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Quick Answers
- Citation Style Guides
- Computers & Technology
- Dates & Times
- Dictionaries, Thesauri, Acronyms
- Encyclopedias
- Geography, Maps
- Health / Medical
- Law
- Literature & Publishing
- People
- Places and Addresses
- Quotations
- Science & Math
- Statistics
- Other Quick Reference Sites
The web contains such a wealth of information that occasionally it is difficult to find a place to start. Collected here are a variety of resources used primarily for quick reference.
Computers & Technology
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Techweb Technology Encyclopedia
The source for this encyclopedia is The Computer Desktop Encyclopedia. There are over 20,000 definitions of terms and concepts.
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Webopedia
Search for computer and Internet terms.
Dates & Times
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Calendar Zone
This site links to a great assortment of calendars including traditional, celestial, cultural and religious, interactive, and holiday.
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Today's Calendar and Clock Page
In addition to over 25 date stamps, there are more than 60 links designed to put time into historical, cultural, religious, and even astronomical perspective.
Dictionaries, Thesauri, Acronyms
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Merriam-Webster Dictionary
A hyperlinked dictionary and thesaurus.
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WriteExpress Online Rhyming Dictionary
Searches for end rhymes, last syllable rhymes, doubles rhymes, beginning rhymes and first syllable rhymes.
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Foreignword.com
Features foreign language dictionaries and machine translation systems.
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Babelfish
Helps you translate words and phrases from one language to another.
Encyclopedias
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Britannica Online
Encyclopaedia Britannica's online version (Wake Forest users only).
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Encarta Concise
Free concise encyclopedia that contains 16,000 articles and more than 2,200 photos, illustrations, maps, charts, and tables.
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Encyclopedia.com
This free encyclopedia contains more than 17,000 articles from The Concise Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Third Edition.
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Wikipedia
A free encyclopedia that anyone can edit. Hosted by Wikimedia Foundation, a non-profit organization that operates several other multilingual and free-content projects.
Geography, Maps
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CIA World Factbook
Information on the countries of the world, published annually.
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The 50 States of the United States
General facts about each state.
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Maps
The Perry-Castaeda Library Electronic Map Collection from The University of Texas at Austin.
Health / Medical
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Merck Manual of Diagnosis and Therapy
The Merck Manual is a well-known diagnostic handbook. This online version is the 17th edition.
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WebMD
Comprehensive health resources for consumers, physicians, nurses, and educators. Includes news, chat forums, health quizzes, and consumer product updates.
Law
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Find Law
Information on legal subjects.
Literature & Publishing
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Dictionary of Symbolism
A dictionary for commonly used symbolism in literature.
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Literary Market Place
A directory of publishers, literary agents, trade services, and trade resources.
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New York Times Book Review
Over 50,000 reviews dating back to 1980 are in this searchable database.
People
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Anywho Reverse Lookup Directory
Enter a phone number or address and get the corresponding person or business.
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AnyWho Toll Free Listing Search
Locate businesses' 800 or 888 toll-free numbers. Search by business name or category.
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BigBook
This site has over 11 million business listings and includes a zoomable map.
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Biography
Over 25,000 brief biographies of famous people from the past and present. Cambridge Biographical Encyclopedia is the source for most entries.
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Federal Consumer Information Center
Lists phone numbers for federal agencies and members of Congress.
Places and Addresses
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USPS ZIP+4 Code Lookup
Enter an address. If found, this lookup will standardize the address, return the ZIP+4 Code, and provide the county name.
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U.S. Gazetteer
Search for a place in the U.S. by name or zip and view it on a map and retrieve census data.
Quotations
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Bartlett's Familiar Quotations
10th ed., 1919.
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Simpson's Contemporary Quotations
The most notable quotations, 1950-1988.
Science & Math
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Currency Converter
"The Universal Currency Converter allows you to perform interactive foreign exchange rate conversion on the Internet."
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Periodic Table of the Elements
A graphical interface to the periodic table of the elements.
Statistics
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InfoNation
This site draws on information found in the UN Statistics Division publications World Statistics Pocketbook and Statistical Yearbook. It contains geographical, economic, demographic, and social indicators data for all 185 UN members.
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Statistical Abstract of the United States
Statistical Abstract contains a collection of statistics on social and economic conditions in the United States. Selected international data are also included. Available years: 1995, 1996, 1997.
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Statistical Resources on the Web
"Meta-index to statistical web sites and individual statistical publications arranged by broad subject category from the University of Michigan Documents Center."
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U.S. Census Bureau: The Official Statistics
This is the most authoritative site for economic and demographic information about the population of the United States, states, counties, and other geographic and statistical reporting areas.
Other Quick Reference Sites
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Internet Public Library Ready Reference Collection
An annotated collection, whose links were chosen to help answer specific questions quickly and efficiently. It can be browsed or searched by keyword.
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Virtual Reference Desk
This site has links to many ready reference sources.