I have been writing a series of posts for my company’s department newsletter. They are just general interest articles, but I thought I might start posting them on my blog as well. Last week, I dealt with blogs, and I have already dealt with this topic on my blog before. This week’s post is below. (I’ll have to post separately concerning online theological and Christian reference tools for my blog readers’ particular benefit, but for now, many of you might be interested and helped by this post.)
________________________________
Around the Web: Reference Tools
Okay, okay. I know that if I use the word “Dictionary” here, that I will lose any interest you might have had. Call me weird, but every once in a while I like to know what that word means or who that person was. The friendly World Wide Web offers many tools for doing this kind of research, and I thought I would highlight a few.
Do you wiki?
Wikipedia is by far the most interesting research tool on the web. It is essentially an online encyclopedia, but it is so much more than that! Anyone can update articles and add links or more information. And there are articles on almost every conceivable thing imaginable. Chances are if you read the name somewhere, or hear of the organization, it will be discussed on Wikipedia. And as far as encyclopedias go, you might consider checking out Reference.com which lists results from various online encyclopedias along with Wikipedia.
Words, words, words…
Dictionary.com will prove to be your one stop source for information on words. What does that word mean again? Thesaurus.com will provide you with synonymns and etc. And the Columbia Guide to Standard American English will provide you with even more info—etymological info that is. (Oh, you don’t know what “etymological” means? Now’s your chance to try these tools out!) If you think the above sites are boring, these next few might pique your interest. World Wide Words is your site for those strange unusual (often British) words that might not be in a normal dictionary. And if you are really nutty about words (any Scrabble players or Crossword puzzle fanatics out there?), then check out the listing of “wordy” sites here.
More worthy tools
I won’t be able to list everything (and I am specifically excluding news-oriented sites), but I have to mention a few other notable sites. Answers.com is definitely one of a kind as it claims to be an “encyclodictionalmanacapedia” — in other words, an encyclopedia, dictionary, and almanac all in one. You might also be interested in any number of online libraries (Questia seems to be the most user-friendly site in this category). If you need help with grammar, punctuation, or spelling, Purdue University’s Online Writing Lab might be able to help. And finally, you might be interested in an online dictionary of quotations, The Columbia World of Quotations.
Research Wrap Up
I have just a few odd sites left to mention before this researcher runs out of research for his post on research. (Did you catch that?) I know there is so much more out there, and of course you can Google, Ask or Digg for just about anything. But you may find this list of online searchable reference works helpful. And then you might be interested in finding articles from magazines and scholarly journals covering a wide variety of topics all available for free here. You might also find Google Book search helpful. You will actually be able to search within the pages of thousands of books for free. And since Google is king of the web, they have another useful tool that deserves mention here: Google Scholar. Scholar will search within scholarly articles for whatever it is you need help for.
Bonus
Now some of you (particularly anyone trying to finish a degree) will thank me for this post. Others will rightfully yawn. So to you yawners out there, I have a special bonus. Check out Snopes.com. This site checks out the legitimacy of most so called “urban legends”. Just because it’s online or in print, doesn’t mean its true. Check it out for yourself at Snopes. I want to recommend in passing that you check out their list of the top 25 urban legends circulating most widely now. Did you stumble across any already? Also, did you ever wonder why Kentucky Fried Chicken changed their name to KFC? The answer has nothing to do with the word “fried”!
∼striving for the unity of the faith for the glory of God∼ Eph. 4:3,13 “¢ Rom. 15:5-7