General Reference Websites

If you would like to recommend a site for this links page, contact Sarah Allen with the name of the site, the URL and a brief description.

ASSORTED REFERENCE

Answers.com- an answer-based search site specifically geared toward helping students answer homework and research questions using standard reference materials.

Ask.com - really useful facts - just ask a questions! (Recommended by our students).

Google Earth - for home use only! Free program that puts a planet's worth of imagery and other geographic information right on your desktop.(Recommended by our students).

Librarians' Internet Index - websites you can trust chosen by librarians from around the country.

Library of Congress - an annotated list of websites chosen by specialists at the Library of Congress.

National Geographic Index - use to find articles in National Geographic Magazine. We have all issues from 1960 - present and the Latham Library owns a complete set.

OPEN CONTENT RESOURCES - creative work that can be freely shared with others. Remember that anyone can contribute to many of these resources so evaluate carefully and remember school policies about Internet use on school computers. Some of these sites include video and audio clips as well as some information that may not be appropriate for school use.

CCMixter - open content site dedicated to music.

Creative Commons - provides flexible, free licensing for authors, artists, and educators making it easier for creators and users to share information.

Flickr Creative Commons - open content image site.

Internet Archive - The Internet Archive is building a digital library of Internet sites and other cultural artifacts in digital form. Like a paper library, they provide free access to researchers, historians, scholars, and the general public.

Lulu - publish your own book directly from your word processor and distribute it world-wide.

Wikipedia - a general reference encyclopedia written by the users. USUALLY accurate. Especially good for definitions and explanations of technology terms. (Also recommended by our students for historical research).

ONLINE JOURNALS

Innovate - journal of online education.

DIGITAL BOOKS

Online Books - popular free book site that also discusses the history of banned books.

Google Books - ever growing library of digitized books that can be searched using Google's search technology.

Project Gutenberg - one of the oldest book digitization projects, started in 1971.

International Children's Digital Library - specializes in children's books including some modern ones that have been donated to the site.

PRODUCTIVITY

Gliffy - diagramming program for designing flowcharts, room layouts, network illustrations and other plans.

MISCELLANEOUS

Baby Names - useful for inspiration in creating names for characters in your writing and plays.

OTHER SITES RECOMMENDED BY OUR STUDENTS

The History Place - good site for history research - in particular look at their information on Pearl Harbor. Also look at Ben's Guide for information about government.

Register.com - use to find out who has actually made a website so you can decide whether or not the information is valid.