Reference Sources

"Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves, or we know where we can find information about it." - Dr Samuel Johnson, Boswell, Life of Johnson, 18 Apr. 1775.

Need a short biography of Werner Heisenberg, need a synonym for "obnubilate", want to know the definition of mitral valve regurgitation, need a quotation for that after dinner speech, want to know who painted "Head of a Girl in a Turban", and when, or need to know the name of the president of Kazakhstan ? If you don't live in a library, the Web is the only source that will provide you with all the answers any time of the day. There are thousands of reference sources on the Web for virtually any subject. Listed below are some major sources of traditional reference works (dictionaries, encyclopedias, etc.) plus Web sites that provide links to hundreds of additional sources.

Wikipedia
www.wikipedia.org
A wiki is a collaborative website which can be directly edited by anyone with access to it. One of the best-known wikis is Wikipedia and it is the world's largest encyclopedia available on the Web. Wikipedia is widely praised for its incredible breadth, covering subjects, sometimes in great depth, that would never appear in any encyclopedia, online or print. Since Wikipedia is an unrestricted wiki, anyone can create or edit an entry. Thus the reader of a Wikipedia articles should be wary of political or other articles of controversy and approach them with a certain amount of skepticism. Click on the "Discussion" tab in order to gain some confidence in a suspect article. For example, the article on Hillary Clinton comes with the following warning in the "Discussion" section: "This page is about an active politician who is running for office, is in office and campaigning for re-election, or is involved in some political conflict or controversy. Because of this, this article is at risk of biased editing, talk-page trolling, and simple vandalism. This article must adhere to the policy on biographies of living persons. Controversial material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous. If such material is repeatedly inserted or if there are other concerns relative to this policy, report it on the living persons biographies noticeboard." Click here for more information about Wikipedia.

Encyclopedia Brittanica
www.britannica.com
A fee for full articles but summaries are free.

The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
plato.stanford.edu
1,000 entries that are vetted by and academic board of 100 scholars.

The American Heritage Dictionary
www.bartleby.com/61
The 4th edition (2000) of this 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 appendices."

The Encyclopedia of Life
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.

Roget's II - The New Thesaurus
www.bartleby.com/62
This classic work is online. "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."

Bartlett's Quotations
www.bartleby.com/100
An oldie, but goodie. This edition of 1919 contains over 11,000 searchable quotations.

Simpson's Contemporary Quotations
www.bartleby.com/63
Quotations from 1950-1988. "Over 10,000 quotations from 4,000 sources organized into 25 categories and 60 sections, this comprehensive reference contains words of wit and wisdom from such modern notables as Ezra Pound, Henry Kissinger, George Orwell, Dorothy Parker, and Desmond Tutu."

Biography.com
www.biography.com
Brief, cross-referenced biographies of more than 25,000 individuals.

The Elements of Style
www.bartleby.com/141
William Strunk Jr.'s classic manual. From the Introduction: "It aims to give in brief space the principal requirements of plain English style. It aims to lighten the task of instructor and student by concentrating attention on a few essentials, the rules of usage and principles of composition most commonly violated."

Bartleby
www.bartleby.com
Dozens of online reference works.

Artcyclopedia
www.artcyclopedia.com
A fine art search engine. A comprehensive index of artists represented at hundreds of museum sites, image archives, and other online resources : 700 leading arts sites, and more than 24,000 links directly to an estimated 80,000 works by 7,000 different artists. Search by artist's name, artworks by title, or art museums by name/place.

How Stuff Works
www.howstuffworks.com
Find out how many things work. Explanations, illustrations, and animations are provided.

World Factbook
www.odci.gov/cia/publications/factbook
The World Factbook is prepared by the Central Intelligence Agency for the use of US Government officials. It is in the public domain. The Factbook provides maps and brief geopolitical information for every country. The online directory of chiefs of state and cabinet members of foreign governments is updated weekly.

The Merck Manual
www.merckhomeedition.com/home.html
The online edition of the home edition of the Merck Manual, a comprehensive source of medical information. The online version has videos, animations, photos, illustrations, and audio. Want to hear the sound of a normal heart versus one with mitral valve regurgitation? This is the place.

Navigator
www.nytimes.com/library/tech/reference/cynavi.html
Navigator is the home page used by the newsroom of The New York Times for finding information on the Web.

LibrarySpot
www.libraryspot.com
Extensive guide to online reference works.

In addition:

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