Citation and Style Guides | Conversions | Dictionaries & Translation Services | Houston/Harris County/Texas | Maps & Geography | Phone Directories | Reference Collections | Search Engines | Short URLs | Timelines | Urban Legends

This collection is comprised of sources, in addition to Google searches, used by the eBranch staff to answer questions submitted to Ask a Librarian.  There are a few duplications of sources found elsewhere on this site.

American FactFinder

US Census data.

Aneki.com

Information about countries and world rankings.

Bartleby.com

Great reference books online - includes quotations, dictionaries, and encyclopedias.

CIA World Factbook

Basic information about countries.

Country Studies

Analysis and history of countries.

Fact Monster

Almanac, dictionary, and encyclopedia.

GIGA Quotes

Quotations.

Medical Reference for Non-Medical Librarians

NationMaster

Comparitive statistics for the world.

SoYouWanna.com

Instructions for doing everything from decorating an apartment to joining the Peace Corps.

US Copyright Office

World Time Server

Find out the time anywhere in the world.

World Wide Study Bible

Zip Code Lookup

From the USPS.

Citation and Style Guides

APA Style.org

Official site.

APA Style Resources

Links to a variety of sources.

Basic Legal Citation

Chicago Manual of Style Form Guide

Citation Machine

Select type of material (book, magazine, online, etc.) and enter the relevant information and the machine returns both APA and MLA format citations.

A Guide for Writing Research Papers based on Styles Recommended by the American Psychological Association (APA)

A Guide for Writing Research Papers based on Modern Language Association (MLA) Documentation

Modern Language Association (MLA)

Official site.

Nuts and Bolts of College Writing

Online! A Referece Guide to Using Internet Sources

Overview of citing online sources in APA, MLA, and Chicago styles.

Conversions

UnitConversion.org

A variety of mathematical conversion calculators.

MegaConverter 2

A variety of mathematical conversions.

Dictionaries & Translation Services

Arabic Translation

Babel Fish

Translator from AltaVista.  Includes English to Spanish, Chinese, French, Italian, Japanese, Korean, and Portuguese; translation from the previous languages and Russian to English.

Crossword Solvers

Dictionary.com

Searches for words in multiple sources.

Merriam Webster

In addition to dictionary and thesaurus services, includes a word of the day feature.

OneLook

Find definitions or translations in a variety of dictionaries including specialized dictionaries.

Translation Wizard

Includes translation to and from a wide variety of languages.

yourDictionary.com

Houston/Harris County/Texas

About Texas

Links to a variety of information about the state.

Basic Federal & Texas Legal Research Sources

From the Harris County Law Library.

Harris County Appraisal District Records

Search for real property by account number, address, or owner name.

Harris County Clerk

Information on obtaining birth and death records.

Harris County Databases

Real property, assumed names, vital statistics (birth & death), and marriage license databases.

Harris County Legal Forms

A selection of legal forms from FindLaw.

Houston Travel Planner

Historic sites and Texas culture.

Texas Bureau of Vital Statistics

Information on obtaining birth & death certificates, marriage and divorce reocrds, among others.

Texas Death Records

Search records from 1964 - 1998.

Texas Zip Codes

Find the zip codes of cities in Texas.

Maps & Geography

Geographic Names Information System

Information about 2 million physical and cultural features in the US.

Google Maps

Includes satellite photos.

HomeTownLocator Gazetteer

Find statistical information by place name.

Latitude & Longitude Look-up

Maporama

International maps.

Mapquest

The National Map

A topographical map showing elevations; from the US Geological Survey.

WorldAtlas.com

Links to several latitude/longitude look-ups, including one for specific addresses.

Phone Directories

AnyWho

Residential, business yellow & white, and reverse lookup.

Area Decoder

Enter an area code to find out it's location.

Free Online Lookups

Links to a variety of directories.

HowToCallAbroad.com

Information about making international calls.

SBC SMARTpages

Business & residential.

Reference Collections

Internet Public Library FAQ

Virtual Reference Shelf

Library of Congress

Yahoo! Reference

Search Engines

Image Search Engines

Lists a variety of image search engines.

Internet Search Engines Database

Directory of search engines.

iTools

Quick access to Internet tools.

Peter's PolySearch Engines

Demonstration project allowing searching across specialty engines.

Search Engine Colossus

International directory of search engines.

Short URLs

Make a Shorter Link

notlong

Ranks the major services.

Shorl

SnipURL

Customize the link with a nickname.  We use this for Ask a Librarian.

TinyURL

Timelines

20th Century Year by Year

Major events from 1900-1999.

AlternaTime

Large list of timelines.

dMarie Time Capsule

Enter a date to find major events that occured. Includes popular music, books, TV and toys.

Urban Legends

Hoaxbusters

From CIAC, part of the US Department of Energy.

Museum of Hoaxes

A less serious approach to urban legends.

Purportal.com

Search several hoax sites.

Scambusters

Truth or Fiction

"Check out rumors, inspirational stories, virus warnings, humorous tales, pleas for help, urban legends, prayer requests and calls to action to see if they are truth or fiction."

Urban Legends Reference Pages