The Best Online Research - Apps/Sites You've Never Heard Of

The Best Online Research


Apps/Sites You've Never Heard Of



Research can be a time consuming and sometimes tedious task. How can you make
it easier for yourself? While there is no complete substitute for a good old-fashioned
trip to the library, you can find a wide variety of information with many research
tools. Here are a few sites listed in alphabetical order. You might not be familiar
with some of the resources, but they can help supplement and improve your research.


Artcyclopedia - If you're looking
for information on artists or art movements, Artcyclopedia is a great place
to begin. The site provides links to museums worldwide where works by over 8,200
artists can be viewed. While most of the artists listed are painters and sculptors,
you can also find photographers, decorative artists, and architects. Any art
or art history research can benefit from this site, at least as a starting point.


BioMedCentral - BioMedCentral is
an archive of over 170 biology, chemistry and medical journals. The articles
published on BioMedCentral are all peer-reviewed to ensure that they are accurate
and appropriate for use as reference materials. A majority of the materials
linked to on the site are free, but a few journals do require a subscription
service to access.


Digital History - An valuable
resource for those who seek information on U.S. history, Digital History offers
an up-to-date textbook, as well as essays on film, private life, and science
and technology, and visual histories about Lincoln's America and America's Reconstruction.
The site also makes use of primary sources such as gravestones, historical advertising,
and letters to give a more vivid picture of American History. The site also
includes numerous reference materials including an extensive audio-visual archive.
And if you have a question you and you can't find the answer, there is a feature
that allows you to pose questions to professional historians. The site might
just turn your research into leisure time.


FindArticles.com - FindArticles has the
text of articles from about 500 print periodicals with coverage back to 1998,
and usage is completely free of charge. While some of the more popular magazines
aren't included on FindArticles, the collection is broad enough to be useful
for many topics. It's no substitute for most library article archives; however,
it can be a great resource for simple article searching.



INFOMINE - INFOMINE is a virtual library
of Internet resources. It contains useful tools such as databases, electronic
journals, electronic books, bulletin boards, mailing lists, online library card
catalogs, articles, and directories of researchers. It functions similarly to
a search engine except that the results are limited to academic sites and resources.
Be advised that not all resources it supplies are free of charge, but many that
are fee-related can be found at your local library or university.



Internet History Sourcebooks -
This Website offers a collection of public domain and copy permitted historical
texts. Topics include ancient, medieval, modern, women's, and Islamic history
among others. So whether you're looking for ancient Greek texts or information
on everyday life in 17th century France, these sourcebooks can provide a valuable
and timesaving resource.



Internet Public Library - The Internet Public
Library is the first public library of and for the internet community. The library
is a collection of online resources that are organized by subject, everything
from accounting to social sciences. This Web-based library features standard
library services such as reference, cataloging, educational outreach, exhibits,
government documents, special collections and archives, serials, and online-only
services such as a list of blogs. It can be a great place to start your research
as the librarians who created it have spent a great deal of time organizing
and finding the best internet resources for your use.



Intute - Intute provides access to Web-based
resources for science, technology, arts, humanities, and social sciences. The
database contains well over 100,000 records and continues to grow. Subject experts
review old records regularly to ensure that information is as current as possible.



Librarians Internet Index - The Librarians Internet
Index is a Website created and maintained by a group of librarians, very similar
to the Internet Public Library. It has a searchable directory of Internet resources,
over 3,000 total, on a wide variety of topics. While originally created to focus
on the state of California, the site has evolved to cover a much wider area.



Library of Congress - Most people
have heard of the Library of Congress, but few realize the amount of information
it offers online. The American Memory Collection contains a wealth of materials
on American history including thousands of photos, maps, documents, and even
sheet music. In addition, the site offers online exhibits, and if you can't
find what you're looking for there is online resource to ask a librarian. For
anyone interested in American history, the Library of Congress is an invaluable
resource that can provide you with a wealth of information not available anywhere
else.



Perseus Digital Library - This digital
library provides information on the ancient world, including archaeology, atlas,
texts and translations as well as English Renaissance and the American Civil
War. Not all the resources are in English, in fact a majority of the ancient
texts remain in their original language. You can however, limit your search
to only resources available in a given language.



Project Gutenberg - Project
Gutenberg, aptly named after the inventor of the movable type printer, provides
web access to over 20,000 books. It is the largest collection of free books
on the internet. Works include everything from "The Notebooks of Leonardo
Da Vinci" to A History of China by Wolfram Eberhard. If you still
can't seem to find a text, the site links up with other free online providers,
giving you access to over 100,000 books in total. If you don't have time to
make a trip to the library, Project Gutenberg can be a great way to access books
without leaving the house.



Research Guide for Students - This
Website might not appear to be much at first, as the layout is bare bones; but
it's actually an extremely good resource for researchers. It provides guidelines
for the technical aspects of writing a paper such as layout and style guides
as well as a plethora of links to other research resources on just about every
topic imaginable. And for those writing about classic literature, it also provides
resources that are work-specific.



U.S. Government Manual
- If you're looking for any information about the finer points of U.S. Government,
your best bet for research is the U.S. Government Manual. It provides comprehensive
information on the agencies of the legislative, judicial, and executive branches
as well as semi-official agencies, international organizations in which the
United States participates, and boards, commissions, and committees. It also
includes the basics of U.S. governmental documents: the Declaration of Independence
and the Constitution.
No matter what you're researching, the Internet can be a valuable tool in getting
you started on the right track. Use these sites wisely and you'll find a wealth
of information at your fingertips and maybe even that A on your paper or presentation