Welcome	URLs for a rainy day Websites Recommended by Users, to Help you find Anything and Everything on the Net Last update: 29 November 2006 We only include sites that have been checked and recommended. If a site doesn't come up to scratch, please tell us so we can keep this list up to date. New addresses are marked . The page is designed so that you can easily make it your browser's homepage - or you can check our What's New page each month for the latest information. We also have an archive of changes made over the years. Favourite Searchers Lists, Groups and Experts Other Search Facilities - Directories & Guides, Search Engines, Search Facilities, Image/Non-Text, Multiple and People Searchers Subject Guides and Libraries & Children's Resources Arts/Humanities Award Providers General Texts Media Archives Movies News Ready Reference - Facts & Data, General, Literary & Publishing, and World Academia Law, Crime, Politics, Government Science, General Knowlege, Computer and Internet Writers Resources Disclaimer: No guarantee is given that any URLs are still operative, or are any use, or that any information supplied is accurate. In fact we take no responsiblity whatsoever for anything at all, so it's on your own head for good or ill. Recommendations, criticisms, alterations and corrections should be sent to charlie@search-faq.com. Remember, wherever you are in the FAQ you can click on any* to go back to the menu at the top of the current page.... Enjoy! Return to the Internet Search FAQ Home Page Favourite Searchers Alta Vista - Still very good- will search for images, audio, video Britannica - run by those encyclopedia people, was subscription only, then free, now subscription again - will they ever make up their minds? Still good value if you can afford it, but check out the free alternatives too Galaxy - excellent directory Google - the market leader for most searches - simple, functional and fast Theinfo.com - excellent multi-search site Profusion very good metasearch engine which combines results (saving duplication) and can also check links are still live Search Spaniel - one of the very best multi-search sites Wikipedia - free encyclopedia in many languages: Wikipedia works by allowing anyone who wants to correct an entry, which with millions of users works remarkably well. Yahoo Directory - Sometimes great, sometimes not Lists, Groups and Experts Ask An Expert FYI - WGA list of experts on numerous subjects - mostly phone and snail-mail. US contacts only Google - use Google too for searching newsgroups Infinite Ink: Finding FAQs. Internet FAQ Archives - excellent archive of FAQs (easy to search and up to date!!) KnowPost - real human beings guide the lost on the Information Superhighway LISTSERV list reference Listz - find the mailing list you want out of 85,000 Profnet: Finding Experts to Answer Questions Publicly accessible mailing lists Remarq - directory/search engine for discussion groups gives star ratings to newsgroups and discussion topics Supernews - fast search facility for newsgroups, includes ability to read binary files Topica - very large directory and search engine allows you to find suitable mailing lists or even follow specific discussion topics on-line Windweaver Mailing List Links Other Directories, Search Engines, Search Facilities, Image/Non-Text and Multiple Searchers. Directories About.com - value-added directory by experts on all subjects Clearinghouse - one of the original value-added directories, rates links for quality (no longer actively maintained but still valuable) DMOZ Open Directory - selective - sites evaluated by expert volunteers (you too could sign up in your field of expertise) WebRings - sites linked by topic for easy browsing Search Engines AllTheWeb CNET Search.Com - specialised search engines for many different subjects HotBot - can search for pictures, sound, video, etc, now with Direct Hit rankings Lycos - Ditto WebCrawler Search Facilities Ask Jeeves - a stylish and intelligent search resource Ask Jeeves for Kids - protected version, currently under test Image and Other Non-Text Search Resources Ditto - image searcher FindSounds.com - search engine for finding sound effects and sample sounds on the Web Google - and Google can also search for images - is there no end to its abilities? ImageFinder - searches for various kinds of pictures Image Surfer - search for images by categories or keywords, the results are given in thumbnail image form Webshots - impressive image search engine Multiple Searchers (with Multi- and Meta- Search Engines) Aliweb: Search Form Debriefing - efficient, removes duplicates, English and French Dogpile - impressively fast, and you can set a maximum search time, eg: 20 secs Freeality - includes some less usual search sites Internet Sleuth - masses of categories IPL - grades the top search engines by their strengths and weaknesses IxQuick - highly recommended metaengine Langenberg - a vast multitude of categories, from government to finding people, maps to cooking, encyclopedia to translation MetaCrawler - search across multiple engines at once OnlineSpy - from general web searching to song lyrics, pictures, newsgroup postings and maps (not just USA!) People Finding and Other Miscellaneous Searchers Anywho - reverse phone lookup All-In-One/People - a number of people-searchers on one page Ancestry.com - good for genealogical research and looking up details on dead Americans Bigfoot - look up email addresses, but by no means all-embracing Infospace - reverse telephone lookup, address and email InfoUSA - reverse phone lookup Langenberg - find a person by a variety of email search sites PeopleSearch - mostly fee-paid services but also some good free multi-search facilities to use Vservers Domain Check - domain names, what's taken and who's behind them Arts/Humanities Ancient World Web Beauty Worlds - all aspects of beauty and fashion - history, myths, etc Coombsweb - Social Sciences and Asian Studies (updated daily) Genealogy and Family History Archives - useful links for genealogical or other historical/community research History: Guide to Internet History Resources Humanities HUB - software, resources and e-Journals in the Humanities and Social Sciences Icollector - art, antiques and crafts MiningCo Urban Legends and Folklore On-Line Literary Research Tools - collection of Web sites useful to literary scholars, organised by period Patron Saints Index - everything you wanted to know Related Readings Page - wide-ranging on the humanities Revealing Things - from Smithsonian Without Walls, old posessions, ironing boards to ancient televisions, in a personal light Voice of the Shuttle - excellent web page for humanities research World Wide Arts Resources - visual and performance arts Award Providers: These sites search for newsites, rate them, and provide "Best" (or sometimes "Worst") type listings, in all subjects: Best of the Web Dmoz Best of the Web Ghost Sites - "the most lumbering, out-of-date and derelict sites on the Net" General Subject Guides Subject Guides BBC Web Guide - BBC Education's searchable guide to Internet sites on key subjects, with useful reviews of each site Beaucoup - search pages on a multitude of subjects Electric Library - publications, TV and radio transcripts, dictionaries, encyclopedias, maps, pictures and classic works. Note: monthly/annual subscription with free trial ELib - subject-based review lists - still limited in scope Encyclopedia Brittanica - The encyclopedia. Monthly/annual subscription with free trial Encyclopedia.Com - Concise Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia Escotet - links to sites in every category - humanities, social sciences, economics, etc, but takes time to find your way around Infobahn Librarian - searchable www and library-related resources Internet Public Library - online books, magazines and newspapers from all over the world Information Research FAQ - how to find information fast, online and off Kai's StudyWeb - wide-ranging educational resources in English and Norwegian Library Resources on the Internet (searchable) LibWeb: libraries worldwide MiningCo - a wide-ranging subject-based resource: "500 expert guides mining the net on thousands of topics." OLIG - Oxford Libraries Internet Gateway - Sciences, Social Sciences & Humanities Online Tutorial Resoruces - An impressively large number of free books and tutorials on-line on all kinds of subjects from entertainment and cookery to home and finance. Pathfinders - guides written to get you started researching many topics, both online and off. Very focused and easy to follow - be patient if pages are slow to appear. Worth waiting for. Wikipedia - free encyclopedia in many languages: Wikipedia works by allowing anyone who wants to correct an entry, which with millions of users works remarkably well. Children's Resources BBC Education - just as classy as you'd imagine with the BBC brand name The Children's Literature Web Guide- includes info on movies/tv based on children's books Encarta Online - concise level searches free, full encyclopedia payable Homework Heaven - a massive online academic directory designed for student use, from junior to college and beyond Internet For Schools - easily navigated educational resources, linked to UK National Curriculum, school sites and chat rooms National Geographic - searchable for all ages, but also has special area for kids Topmarks - good searchable directory for kids (age range and subject can be specified) Yahooligans - The big Yahoo directory for little terrors General Texts Alex: catalogue of electronic texts B&R Samizdat Express Berkeley Digital Library - vast number of online text and picture collections Bibliomania - classic novels, non-fiction, poetry, ancient texts CETH - Center for Electronic Texts in the Humanities Classic e-texts InterLinks Literature Online - 260,000+ searchable works, with free trial subscription Project Gutenberg - the online Public Domain texts project Media Archives CNN Time/Warner's Pathfinder Movies CineMedia - links to over 5,000 sites devoted to actors, 700 magazines and journals, 800 film and video festivals, and 400 TV networks and channels Enzian (searchable) Film Studies - Guide to Film and TV Resources Greatest Films - synopses of the greatest (mostly US) films ever made The Internet Movie Database - still the best Netribution - Everything you wanted to know about the film industry, from statistics and services to festivals and even films. RML Movie Page - not just Australian links, but some local flavour SA Film Independent - links to film and TV databases Screensite: Film & TV Studies News Abyz News Links - over 15,400 newspapers and other news sources around the world, fast and comprehensive Arts & Letters Daily - Excellent doorway to the best articles on the Net, updated daily from dozens of top sites and publications Cable News Network CNN - Technology News Documents in the News - documents and web sources on key issues since 1995 Earthweek The Electronic Newstand - all the online magazines Electronic Telegraph - top UK and international news archive FindArticles.com - very good free searchable archive of published articles from more than 300 magazines and journals, dating 1998-present * Gayscribe.com - the only free, comprehensive listing of gay and lesbian newspapers and magazines in the world. (Good, but needs more info from a number of countries, so please send details, direct to gayscribe.com) Internet Public Library - online books, magazines and newspapers from all over the world Journalism UK - every possible link for UK news media NBC TV New York Times NewsLink The Omnivore - gateway to global news The Paperboy - links to over 2,500 on-line newspapers world-wide Poynter Online/Search Nelson - search 221 newspaper and resource sites Project Censored's Underreported Stories - the stories they didn't dare tell you Public Broadcasting System Sydney, Australia, Morning Herald San Francisco Chronicle and San Francisco Examiner Time Magazine Touch Today - unusual tabbed cross-links, mostly USA Yahoo News - Associated Press, Reuters, world and local Ready Reference - Facts & Data, General, Literary & Publishing, and World Reference: Facts & Data Esearch Central - market research reports, white papers, business intelligence including a forum for posting requests for information Finding Data on the Internet - links to online databases for fact-checking or statistics "Statistics Every Writer Should Know" - do you know the difference between mean and median...? etc Reference: General General Reference Resources How Stuff Works - good resource on how all kinds of things, er, work, from technology and the body to finance and careers Internet Public Library Reference Center KnowPlay - dictionaries, encylopedias, finance, recipes, etc - good selection and fast Martindale's Reference Desk - you won't believe the wealth of odd and unusual, and timely, references you'll find there My Virtual Reference Desk - - inc. encyclopaedia, quick ref, fast facts, almanac National Writers Union - loads of very useful research and resource links, well-organised No Junk Reference Page - essays, freeware, samples, books, etc for free Reference Shelf - inc. geographic, phone, words, scientific, perpetual calendar Research It! - anagrams, currency converter, a language translator, dictionary, thesaurus, zip code retrieval, biography searcher, bible search, quotation search and package tracking plus a lot of other stuff you might need now and then Virtual Reference Desk - census data, dictionaries, maps and travel, science data Virtual Reference Shelf - you name it, they've got it Reference: Literary & Publishing Acronym Finder - more than 89,000 general and specialised acronyms and abbreviations in many languages Babelfish - translates text and web pages between many languages Bibliofind - search for and order real (actual, paper!) out-of print or obscure books from booksellers around the world Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase & Fable Media Finder - subscriptions, advertising and list rental rates-for over 90,000 publications One Across - computer help for crossword cheats (and why not?) Onelook Dictionaries - search 1,696,778 words across 258 dictionaries Phrase finder - Type in a word and it will give you a list of related phrases Quotation Center - large database Quotation Links Quotations - Bartlett Translator - Rechnik - translates common words and expressions between English, Spanish, French, Bulgarian, Portuguese, and Italian Visual Thesaurus - online thesaurus that allows you to see the relationship between words in three dimensions Voycabulary - dictionary, translation and thesaurus links for every word on any given web-page Reference: World Association of National Tourist Offices - tourist offices of the world CIA WorldFactbooks excellent world data City Net - search more than 5,000 destinations Currency Conversion Ecoworld - good material on the environment, but takes work to dig out the best Europe Online How far is it? - distances International Phone Books Lonely Planet Online Map Sites Natural Disaster Database - NASA Rough Guides - the famous iconoclastic, refreshingly honest guides are now online Royal Mail - UK Postcode lookup Time, Directorate of - Official Time Travel Guides U.S. Census Lookup U.S. Postal Service, ZIP Codes, rates Virtual Survival - how to survive disasters Virtual Tourist - guide to worldwide web sites by geographical location WWW Virtual Library: International Affairs Resources - over 2000 carefully selected, annotated links in 37 international affairs categories Your Sky - virtual planetarium with interactive star maps for any time or place Academia Georgie's College and University Research & Reference Page - also academic journals and US government Research Guide for Students - general research, and the correct form for citing Internet resources Undergraduate Research Tools Universities, American Universities and Colleges - worldwide Law & Crime, Politics & Government Law & Crime Forensic-Evidence.com - large number of documents on forensics Hollywood Crimewriting Network National Center for Forensic Science - useful links page Zeno's forensic page - mind-blowingly enormous list of forensic links in all fields and many countries Politics & Government Appraisal of Technologies of Political Control - EU draft report on social and political control technology, from phone tapping to crowd control and "invisible" torture EFFweb - civil liberties archive GovBot - search engine for only US .gov webpages, a great number of US government webpages Politicians of the World - leaders of every state, province and country with phone, fax and email where available Protest.net - from police abuse to Reclaim the Streets U.K. Government United Nations U.S. Government Home Page U.S. Library of Congress - American history, current legislation and special databases U.S. Local Governments Science, General Knowledge, Computer & Internet Science and General Knowledge Achoo - specialised medical resource Alternative Science - a non-hysterical resource for starting research into some of the less conventional reaches of science. Intelligent and thought-provoking British Medical Journal - high level medical archive Dr Matrix' World of Science - searchable links to the best scientific and mathematics resources on the Net HealthGate - more medicine for the layperson, including 295 medical procedures explained in full HealthWorld Online - articles on health and medicine across the spectrum, from general to specialist Intellectual Property Network - thousands of patents in detail; check out in particular the Gallery of Obscure Patents ITLinks.org / Internet - Internet Web Directory Learn2.com - how to do all kinds of things from food and drink to catching mice Medicinet - medical information for the lay public National History Museum - exhibitions, extensive databases and resource links Nursall, Alan: Science North - personal answers to scientific questions: wildlife, biology, geology, meteorolgy, electronics, human physiology, astronomy Nursall, Alan - alternative address Omni - high-powered medical resource Science Daily Science Magazine ScienceNet - Search the database for essays on any science based topic or send questions to the scientists behind the site VolcanoWorld Computer and Internet Computer Virus Myths - the myths, the hoaxes, the urban legends, and the implications if you believe in them, with a list of virus hoaxes from A to Z Datafellows: one of the best sites for the latest on virus myths Internet-101 Demographics - single source page for Internet Demographics resources Internet-101 Viruses & Hoaxes - also Myth, Fraud, Chain Letter and Anti-Spam sites Internet Traffic Report - reports on data flow around the world Junkbusters - get rid of junk e-mail, junk snail mail, junk phone calls A Student's Guide to Research with the WWW Suzanne's Computer Page - Useful links, especially for Internet-related research. (Note: the no-frames version may be easier on the eye) Web and Internet Search Engine FAQ Webmasters' Guide to Search Engines Windweaver Web Resources - over 100 pages of useful Internet search advice, comparisons of search engines and links Writers Resources General Writing Resources ALCS - writers' information directory A Brief Citation Guide for Internet Sources - useful if you need to reference texts from the Internet in footnotes or bibliography Alice's Virtual Restaurant - useful resources, in particular covering history, archaeology, social issues, Ireland and kids Bricolage links CWRC Research Center - direct links to search engines, best research sites, newsgroups, etc. The Electric Eclectic - eclectic it is! A-Z listing on every topic you can imagine, and then some Jane Dorner: Writers' Links John McDonnell's Researcher's Toolkit - plus free weekly e-mail updates about the best Web sites for research Random Word Generator - lesser known words of interest to writers, works off-line too Screaming In The Celluloid Jungle - attractive lists of useful links with comments - by screenwriter Kelly Miles Writers Guild of America Writers Links - good reference links Writers.net - Research Central Writer's Toolbox - excellent collection of Internet resources for writers. Includes a search page for searching articles in the major online news media Writing: Screenwriting and On-Line Scripts Drew's Scripts-O-Rama - film scripts on the net John Hewitt's Writing Resource Center: screenwriting and general writing links and info HFI Cyberspace Film School Hollywood Network Movie Cliches Richard Toscan's "The Playwriting Seminars"- some info on screenwriting, too Recommendations, commendations, corrections and criticisms to info@search-faq.com. Credits: URLs supplied and compiled by Charles Harris, Laurence A. Moore, Steven Blacher, Yvonne Hewett and others. Click here for full credits. © Charles Harris 1996-2006 (This FAQ may be copied in whole or in part for non-profit making purposes only, provided you tell me you're doing it, adequate credit is given to those who helped towards it and the home address is given http://www.search-faq.com. In addition, if anyone wishes to post any part anywhere on the Net, you must commit to keeping the posting up-to-date on a monthly basis - there's too much out-of-date stuff on the Net already. Our Disclaimer which disclaims responsibility for everything in the entire universe can be found in the main FAQ) Back to Top Internet Search FAQ Latest Additions Archive

URLs for a rainy day

Websites Recommended by Users, to Help you find Anything and Everything on the Net

Last update: 29 November 2006

We only include sites that have been checked and recommended. If a site doesn't come up to scratch, please tell us so we can keep this list up to date. New addresses are marked *. The page is designed so that you can easily make it your browser's homepage - or you can check our What's New page each month for the latest information. We also have an archive of changes made over the years.

Favourite Searchers
Lists, Groups and Experts
Other Search Facilities - Directories & Guides, Search Engines, Search Facilities, Image/Non-Text, Multiple and People Searchers
Subject Guides and Libraries & Children's Resources
Arts/Humanities
Award Providers
General Texts
Media Archives
Movies
News
Ready Reference - Facts & Data, General, Literary & Publishing, and World
Academia
Law, Crime, Politics, Government
Science, General Knowlege, Computer and Internet
Writers Resources

Disclaimer: No guarantee is given that any URLs are still operative, or are any use, or that any information supplied is accurate. In fact we take no responsiblity whatsoever for anything at all, so it's on your own head for good or ill.
Recommendations, criticisms, alterations and corrections should be sent to charlie@search-faq.com.

Remember, wherever you are in the FAQ you can click on any to go back to the menu at the top of the current page.... Enjoy!

Return to the Internet Search FAQ Home Page

Favourite Searchers

Alta Vista - Still very good- will search for images, audio, video
Britannica - run by those encyclopedia people, was subscription only, then free, now subscription again - will they ever make up their minds? Still good value if you can afford it, but check out the free alternatives too
Galaxy - excellent directory
Google - the market leader for most searches - simple, functional and fast
Theinfo.com - excellent multi-search site
Profusion very good metasearch engine which combines results (saving duplication) and can also check links are still live
Search Spaniel - one of the very best multi-search sites
Wikipedia - free encyclopedia in many languages: Wikipedia works by allowing anyone who wants to correct an entry, which with millions of users works remarkably well.
Yahoo Directory - Sometimes great, sometimes not

Lists, Groups and Experts

Ask An Expert
FYI - WGA list of experts on numerous subjects - mostly phone and snail-mail. US contacts only
Google - use Google too for searching newsgroups
Infinite Ink: Finding FAQs.
Internet FAQ Archives - excellent archive of FAQs (easy to search and up to date!!)
KnowPost - real human beings guide the lost on the Information Superhighway
LISTSERV list reference
Listz - find the mailing list you want out of 85,000
Profnet: Finding Experts to Answer Questions
Publicly accessible mailing lists
Remarq - directory/search engine for discussion groups gives star ratings to newsgroups and discussion topics
Supernews - fast search facility for newsgroups, includes ability to read binary files
Topica - very large directory and search engine allows you to find suitable mailing lists or even follow specific discussion topics on-line
Windweaver Mailing List Links

Other Directories, Search Engines, Search Facilities, Image/Non-Text and Multiple Searchers.

Directories

About.com - value-added directory by experts on all subjects
Clearinghouse - one of the original value-added directories, rates links for quality (no longer actively maintained but still valuable)
DMOZ Open Directory - selective - sites evaluated by expert volunteers (you too could sign up in your field of expertise)
WebRings - sites linked by topic for easy browsing

Search Engines

AllTheWeb
CNET Search.Com - specialised search engines for many different subjects
HotBot - can search for pictures, sound, video, etc, now with Direct Hit rankings
Lycos - Ditto
WebCrawler

Search Facilities

Ask Jeeves - a stylish and intelligent search resource
Ask Jeeves for Kids - protected version, currently under test

Image and Other Non-Text Search Resources

Ditto - image searcher
FindSounds.com - search engine for finding sound effects and sample sounds on the Web
Google - and Google can also search for images - is there no end to its abilities?
ImageFinder - searches for various kinds of pictures
Image Surfer - search for images by categories or keywords, the results are given in thumbnail image form
Webshots - impressive image search engine

Multiple Searchers (with Multi- and Meta- Search Engines)

Aliweb: Search Form
Debriefing - efficient, removes duplicates, English and French
Dogpile - impressively fast, and you can set a maximum search time, eg: 20 secs
Freeality - includes some less usual search sites
Internet Sleuth - masses of categories
IPL - grades the top search engines by their strengths and weaknesses
IxQuick - highly recommended metaengine
Langenberg - a vast multitude of categories, from government to finding people, maps to cooking, encyclopedia to translation
MetaCrawler - search across multiple engines at once
OnlineSpy - from general web searching to song lyrics, pictures, newsgroup postings and maps (not just USA!)

People Finding and Other Miscellaneous Searchers

Anywho - reverse phone lookup
All-In-One/People - a number of people-searchers on one page
Ancestry.com - good for genealogical research and looking up details on dead Americans
Bigfoot - look up email addresses, but by no means all-embracing
Infospace - reverse telephone lookup, address and email
InfoUSA - reverse phone lookup
Langenberg - find a person by a variety of email search sites
PeopleSearch - mostly fee-paid services but also some good free multi-search facilities to use
Vservers Domain Check - domain names, what's taken and who's behind them

Arts/Humanities

Ancient World Web
Beauty Worlds - all aspects of beauty and fashion - history, myths, etc
Coombsweb - Social Sciences and Asian Studies (updated daily)
Genealogy and Family History Archives - useful links for genealogical or other historical/community research
History: Guide to Internet History Resources
Humanities HUB - software, resources and e-Journals in the Humanities and Social Sciences
Icollector - art, antiques and crafts
MiningCo Urban Legends and Folklore
On-Line Literary Research Tools - collection of Web sites useful to literary scholars, organised by period
Patron Saints Index - everything you wanted to know
Related Readings Page - wide-ranging on the humanities
Revealing Things - from Smithsonian Without Walls, old posessions, ironing boards to ancient televisions, in a personal light
Voice of the Shuttle - excellent web page for humanities research
World Wide Arts Resources - visual and performance arts

Award Providers: These sites search for newsites, rate them, and provide "Best" (or sometimes "Worst") type listings, in all subjects:

Best of the Web
Dmoz Best of the Web
Ghost Sites - "the most lumbering, out-of-date and derelict sites on the Net"

General Subject Guides

Subject Guides

BBC Web Guide - BBC Education's searchable guide to Internet sites on key subjects, with useful reviews of each site
Beaucoup - search pages on a multitude of subjects
Electric Library - publications, TV and radio transcripts, dictionaries, encyclopedias, maps, pictures and classic works. Note: monthly/annual subscription with free trial
ELib - subject-based review lists - still limited in scope
Encyclopedia Brittanica - The encyclopedia. Monthly/annual subscription with free trial
Encyclopedia.Com - Concise Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia
Escotet - links to sites in every category - humanities, social sciences, economics, etc, but takes time to find your way around
Infobahn Librarian - searchable www and library-related resources
Internet Public Library - online books, magazines and newspapers from all over the world
Information Research FAQ - how to find information fast, online and off
Kai's StudyWeb - wide-ranging educational resources in English and Norwegian
Library Resources on the Internet (searchable)
LibWeb: libraries worldwide
MiningCo - a wide-ranging subject-based resource: "500 expert guides mining the net on thousands of topics."
OLIG - Oxford Libraries Internet Gateway - Sciences, Social Sciences & Humanities
Online Tutorial Resoruces - An impressively large number of free books and tutorials on-line on all kinds of subjects from entertainment and cookery to home and finance.
Pathfinders - guides written to get you started researching many topics, both online and off. Very focused and easy to follow - be patient if pages are slow to appear. Worth waiting for.
Wikipedia - free encyclopedia in many languages: Wikipedia works by allowing anyone who wants to correct an entry, which with millions of users works remarkably well.

Children's Resources

BBC Education - just as classy as you'd imagine with the BBC brand name
The Children's Literature Web Guide- includes info on movies/tv based on children's books
Encarta Online - concise level searches free, full encyclopedia payable
Homework Heaven - a massive online academic directory designed for student use, from junior to college and beyond
Internet For Schools - easily navigated educational resources, linked to UK National Curriculum, school sites and chat rooms
National Geographic - searchable for all ages, but also has special area for kids
Topmarks - good searchable directory for kids (age range and subject can be specified)
Yahooligans - The big Yahoo directory for little terrors

General Texts

Alex: catalogue of electronic texts
B&R Samizdat Express
Berkeley Digital Library - vast number of online text and picture collections
Bibliomania - classic novels, non-fiction, poetry, ancient texts
CETH - Center for Electronic Texts in the Humanities
Classic e-texts
InterLinks
Literature Online - 260,000+ searchable works, with free trial subscription
Project Gutenberg - the online Public Domain texts project

Media Archives

Movies

CineMedia - links to over 5,000 sites devoted to actors, 700 magazines and journals, 800 film and video festivals, and 400 TV networks and channels
Enzian (searchable)
Film Studies - Guide to Film and TV Resources
Greatest Films - synopses of the greatest (mostly US) films ever made
The Internet Movie Database - still the best
Netribution - Everything you wanted to know about the film industry, from statistics and services to festivals and even films.
RML Movie Page - not just Australian links, but some local flavour
SA Film Independent - links to film and TV databases
Screensite: Film & TV Studies

News

Abyz News Links - over 15,400 newspapers and other news sources around the world, fast and comprehensive
Arts & Letters Daily - Excellent doorway to the best articles on the Net, updated daily from dozens of top sites and publications
Cable News Network
CNN - Technology News
Documents in the News - documents and web sources on key issues since 1995
Earthweek
The Electronic Newstand - all the online magazines
Electronic Telegraph - top UK and international news archive
FindArticles.com - very good free searchable archive of published articles from more than 300 magazines and journals, dating 1998-present *
Gayscribe.com - the only free, comprehensive listing of gay and lesbian newspapers and magazines in the world. (Good, but needs more info from a number of countries, so please send details, direct to gayscribe.com)
Internet Public Library - online books, magazines and newspapers from all over the world
Journalism UK - every possible link for UK news media
NBC TV
New York Times
NewsLink
The Omnivore - gateway to global news
The Paperboy - links to over 2,500 on-line newspapers world-wide
Poynter Online/Search Nelson - search 221 newspaper and resource sites
Project Censored's Underreported Stories - the stories they didn't dare tell you
Public Broadcasting System
Sydney, Australia, Morning Herald
San Francisco Chronicle and San Francisco Examiner
Time Magazine
Touch Today - unusual tabbed cross-links, mostly USA
Yahoo News - Associated Press, Reuters, world and local

Ready Reference - Facts & Data, General, Literary & Publishing, and World

Reference: Facts & Data

Esearch Central - market research reports, white papers, business intelligence including a forum for posting requests for information
Finding Data on the Internet - links to online databases for fact-checking or statistics
"Statistics Every Writer Should Know" - do you know the difference between mean and median...? etc

Reference: General

General Reference Resources
How Stuff Works - good resource on how all kinds of things, er, work, from technology and the body to finance and careers
Internet Public Library Reference Center
KnowPlay - dictionaries, encylopedias, finance, recipes, etc - good selection and fast
Martindale's Reference Desk - you won't believe the wealth of odd and unusual, and timely, references you'll find there
My Virtual Reference Desk - - inc. encyclopaedia, quick ref, fast facts, almanac
National Writers Union - loads of very useful research and resource links, well-organised
No Junk Reference Page - essays, freeware, samples, books, etc for free
Reference Shelf - inc. geographic, phone, words, scientific, perpetual calendar
Research It! - anagrams, currency converter, a language translator, dictionary, thesaurus, zip code retrieval, biography searcher, bible search, quotation search and package tracking plus a lot of other stuff you might need now and then
Virtual Reference Desk - census data, dictionaries, maps and travel, science data
Virtual Reference Shelf - you name it, they've got it

Reference: Literary & Publishing

Acronym Finder - more than 89,000 general and specialised acronyms and abbreviations in many languages
Babelfish - translates text and web pages between many languages
Bibliofind - search for and order real (actual, paper!) out-of print or obscure books from booksellers around the world
Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase & Fable
Media Finder - subscriptions, advertising and list rental rates-for over 90,000 publications
One Across - computer help for crossword cheats (and why not?)
Onelook Dictionaries - search 1,696,778 words across 258 dictionaries
Phrase finder - Type in a word and it will give you a list of related phrases
Quotation Center - large database
Quotation Links
Quotations - Bartlett
Translator - Rechnik - translates common words and expressions between English, Spanish, French, Bulgarian, Portuguese, and Italian
Visual Thesaurus - online thesaurus that allows you to see the relationship between words in three dimensions
Voycabulary - dictionary, translation and thesaurus links for every word on any given web-page

Reference: World

Association of National Tourist Offices - tourist offices of the world
CIA WorldFactbooks excellent world data
City Net - search more than 5,000 destinations
Currency Conversion
Ecoworld - good material on the environment, but takes work to dig out the best
Europe Online
How far is it? - distances
International Phone Books
Lonely Planet Online
Map Sites
Natural Disaster Database - NASA
Rough Guides - the famous iconoclastic, refreshingly honest guides are now online
Royal Mail - UK Postcode lookup
Time, Directorate of - Official Time
Travel Guides
U.S. Census Lookup
U.S. Postal Service, ZIP Codes, rates
Virtual Survival - how to survive disasters
Virtual Tourist - guide to worldwide web sites by geographical location
WWW Virtual Library: International Affairs Resources - over 2000 carefully selected, annotated links in 37 international affairs categories
Your Sky - virtual planetarium with interactive star maps for any time or place

Academia

Georgie's College and University Research & Reference Page - also academic journals and US government
Research Guide for Students - general research, and the correct form for citing Internet resources
Undergraduate Research Tools
Universities, American
Universities and Colleges - worldwide

Law & Crime, Politics & Government

Law & Crime

Forensic-Evidence.com - large number of documents on forensics
Hollywood Crimewriting Network
National Center for Forensic Science - useful links page
Zeno's forensic page - mind-blowingly enormous list of forensic links in all fields and many countries

Politics & Government

Appraisal of Technologies of Political Control - EU draft report on social and political control technology, from phone tapping to crowd control and "invisible" torture
EFFweb - civil liberties archive
GovBot - search engine for only US .gov webpages, a great number of US government webpages
Politicians of the World - leaders of every state, province and country with phone, fax and email where available
Protest.net - from police abuse to Reclaim the Streets
U.K. Government
United Nations
U.S. Government Home Page
U.S. Library of Congress - American history, current legislation and special databases
U.S. Local Governments

Science, General Knowledge, Computer & Internet

Science and General Knowledge

Achoo - specialised medical resource
Alternative Science - a non-hysterical resource for starting research into some of the less conventional reaches of science. Intelligent and thought-provoking
British Medical Journal - high level medical archive
Dr Matrix' World of Science - searchable links to the best scientific and mathematics resources on the Net
HealthGate - more medicine for the layperson, including 295 medical procedures explained in full
HealthWorld Online - articles on health and medicine across the spectrum, from general to specialist
Intellectual Property Network - thousands of patents in detail; check out in particular the Gallery of Obscure Patents
ITLinks.org / Internet - Internet Web Directory
Learn2.com - how to do all kinds of things from food and drink to catching mice
Medicinet - medical information for the lay public
National History Museum - exhibitions, extensive databases and resource links
Nursall, Alan: Science North - personal answers to scientific questions: wildlife, biology, geology, meteorolgy, electronics, human physiology, astronomy
Nursall, Alan - alternative address
Omni - high-powered medical resource
Science Daily
Science Magazine
ScienceNet - Search the database for essays on any science based topic or send questions to the scientists behind the site
VolcanoWorld

Computer and Internet

Computer Virus Myths - the myths, the hoaxes, the urban legends, and the implications if you believe in them, with a list of virus hoaxes from A to Z
Datafellows: one of the best sites for the latest on virus myths
Internet-101 Demographics - single source page for Internet Demographics resources
Internet-101 Viruses & Hoaxes - also Myth, Fraud, Chain Letter and Anti-Spam sites
Internet Traffic Report - reports on data flow around the world
Junkbusters - get rid of junk e-mail, junk snail mail, junk phone calls
A Student's Guide to Research with the WWW
Suzanne's Computer Page - Useful links, especially for Internet-related research. (Note: the no-frames version may be easier on the eye)
Web and Internet Search Engine FAQ
Webmasters' Guide to Search Engines
Windweaver Web Resources - over 100 pages of useful Internet search advice, comparisons of search engines and links

Writers Resources

General Writing Resources

ALCS - writers' information directory
A Brief Citation Guide for Internet Sources - useful if you need to reference texts from the Internet in footnotes or bibliography
Alice's Virtual Restaurant - useful resources, in particular covering history, archaeology, social issues, Ireland and kids
Bricolage links
CWRC Research Center - direct links to search engines, best research sites, newsgroups, etc.
The Electric Eclectic - eclectic it is! A-Z listing on every topic you can imagine, and then some
Jane Dorner: Writers' Links
John McDonnell's Researcher's Toolkit - plus free weekly e-mail updates about the best Web sites for research
Random Word Generator - lesser known words of interest to writers, works off-line too
Screaming In The Celluloid Jungle - attractive lists of useful links with comments - by screenwriter Kelly Miles
Writers Guild of America
Writers Links - good reference links
Writers.net - Research Central
Writer's Toolbox - excellent collection of Internet resources for writers. Includes a search page for searching articles in the major online news media

Writing: Screenwriting and On-Line Scripts

Drew's Scripts-O-Rama - film scripts on the net
John Hewitt's Writing Resource Center: screenwriting and general writing links and info
HFI Cyberspace Film School
Hollywood Network
Movie Cliches
Richard Toscan's "The Playwriting Seminars"- some info on screenwriting, too

Recommendations, commendations, corrections and criticisms to info@search-faq.com.

Credits: URLs supplied and compiled by Charles Harris, Laurence A. Moore, Steven Blacher, Yvonne Hewett and others. Click here for full credits.

(This FAQ may be copied in whole or in part for non-profit making purposes only, provided you tell me you're doing it, adequate credit is given to those who helped towards it and the home address is given http://www.search-faq.com. In addition, if anyone wishes to post any part anywhere on the Net, you must commit to keeping the posting up-to-date on a monthly basis - there's too much out-of-date stuff on the Net already. Our Disclaimer which disclaims responsibility for everything in the entire universe can be found in the main FAQ)

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