reference & research

192.com - the largest UK directory enquiry service. Find people, businesses, maps, addresses. Free email, free SMS messaging and more.

About.com - each category is backed up by an expert guide who can be contacted via email.

Academic Info - research directory aimed primarily at students and teachers.

AllInfo-About Science for Families - a rich source of science information and activities written and compiled by Bob and Gayle Olson.

Ask a Librarian - you can enter a question and if they know the answer they promise to send you a reply within two working days.

A (short) Dictionary of Scientific Quotations - who said: man will occasionally stumble over the truth, but usually manages to pick himself up, walk over or around it, and carry on. Who said: technology is the knack of so arranging the world that we do not experience it. Who said: I think there's a world market for about five computers.

Atomica - if you're always thumbing through dictionaries looking for the correct meaning Atomica could save you hours - specify Atomica Personal to get free use.

BT Directory Enquiries - people and business phone numbers and addresses.

Conversion and Calculation Centre - convert from Joules, gallons and kilometres to kilowatts, litres and metres with the press of a button. As well as currencies, it seems to have most measurements covered - from British bushels to fluid drams and petroleum barrels. There are 336 fluid pints to a Methuselah, if anyone's interested.

Dictionary.com - every reading and writing source you're ever likely to need including words, grammar, language, thesaurus, antonyms, synonyms, and lots more.

Electric Library - great information finder for science, medical and general fields, search 13 million documents from thousands of newspapers, journals, books, encyclopedias, images and more.

Electronic Reference Shelf - A to Z information search from McGill University.

Encarta - Microsoft's resources for interactive learning.

EncyberPedia - the living encyclopedia.

Encyclopedia.com - Electric Library Encyclopedia.

Encyclopedia Britannica - full access is no longer free and registration for a username and password is required which allows limited free access.

Encyclopaedia of the Orient - the only encyclopaedia for North Africa and the Middle East.

Encyclopedia Smithsonian - helps answer frequently asked questions about the Smithsonian with links to resources on subjects from Art to Zoology.

EncycloZine.com - arts, fun, history, humanities, life science, space, technology and more.

Desktop Computer Encyclopaedia - the indispensable reference on computers.

Find Articles - claims to be the web's first free article search. FindArticles.com is a vast archive of published articles that you can search for free. Constantly updated, it contains articles dating back to 1998 from more than 300 magazines and journals (USA).

Freebyte Reference Desk - free online dictionaries, encyclopaedias, maps, scientific reference (biology, chemistry, linguistics, physics, mathematics, space, etc.), technology (computing, alternative energy) (USA).

How Stuff Works - plain English explanations of everyday objects, processes and phenomena.

Infed - Informal Education Encyclopedia.

Information Please - this powerful search engine will find out about most things.

InfoSpace People Finder - personal and business phone, address and email search for the UK. Also street maps, weather and local information. For the US try InfoSpace.com.

Inventors Hall of Fame - an extremely attractive site that lets you search for the people who invented the stuff of our lives by invention, by inventor, by induction date or by decade. Not sure who developed Velcro, that'll be George de Mestral in 1955. Wondering what Edison came up with? Well there's more than 1000 patents, so you'll have to content yourself with the light bulb, film projector and phonograph.

Library Spot - a free virtual library resource centre for educators and students, librarians and their patrons, families, businesses and just about anyone exploring the Web for valuable research information (USA).

Martindale's Reference Desk - international art, business, science and technology (USA).

Myths and legends - encyclopaedia of mythology, folk law and legend.

National Statistics - the official UK statistics site. You can view and download a wealth of economic and social data FREE.

Neighbourhood Statistics - access summary statistics for your area by typing your postcode or the name of your town or city (England and Wales only), based on information from the 2001 census.

NISS (National Information Services and Systems) - links to general reference material, including dictionaries, thesauri, reference works and maps.

Online Dictionary, Encyclopedia and Thesaurus - English, medical, legal, and computer dictionaries, thesaurus, encyclopedia, a literature reference library, and a search engine all in one!

Physics Encyclopedia - physics internet resources.

ProQuest Information and Learning - the ProQuest® online information service provides access to thousands of current periodicals and newspapers, many updated daily and containing full-text articles from 1986.

Refdesk.com - claims to be the best source for facts on the net.

Reference Index - Support 4 Learning's links to some excellent web sites for general information and other resources.

Resource Discovery Network - high quality Internet resources for the learning, teaching and research community.

The Natural History Museum - the UK's national museum of natural history, and a centre of scientific excellence in taxonomy and biodiversity. Its aim is to maintain and develop its collections and use them to promote the discovery, understanding, responsible use and enjoyment of the natural world.

The Proceedings of the Old Bailey - history buffs and law students can now look at transcripts of over 100,000 criminal trials held at London's central criminal court between 1674 and 1834.

The Trainline - if you're planning a journey by train then this is the site for you.

Tiscali Reference - encyclopaedias and dictionaries.

UpMyStreet - enter your post code and find out all about where you live.

Web Based Resources - free access to full-text electronic journals (USA).

WheretodoResearch.com - popular reference directory with more than 12,000 external links and about 80 subject areas (USA).

Wikipedia - free encyclopedia.

World Wide Words - investigating international English from a British viewpoint. Origins and meanings of words and phrases.

WWW Virtual Library - the oldest catalogue of the web, started by Tim Berners-Lee, the creator of HTML and the web itself. Unlike commercial catalogues, it is run by a loose confederation of volunteers, who compile pages of key links for particular areas in which they are expert; even though it isn't the biggest index of the web, the VL pages are widely recognised as being amongst the highest-quality guides to particular sections of the web.

Xrefer - search the text of over 50 major reference works.

Your Dictionary.com - English and many other language dictionaries, rules of grammar, thesaurus and lots more.