General Reference Sites for Middle School Student Searching
Encyclopedias and Almanacs
Information Please http://www.infoplease.com/
This is an online almanac and encyclopedia with general information about a large
number of topics.
Encyclopedia Britannica http://www.britannica.com/
This is a free service that includes access to the entire text of the renowned
Encyclopedia Britannica, the best sites on the Web as selected by Britannica editors,
more than 75 top-quality
Funk and Wagnalls Online Encyclopedia http://www.funkandwagnalls.com/
This is a free service that includes text and pictures from the Funk and Wagnalls
Encyclopedia, Dictionary, Thesaurus, World Atlas, Animal book and News.
Encarta Online http://encarta.msn.com/
This is an online searchable encyclopedia with articles and pictures.
Columbia Encyclopedia Sixth Edition http://www.bartleby.com/65/
This online encyclopedia provides brief articles on a wide range of topics with a
search feature. There are no photos or diagrams.
Encyclopedia Smithsonian: The Smithsonian from A to Z
http://digilib.si.edu/digilib/main.asp
This is a searchable collection of information from the Smithsonian
The World Factbook http://www.odci.gov/cia/publications/factbook/indexgeo.html
This is the CIA World Factbook with maps and information about every country in
the world.
Altapedia Online http://www.atlapedia.com/online/country_index.htm
Altapdedia Online contains key facts and statistics on countries of the world. Maps at
this site have "Altapedia" embossed across them.
General Reference Sites for Middle School Students
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Dictionaries
WWWebster Dictionary - Search screen
http://www.m-w.com/netdict.htm
Type in a word to find the definition in this dictionary.
WWWebster Thesaurus - Search screen
http://www.m-w.com/mw/thesaurus.htm
Type in a word to find other words with similar meanings.
Rhyming Dictionary
http://www.rhymezone.com/
Type in a word to find word that rhyme with that word.
The Wordsmyth English Dictionary - Thesaurus
http://www.wordsmyth.net/
Type in a word to find a definition, synonyms and similar words.
Maps
Map Machine Atlas: Map @ nationalgeographic.com
http://plasma.nationalgeographic.com/mapmachine/
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/maps/index.html
The Map Machine Atlas offers maps, flags, facts and profiles for countries of the
world and each state of the United States.
National Geographic Atlas
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/resources/ngo/education/xpeditions/atlas/atlas.ht
ml
This page has almost 600 maps from around the world. Click on a continent, country,
province or state, choose a format and print the map.
Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection
http://www.lib.utexas.edu/Libs/PCL/Map_collection/Map_collection.html
Extensive collections of current and historical maps of the world.
Color Landform Atlas of the United States
http://fermi.jhuapl.edu/states/
This site shows shaded relief maps and satellite images of each state in the U.S.
General Reference Sites for Middle School Students
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MapQuest
http://city.net/maps/address/
Type in any US address to view a map of that address. Note: Some addresses are not
correctly located on maps. Click on Browse All Map to find a regional map of a city,
state, province, or country. There are advertisements on this page.
Mapblast!
http://www.mapblast.com/yt.hm?FAM=mapblast&SEC=start
Type in Any US address to view a map of that address. Click above or below the hot
air balloon to zoom in closer or view map from farther away. There are
advertisements on this page.
Earth and Moon Viewer
http://www.fourmilab.ch/earthview/vplanet.html
This page allows you to view the earth from satellites at specific times and locations
that you select. These views give a good visual image of day and night around the
world.
Biographies of Famous People
Biography.com
http://www.biography.com/
Type in the name of a famous person or other key words to find biographical
information.
Biographical Dictionary Search Page
http://www.s9.com/biography/search.html
This dictionary has very brief information about famous people.
Lives, the Biography Resource
http://amillionlives.com/
Links to biography web sites for individuals who are no longer living.
Public Figures
http://publicfigure.com/PublicFigure/static/home.htm
This is a web site that provides information about current public figures. You can
search by name or work. There are a lot of advertisements.
General Reference Sites for Middle School Students
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