Online Reference Shelf

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On this page:  
Almanacs 
Career Information 
Consumer Information 
Conversion and Calculation Tools

Currency Exchange Rates
Dates and Times
Dictionaries 
Geographic Data and Maps 
Government Resources: United States and Massachusetts
Historical Documents and Resources 
Phone Books, Area and Zip Codes 
Quotations 
Universities and Colleges 
Writer's Resources

Almanacs

Informationplease - Infoplease provides easy-to-use reference materials on just about every subject, with millions of facts, plus definitions, articles, photographs, maps, lists, and tables.

Old Farmer’s Almanac - This is the classic Old Farmer's Almanac. It includes tide tables, planting charts, recipes and more.

 

Career Information

Boston College Career Center

CareerBuilder - Employment ads in newspapers from around the country

Job Openings in and out of Academe - From the Chronicle of Higher Education

NYTimes Career Path section

 

Consumer Information

ConsumerSearch - This site was rated by PC World as the best source of expert product reviews on the Internet. ConsumerSearch helps you dig through hundreds of in-depth product reviews that provide in-depth, expert information.

Consumer World - Catalog of over 2000 various consumer resources.

Edmunds - For automotive consumers this site provides complete, clear, timely, accurate and unbiased information needed to make informed purchase and ownership decisions.

Federal Consumer Information Center - Provides a lot of free and low cost consumer publications from the federal government as well as many consumer links.

Kelley Blue Book - Everything you ever wanted to know on buying or selling a car.

 

Conversion and Calculation Tools

Common Weights and Measures

 

Currency Exchange Rates

CNN Money - Currencies Market

Universal Currency Converter

Yahoo Finance Exchange Rates

 

Dates and Times

The World Clock - Time Zones - Set your watch to the minute; also, international times.

Ecclesiastical Calendars - What was the date for Easter in 1609?

Perpetual Calendar

 

Dictionaries

French-English Dictionary

Internet Acronym Server

Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary and Thesaurus

Online Dictionaries

Oxford English Dictionary

Wordsmyth English Dictionary-Thesaurus - From Robert Parks and the ARTFL Project at the University of Chicago 

 

Geographic Data and Maps

CIA World Factbook

Country Studies (from the Library of Congress)

Maporama - Street-level directional maps for the U.S, 15 European nations, and most of Canada.

MapQuest - Route and mileage information for city-to-city travel in the US; interactive world atlas - includes street maps for some cities

Panoramic Maps - U.S. and Canadian cities and towns during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Perry-Castaneda Library Map Collection - From the University of Texas at Austin. About 2100 maps out of 230,000 have been made available electronically.

Thesaurus of Geographic Names - Contains nearly 1 million place names representing approximately 900,000 places.

 

Government Resources: United States and Massachusetts

American Factfinder - Population, housing, economic and geographic data for Census 2000 and 1990.

Budget of the United States

Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance

Catalog of US Government Publications- Publications of the Government Printing Office

Census Department- Includes data from Census Department and Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Commonwealth of Massachusetts

Congressional Directory - Official almanac of Congress

County and City Data Book (Historical Information)

Federal IRS Tax Forms and Publications

FedWorld - NTIS's gateway to U.S. and foreign government information, including agency databases, files, documents, and federal job listings.

Google U.S. Government Search - An excellent web search engine for government documents.

Government Information by Topic

GPO Access - Provides access to over 80 government databases including the Congressional Record, Federal Register, Congressional Bills (1994-), U.S. Code, and GAO Reports. Legislative information is also available through the Thomas Legislative Information on the Internet.

How Our Laws Are Made

Massachusetts Tax Forms and Publications

NAICS-North American Industry Classification Codes (1997 NAICS and 1987 SIC Correspondence Tables.

SIC Codes-Standard Industrial Classification Codes

State & Local Government Internet Links

Statistical Abstract of the United States

United States Government Manual

United States Supreme Court Decisions - All decisions since May 1990 and selected historic decisions.

White House - Current news, press releases, executive orders and major speeches.

 

Historical Documents and Resources

American Memory - historical collections for the National Digital Library.  This site contains the texts for the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence.  Click on Documents and then scroll down to click on Documents from the Continental Congress.

Making of America - a digital library of primary sources in American social history from the antebellum period through reconstruction.

 

Phone Books, Area Codes, Zip Codes

Switchboard - nationwide residential and business directory

Area/Country Code Look Up - U.S. and foreign cities.

AT&T Anywho Info: Yellow Pages - yellow pages on the web.

U.S. Postal Service Abbreviations

US Postal Service ZIP Code Lookup 

 
Quotations

Bartlett's Book of Familiar Quotations

Bible Gateway - keyword searching in various Bible translations

 

Universities and Colleges

American Universities - Links to web sites

Braintrack University Index - Links to more than 8300 higher educational institutions in 161 countries.

Universities Outside the U.S. - Geographic listing with links to web sites.

 

Writer's Resources

AAUP Online Catalog / Bookstore - 75,000 titles from nearly 60 scholarly presses, some entries with descriptions

APA Citation Style and MLA Citation Style - from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign's Writers' Workshop
Note: The Boston College Libraries own the APA-Style Helper 3.0 cd-rom for PC & Mac to accompany the 5th edition of the print Publication Manual of the APA (2001). (Media Center, BF 76.7.P83 2001)

Bartleby Library, Great Books Online

Boston College Online Writing Lab (OWL) - free writing assistance to the Boston College community.

Citation Guides for Electronic Documents - From IFLA with links to a number of citation guides.

Citation Styles for Research Papers - From the B.Davis Schwartz Memorial Library, Long Island University/C.W. Post Campus

Electronic Reference Formats Recommended by the American Psychological Association

E-ZINE List - Links to over 2600 electronic magazines.

Elements of Style - By William Strunk, Jr.

Global Books in Print - (BC Community Only) Contains books in and out of print. Search by author, title, subject and ISBN.

Glossary of Literary Terms and A Handbook of Rhetorical Devices - By Robert Harris.

Grammar Handbook - From the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign's Writers' Workshop

Journal Abbreviation Sources - All That JAS: Journal Abbreviation Sources is a registry of Web resources that list or provide access to the full title of journal abbreviations.

NewJour: Electronic Journals and Newsletters - Archive goes back to 1995 and is searchable by keyword. Frequently updated.

On-Line Books Page - An index of over 1000 books; includes a subject list using LC classification

Roget's Internet Thesaurus

Sources: Their Use and Acknowledgement (from Dartmouth College)

Writing Techniques Handbook - From the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign's Writers' Workshop.

Writer’s Handbook

WWWebster Dictionary - With links to a thesaurus.