vast library giving instant access to the most authoritative and up-to-date scholarship in your field. With unbeatable functionality, students, lecturers, and researchers will find the International Encyclopedia of Communication Online an invaluable learning, teaching, and research resource

• Encyclopedia of Life

http://www.eol.org/
A new project to create an online reference source and database for every one of the 1.8 million species that are named and known on this planet.

• NatureServe Explorer: An Online Encyclopedia of Life

http://www.natureserve.org/explorer/
An authoritative source for information on more than 70,000 plants, animals, and ecosystems of the United States and Canada. Explorer includes particularly in-depth coverage for rare and endangered species.

 

Dictionaries and Thesaurus

• Roget's Thesaurus II : The New Thesaurus

http://thesaurus.reference.com/Roget-Alpha-Index.html
http://www.bartleby.com/62/
A searchable online version of the book by the same title, this site provides access to 35, 000 synonyms and 250, 000 cross references. Features word definitions, hyperlinked category and alphabetical index.

• Merriam-Webster online

http://www.m-w.com/
Facilitates access to the print version of Merriam Webster Collegiate Dictionary Eleventh Edition. Includes thesaurus, audio pronunciations feature, real time words, word games, and other materials in the English language.

• Cambridge Dictionaries Online

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/
Intended for non native speakers, this site provides searchable versions of Cambridge's Advanced Learner's Dictionary, Dictionary of American English, International Dictionary of Phrasal Verbs, International Dictionary of Idioms, Lerner's Dictionary, Diccionario Cambridge Klett Compact ( English-Spanish ), and Dictionnaire Cambridge Klett Compact ( English- French ).

• The Free Dictionary

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Dictionary.htm
Serves as "English, Medical, Legal, Financial, and Computer Dictionaries, Thesaurus, Acronyms, Idioms, Encyclopedia, a Literature Reference Library, and a Search Engine all in one".

 

Almanacs

• Information Please Almanac

http://www.infoplease.com/
This is the online version of the Time Almanac. It is a comprehensive reference source that "allows searching along with the contents of an encyclopedia, a dictionary, an atlas, and several almanacs containing statistics, facts, and historical records."

• Guinness Worlds Records

http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/
The Guinness Worlds Records site contains "selection of records found in the Guinness World Records database."

• GeoHive: Global Statistics

http://www.xist.org/default1.aspx
GeoHive Global statistics contains a "collection of tables and graphs featuring statistical look at countries geopolitical data, statistics on human, population of regions, countries, provinces and cities; economics; infrastructure, etc."

• The Old Farmer's Almanac

http://www.almanac.com/
This site contains "astronomical events, weather conditions and forecasts, recipes, and gardening tips."