Reference, Dictionaries, Encyclopedia, Genealogy, Maps, Public Records, and Research
Academia.edu – a platform for sharing academic research
Alexandria search engine – open source engine
Altapedia – Physical maps, political maps, statistics
Ancestry.com – geneaology site
Anna’s Archive – “largest truly open library in human history”
Any Who Directory
Archive.ph – snapshots of webpages
Atlas of the Biosphere – Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison
Baidu 百度 – Chinese search engine
Bibliophile : an illustrated miscellany
Biography.com
Boston Public Library Genealogy Research Guide
CampusTours – Virtual college tours.
Canadian Encyclopedia, The
Carrot2 – search engine that uses algorithms to organize results into thematic folders
Cốc Cốc Vietnam search engine and browser
CollegeNET – Guide to Colleges, Universities, Graduate Programs. Go to college, change the world.
Common Crawl – petabytes of web crawling data for open research
Consumer Reports Online
Continuum Encyclopedia of Symbols, The
Copyscape – plagiarism checker
Core Knowledge – Information for educators and parents about education and curriculum.
dictionary.com
Creative Commons Search – CONTENT YOU CAN SHARE, USE, AND REMIX
Dialnet – Spanish Español Language search engine maintained by University of La Rioja
Digital Collections – New York Public Library
Digital Commons Network – free access to full-text scholarly articles curated by university librarians
Digital Public Library of America
Directory of Open Access Books
Dogpile – Search the internet using many search engines at once.
Ecosia – search engine that plants trees
Encyclopedia.com
Encyclopedia Britannica
Encyclopedia Mythica – of mythology, folklore, and religion
Encyclopedia of Life
Etymology Dictionary
exploratorium – Museum of Science, Art and Human Perception
FamilySearch – geneaology site
Free Dictionary, The
Gale – academic tools and research
Genealogy – peer-reviewed, open access academic journal
Goodreads – largest site for readers and books
Google Books – most comprehensive index of full-text books
Google Scholar – search academic level materials
Gramps – free Genealogical Research Software
Harvard Library research guides
How Stuff Works
Information Please Almanac
Internet Archive – An internet library providing universal access to human knowledge.
Internet Archive Scholar
iseek.ai – search engine for higher ed and science ed
JSTOR – digital library of academic articles
Legacy.com – search obituaries
LexisNexis – Legal, news, public records and business information.
Library Journal
Library of Congress
Lycos search engine
MapQuest (Maps)
Mendeley – research reference manager
Merriam-Webster Dictionary
Micropedia of Microagressions, The
Mojeek search engine
MyHeritage.com – Geneaology site
National Archives and Records Administration
New York Public Library Research
Newsmap – squarified treemap visualization of current Google News
nolo.com – Everyday law for everyday people. Self-help legal guide.
OneSearch search engine
Open Culture
Open Library – free ebooks
OpenMD – free medical research reference service developed by professionals
OpenStreetMap
ORCID – Connecting research and researchers
Princeton Review, The
Project Gutenberg – free ebooks
ProQuest – academic level research
Qatar Digital Library مكتبة قطر الرقمية
Quora – a social Q&A site to share knowledge
Qwant – French Français Search Engine
Rand McNally
Redalyc – Red de Revistas Científicas de América Latina y El Caribe, España y Portugal maintained by Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Mexico
refdesk.com – Reference Desk
RefSeek – academic search engine
Rhyming Dictionary – from WordHippo
RootsWeb.com – Oldest and largest free geneaology site by Ancestry.com
Smithsonian Libraries and Archives
Sources – for Journalists, Writers, Researchers & Information Seekers
SSRN – Social Science Research Network
Startpage search engine
SuperPages.com – Search for U.S. Businesses in the Online Yellow Pages
UK Web Archive
UMass Amherst Library research guides
unpaywall – making scholarly research more open, connected, & reusable
Urban Dictionary
U.S. Census Bureau
United States Postal Service
Webcite – archive of webpages
WikiBooks – free textbooks in many languages
Wikipedia – Encyclopedia
Wikiversity – free learning resources
wiredscholar – The Planning for College Destination
WolframAlpha – knowledge base powered by AI
World Book Encyclopedia
WorldCat – world’s largest library catalog
WWW Virtual Library, The
Yandex Яндекс – Russian search engine
yourDictionary.com
Zotero – collect, organize, annotate, cite, and share research
Search more than five billion documents, including web pages, books, encyclopedias, journals, and newspapers using RefSeek:
RefSeek is a web search engine for students and researchers that aims to make academic information easily accessible to everyone. RefSeek is an external site and not affiliated with OrbisViator.
- “Research is formalized curiosity. It is poking and prying with a purpose.” — Zora Neale Hurston
- “If this nation is to be wise as well as strong, if we are to achieve our destiny, then we need more new ideas for more wise men reading more good books in more public libraries. These libraries should be open to all — except the censor. We must know all the facts and hear all the alternatives and listen to all the criticisms. Let us welcome controversial books and controversial authors. For the Bill of Rights is the guardian of our security as well as our liberty.” John F. Kennedy (1917–1963). October 1960.
- “Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves, or we know where we can find information upon it.” Samuel Johnson (1709-1784). British writer. April 18, 1775
