The Wayback Machine
A new version of Archive.org that searches screengrabs of old website designs.
Time Capsule
Type in your birthdate -- or any date you're interested in for that matter -- and get a digest of news headlines, top song titles and other timely factoids covering that era.
Who, What, When Database
Great for quick fact-checking. A database of "key people and events from 1000 A.D. to the present." Create graphic timelines of periods in history and of the lives of individuals.
EveryTimeZone
Lists your local time with other time zones and major cities. No more time zone math! The site is also a cool use of HTML5 (no Flash) and can be used on an iPhone and iPad.
Poligraft
This Sunlight Foundation site adds political context to news stories by scanning news articles you enter for the names of donors, corporations, lobbyists and politicians and shows how they are connected by contributions. Free site.
HelpaReporterOut.com
Run by blogger and PR pro Peter Shankman, is a free subscription site that allows reporters to submit a query looking for sources. Simply enter your query into a form, and it will get posted on the site's next e-mailing. Queries are sent out three a day to a list of more than 18,000 global sources. If a source has knowledge of a specific query, that source can just e-mail the reporter directly. Note that PR people are kicked off the list for off-topic pitching.
Google Search Techniques for Journalists
Many tips and tricks.
The Reddit Edit
Created by a freelance journalist, this site features the best of Reddit. Great place to go and find story ideas.
Juvenile Justice Information Exchange
Part of The Center for Sustainable Journalism at Kennesaw State University, this site, launched in the summer of 2010, provides information focused on juvenile justice issues and shines a spotlight on the system's strengths and weaknesses.
Pew Global Attitudes Project
Public opinion surveys from around the world.
Search Systems
A free database that has business information, corporate filings, property records, unclaimed property, professional licenses, inmates, criminal and court filings and much more. You can even see aerial photographs of your home.
Subject Index to Literature on Electronic Sources of Information
This site will be a boon to anyone studying issues related to information technology or electronic publishing. The site has been publishing the index since 1997, and this latest version contains more than 1,400 citations as well as an introduction that explains how to use the site. The bibliography and index reference both online and print sources, including books, articles, monographs, and chapters. Librarians in particular will want to bookmark this site.
ZabaSearch.com
This site provides basic information for free, including birth year, month, phone number and address for free and deeper background information for a fee. There is a fee for queries that return a wealth of info sometimes dating back more than 10 years: residential addresses, phone numbers both listed and unlisted, birth year, even satellite photos of people's homes.
The Scoop: CAR Stories Database
A browsable database that has individual pages for papers, topics, dates and bylines. Nearly everything has an RSS feed for it, so you can subscribe to specific reporter's byline, topic, etc.
Electronic Sources of Information: A Bibliography
This site will be a boon to anyone studying issues related to information technology or electronic publishing. The site has been publishing the index since 1997, and this latest version contains more than 1,400 citations as well as an introduction that explains how to use the site. The bibliography and index reference both online and print sources, including books, articles, monographs, and chapters. Librarians in particular will want to bookmark this site.
DeadorAliveInfo.com
A handy quick-reference, fact-checking site for copy editors. Find out if a celebrity is dead or alive.
Obituaries Help
Access newspaper obituaries and discover your genealogy
online. Discover obituary resources like old newspaper obituaries
archives and Download free genealogy forms and printable family tree
charts.
Energy Saving Tips
With rising energy costs, this site offers tips on heating and cooling.
Data.gov Tools
This government site is a tool for helping to build your own database using government statistics.
PC World: 30 Things You Didn't Know You Could Do on the Internet
Zotero
Firefox extension to help you collect, manage and cite your research sources. Developed by George Mason University, the extension provides users with automated access to bibliographic information for online resources.
Neil Reisner: Using the Web to Search for Records
A great set of search tips from Florida International professor.
Neil Reisner: Finding Almost Anybody
Tips on tracking down people, databases, etc.
Why Are Americans So...
A fun site that lists state-by-state stereotypes based off Google search's autocomplete. Could be helpful for a fun, off beat story.
Fagan Finder
Journalists will be especially interested in the search engines, reference, news and law sections.
Calendar 365
Moon calendars, Chinese calendar, etc.
Vital Records Database
Lists links to all the state and county agencies that keep vital statistics such as birth, death andmarriage records around the country. Also lists the fee the states charge for the records.
Online Public Records
Find public records data.
HighBeam.com
Access 1.5 million articles from more than 200 sources for free.
SearchingtheInternet.info
Academic Scholar Search Engines
A great collection of search tools.
Resource Shelf?s DocuTicker
A helpful research blog run by several top researchers.
Pantheon: Encyclopedia of Myths
PI Newslink
A blog for private investigators/researchers.
ResourceShelf: DocuTicker
A daily update of new reports from government agencies, ngo's, think tanks, and other groups.
Copyscape
Track who has lifted content off your website. Just type in the URL of your site.
Ehow.com
A how-to guide that makes for great trend stories and features.
Notable Names Database
Leadership Directories
Find leaders in government, foreign affairs, legal, media, etc.
Virtual Library Museums
Find whatever you want, whether it's art, history, science or a natural park.
CountryReports.org
Stats and facts on countries. More than 26,000 pages.
FindtheData.org
Search nine broad categories for relevant data, stats.
FedStats
Studies and stats on federal government research..
Wikipedia: State Agency Databases
A wiki on state databases that feature information on businesses, licensed professionals, etc.
WordSpy
Looks for new words popping up in English usage.
Omgili
Searches more than 100,000 message boards and forums.
WhyFiles.org
A science explanation site.
HookedOnFacts
An "engine" that generates random, interesting facts. Helpful feature ideas, notebook items, etc.
CityTownInfo.com
A collection of information on U.S. cities and towns. The site includes almanac-like reference data, property statistics, local weather reports, links to the official city web sites and maps for about 3,500 cities. The site also includes a summary article on about 50 major cities.
Census QuickFacts
Look up state and county census stats using this image map.
City-Data.com
This site has collected and analyzed data from numerous sources to create profiles of all U.S. cities. It featuresthousands of pictures, maps, satellite photos, stats about residents (race, income, ancestries, education, employment...), geographical data, crime data, housing, businesses, political contributions, weather, hospitals, schools, libraries, houses, airports, radio and TV stations, zip codes, area codes, user-submitted facts, similar cities list.
OCLC Libarian's Toolbox
Resources, some free and some by perscription.
Obits 101
A national obits clearinghouse of links.
UN.org
Has reports with individual country statistics on many topics.
NationMaster.com
Has reports with individual country statistics on many topics.
International Center for Journalists
Social Security Death Records
Encyclopedia & Reference Resource
Browse articles in all areas of topics within Earth & Environment, History, Literature & Arts, Health & Medicine, People, Philosophy & Religion, Places, Plants & Animals, Science & Technology, Social Science, Law, Sports, Everyday Life, and more.
Poynter.org: Summer Resources
Fourth of July, other factual sites on the summer solistice.
Deadlineonline.com
A must-bookmark for any journalist.
A clearinghouse of sourcing links from the Schlein News Bureau.
Broken down by people, sources, documents and background.
Voice of the Shuttle
Compiled by the UC Santa Barbara English Department, this is an outstanding general links site. Resources include anthropology, women's studies, literature, philosophy, business theory, cyberculture and more.
Education Resources Information Center (ERIC)
An online digital library of education research and information. ERIC is sponsored by the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) of the U.S. Department of Education. ERIC provides ready access to education literature to support the use of educational research and information to improve practice in learning, teaching, educational decision-making, and research.
Lost in Translation
Takes your phrase in and out of English and other languages and gives you results.
Modern Language Association: Language Map Data Center
Provides maps and data babout the many languages spoken in the United States.
Database of Learning Sites
Site checks dozens of search engines and newsgroups.
Easybib.com
A free site that allows you to enter a source you wish to cite, where you found it (e.g., online or print), the author and other details. You then get an instant bibliography entry that you can reuse as you need.
Encyclopedia of Earth
YouTube: Library of Congress Channel
Refdesk.com
A blizzard of topics, from zip quotes and stock quotes to sports.
National Personnel Records Center
A central repository of personnel-related records, both military and civil service. The site provides service to "government agencies, military veterans, former civilian Federal employees, family members, as well as researchers and historians."
Covering Poverty: A Tool Kit for Journalists
Created by The Grady Center at the University of Georgia.
Wordorigins.org
The truth and myth about where words come from.
Howstuffworks.com
Look up just about anything in this online encyclopedia.
PBS Animal Encyclopedia
Hundreds of helpful facts and stats.
Phaster Lookups Reference Database
Do quick searches for reference tools: encylopedias, economic terms, legal dictionary, biblical reference, quotes and more. Great one-stop reference shopping.
Journalist's Resource
A website dedicated to promoting knowledge-based
reporting and is targeted to journalism educators. A project of the Carnegie-Knight Initiative on the Future of Journalism Education.
TradeStats
See what each state exports and where they are shipping. Who Is trading with Iraq.
BBC: Languages
Glossaries and helpful sound files.
American University: Center for Social Media
Not social media as in twitter, but social issues covered in media. Founded in 2001, the center "showcases and analyzes media for public knowledge and action--media made by, for, and with publics to address the problems that they share. We pay particular attention to the evolution of documentary film and video in a digital era."
Anecdotage: Anecdote Database
A handy database of stories about famous people. Be sure to double-check all facts found in the database.
Bartleby Reference Page
Features dictionairies, encyclopedias, thesauri and usage guides.
Infomine: Scholarly Internet Resource Collections
Acronym Finder
"The web's most comprehensive database of acronyms, abbreviations, and initialisms. 212,000-plus definitions!"
Newswords.com
A global headline search site.
Census: American FactFinder
Type in a city or ZIP code and get census data.
YourDictionary.com
Glossaries, quick-reference look-ups. Translation tools as well.
Modern Language Association: Language Map
Search by language and state for an interactive map of how many people speak that language by county, zip code, etc.
Speech & Transcripts Center
Current and past speech transcripts.
Historychannel.com: Speech Transcripts
Historical transcripts and audio.
BBC: How Big Really? Dimensions
Gives spatial context for events by presenting them against the background of a place (city or ZIP code) whose dimensions a reader understands. Very similar to IfItWereMyHome.com during the BP Gulf oil spill.
Stanford: Journalism in the Age of Data
A great video tutorial on how to use data visualization online as a journalist.
Vanderbilt: Exploration Online Research Journal
Towards Electronic Journals: Realities for Scientists, Librarians and Publishers
Focuses mostly on scientists' perspective as authors and readers, how changes over the years by publishers and librarians have affected scientists, and what they should expect from electronic journal and digital journal article databases. We describe some myths concerning scholarly journals and attempt to assess the future in a realistic manner.
BuzzDash
Online polls on news, politics, sports, celebrities, etc.
How Stuff Works Podcasts
Heartland Alliance Mid-America Institute on Poverty
"A full-service research and evaluation resource. Our aim is to provide dynamic research and analysis on today's most pressing social issues and solutions to help equip you in your work toward a just global society."
Peoplespot.com
A good fact-checking site. Biographies, vital records, demographics, population and census statistics, e-mail, phone, reverse and professional directories, newsgroups, chat rooms.
Everyzing
Provides transcript searching (every spoken word) in some YouTube categories. Searches can currently be performed in a limited number of categories (sports, entertainment, etc.)
TVEyes
The site offers "transcript search" of podcasts. The site is fee-based service and allows you to search nearly all major TV networks and some local stations. The site also has a free transcript search of TV news video available on the open web from MSNBC, Reuters, etc.
ResearchBuzz.com
RoboForm
This software remembers every password, various addresses (which you control by creating different identities) and unlike Gator, contains no spyware. Although the basic version is free, the pro version is available for about $30.
Dialect Survey
A survey quiz from Harvard that studies dialect dispersion in modern America. See how much you differ from folks in your hometown (or adopted locale), or examine the maps to find out how people say what, where, etc.
British Library Archives
The British Library owns the world's largest collection of research materials. You can search 20,000 journals for free and order full text for a small fee.
New York Times: TimesMachine
Browsable access to the Times from 1851 to 1922, but is only available to home delivery subscribers.
PoliticalQuotes.org: Eigen's Political & Historical Quotations
More than 40,000 free quotations from more than 11,000 different historical and political figures in a searchable database.
WorldStatesmen.org
Though this site is run by a hobbyist, it features complete lists of the heads of state and government for every country and colony in the world over the past 300 years. It also has pocket histories of each country/colony, images of each country and colony's flags, and in many cases links to constitutions, national anthems, and so on. Also updated fairly regularly. Again, double-check the information you find on this site, but it appears to be very, very helpful.
BBC News Country Profiles
Features include an overview, historical timelines and links to the media from each country. Also some audio of newsmaking moments.
Geographic Encyclopedia
West Egg's Cliche Finder
The Library Files
Links by beat from the intranet of the Wisconsin Capital Times.
TVEyes.com
Keep track of keywords mentioned on TV. You can do a free demo try, but it costs for a user log-in.
Mural Locator
This site helps you locate murals around the world.
Sunlight Foundation: Influence Explorer
From Marylaine Block: "Type in the names of lawmakers, corporations, or individuals here to find out who is providing the most funding for your congressional candidates."
Copyscape Plagiarism Checker
Search for copies of your page on the web. Helps you defend your site from plagiarism. Just type in your site's web address.
World Time Server
The U.S. Constitution
American Community Network
This site has a large amount of data on many U.S. communities.
GotoCity.com
Organized by state and city, explore data on many U.S. communities.
Biography.com
The TV show on A&E has a database of bios on famous people. Good for fact-checking.
American National Biography Online
The American National Biography (ANB) offers portraits of more than 17,400 people. The site includes feature illustrations, hyperlinked cross-reference, links to selected Web sites and powerful search capabilities. It requires a user name and password, though.
HistoryChannel.com
A great site for fact-checking.
Voycabulary
Don't know a word used on a site? Enter the URL into this page and it gives you a new page in which you can click on any word on the page to find it's meaning.
Ajeeb.com
This site provides instant, free translation of Arabic Web sites into English.
Adobe .PDF Conversion Tools
Editor's Web.org
News release galore, many from federal agencies.
Rootsweb.com
A free genealogy site. Social security, birth and census reports.
Yahoo! Almanacs/Calendars
Links to online almanacs and other calendar Web sites.
Los Angeles Times Data Desk
Databases galore, from tropical storm names, charities, entertainment, politics, etc.
Time Magazine: 50 Best Websites of 2008
Links galore to helpful web tools.
TimeTicker.com
Use this database to check what time it is anywhere in the world.
Guiness Book of World Records
If your momma claims it's a world record, you better check it out.
Brain Track
Search British universities.
ExpertClick.com
A searchable site for authorities on particular topics. 14,000 topics covered and more than 1,500 individuals, associations, corporations and public interest groups.
OtherTimelines.com
A chance to rewrite history, giving the user the chance to write their own scenarios and sequels to historical events. Example: What would have happened had JFK not been killed?
FindSame
A plagiarism finder.
CredoReference.com
This cross-reference site does a search of 50 reference titles.
Martindale's Reference Desk
All kinds of resources.
Internet Public Library's Pathfinders
University of Michigan librarians organize subject pages that included annotated suggestions for both the Web and library books. A great starting point for any story.
SearchSpell.com
Check your spelling as you submit a query.
Columbia Encyclopedia
The sixth edition has 51,000 entries and 80,000 cross references and search capabilities.
Pew Social Trends
Social, demographics and stats galore. Great resource for localizing these national/global trends in your community. Has stats down to the local level.
BookFinder.com
Links to 20,000 independent book-sellers and lists more than 30 million books (new, used, rare, etc.).
Online Arabic Translation Tool
Translate content on Arabic sites to English using this resource. Plug in the text or the URL to get the translation.
Systransoft.com
Instant translation for several languages.
Census: American FactFinder
Type in a city or ZIP code and get census data.
WorldTime
An interactive world atlas, information on local time as well as sunrise and sunset times in several hundred cities, and a database of public holidays worldwide.
National Digital Library
Detailed multimedia presentations on significant historical events provide access to the highlights of the collections at the Library of Congress.
World Almanac for Kids Online
Dictionary of American Regional English
SoYouWanna.com
Teaches you how to tackle hundreds of life's problems.
Internet Resources for Writers
A great one-page stop for helpful writing and reporting links.
Social Science Research Network
This site covers the worldwide dissemination of social science research and is composed of a number of specialized research networks in each of the social sciences.
Lycos Multimedia Search
This site offers photos and more.
Freeality
Various search tools, people locator.
PC Magazine: Top 101 Websites to Engage, Entertain and Inform
Covers topics such as computing, business, finance, etc.
U.S. National Archives
The Capitol.net: Online Resources
Lists of helpful reporting links by category.
HookedonFacts.com
This site generates offbeat facts and stats. Click the fact generator repeatedly for a list of of fun, interesting facts.
LinkPopularity
Check how many sites link there are to a particular sit.
Excite's World Facts and Global News Directory
HowjSay: Online Dictionary of English Pronunciation
Great tool for broadcasters. Just type in the word or select from a list and see how the word is pronounced.
Truth or Fiction?
This site takes "rumor mill" e-mails we all receive and determines if they are true or false. There is a good list of Attack on America information.
Quoteland.com
A links page put up by an individual. Fact-check anything you find on the site.
NewsWise
Newswise maintains a comprehensive database of news releases from top institutions engaged in scientific, medical and business research. Allows reporters to search, browse or download any article or abstract.
100 Places To Connect with Other Bibliophiles Online
Deloitte Press Room
Several interesting studies by the consulting firm.
All in One Search Page
Search more than 800 databases, directories and more.
Lexis-Nexis
Search hundreds of periodicals. Password and ID required.
Edirectory.com
A global directory of search engines.
Good Quotations
Gabriel Robins' Good Quotations by Famous People has some super material.
Docusearch.com
This site claims to be "the place to find, locate & track down anybody! We offer locate searches, DMV driver & vehicle searches, telephone record searches, financial and bank searches, criminal and property records. Some searches are free, others you must pay for.
Onelook Dictionary
A glossary of 743 subjects.
World Book Online
The digital version of the encyclopedia.
Artcyclopedia
The fine arts encyclopedia. One of the top reference sites around, according to the American Library Association. Search by artist, etc.
ADAM: Art, Design, Architecture & Media Information Gateway
A searchable list of 2,500 links.
Free Translation
This site translates English into other languages. Very cool! And free.
HyperStat Searchable Stats Database
Powered by Rice University.
Back Issue Finder
Marketplace for finding periodical information.
ReporterPitch.com
Similar to Al's morning meeting on Poynter.org, only with e-mail. The e-mail-based story idea exchange for working journalists acts as a distributor of stories or generated in daily work.
OneLook Dictionary Search
A very handy, quick-search resource. Type a word or phrase into this search engine and it will match your clues with the word you need.
The Quotations Page
Check sources of famous quotes.
Ask.com
Known as AskJeeves.com, you use natural-language search fields. You can pose questions and you'll get answers!
The Avalon Project
Yale Law School site that offers digital documents relevant to the fields of Law, History, Economics, Politics, Diplomacy and Government.
Librarians Index to the Internet
The Virtual Library
Links to dozens of indexed library resources.
IBB Voice of America: Pronunciation Guide
An invaluable tool to broadcasters on deadline.
Law Library Research Exchange
The Internet Public Library
Search an extensive research database.
American Library Association Libraries Page
Links to several large libraries around the United States..
Librarian's Index to the Internet
Research and Style Guides for Students
Nearly 100 links to helpful research sites.
Special Libraries Assn. News Division
Newsroom librarian site on archiving, online references, research materials.
Library of American Broadcasting
A collection of audio and video recordings, books, pamphlets, periodicals, personal collections, oral histories, photographs, scripts, and vertical files devoted exclusively to the history of broadcasting.
Subject Index to Literature on Electronic Sources of Information
Deals with all aspects of electronic publishing and include print and non-print materials, periodical articles, monographs and individual chapters in collected works. Each edition includes about 1,500 indexed titles. Both the index and the bibliography are continuously updated.
Instructions on How to use the Subject Index and the Bibliography
Internet Journalism Resources
From Minnesota State University.
Online Literature Library
Search through hundreds of titles and authors.
Presidential Libraries
Library Journal Infodocket
Research information and documents curated by Gary Price and Shirl Kennedy.
E-journals.org
Search for journals on hundreds of wide-ranging topics.
Museum of Hoaxes
Don't be fooled by urban legends and if it sounds too good to be true, it is.
StrangeFacts.com
A cool resource for offbeat stats and facts.
One Look Dictionaries
Search nearly 4 million words.
Famous Name Changes
Track celebrities, politicians.
The Gutenberg Bible Online
RAND Corporation Research Areas
Federally funded documents center has a clearinghouse page of links to a variety of topics: national security, international affairs, healthcare, transportation, etc.
Thesaurus for Use in College and University Archives
More than 1,300 terms used by college or university archives to describe their holdings.
Forbes People Tracker
Track more than 120,000 executives and members of the Forbes rich and celebrity lists. Customized e-mail alerts (free!), research public companies and news updates!
The British Library
Portal to more than 150 million items from history.
Institute for Public Accuracy
As a nationwide group of policy researchers. Great source for public policy issues!
Kalends.com
A free consumer-oriented, searchable site that features, general interest, business, holidays, and trade show events set to occur in the U.K. and elsewhere. There is some U.S. material.
Online Internet Sources Link List
A super alphabetical listing to hundreds of sites. Just scroll through to find your subject.
Ersys
A comprehensive collection of demographic, lifestyle, and economic data covering over 2,600 U.S. cities portrayed as thematic maps, informative reports, detailed tables and colorful charts --- all freely available.
EPodunk: City, County, Town and Community Information
Statistical data and other details on small communities across the nation.
Edhead: Simple Machines
Learn about gears, levers, inclined planes and how things are engineered.
Lewis Mumford Center: Census Research
This site lists some census research analysis that is used by many reporters, especially those covering census information. It is run by Merci Miglino of the Lewis Mumford Center at the Research University at Albany, SUNY.
Genomic Glossaries and Taxonomies
Biotechnology & pharmaceutical terms (& definitions) not found in most dictionaries. About 3,500 + definitions for applications, biochemistry, bioinformatics, cheminformatics, drug discovery and development, genomics, molecular biology, proteomics (and beyond), tools and technologies.
OnlineHomeBase.com
A web-based service that lets you store research notes and reminders for interviews etc with a user interface that looks like a simple notepad sheet.
SlipUps.com
Mistakes in movies, books, quotes, TV shows, etc.
Clock Your Typing Speed
FindTutorials.com
Learn how to do just about anything.
Dogpile.com
Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
University of Michigan Documents in the News
Search safety reports from many areas -- transportation, environment, etc.
Smarting Surfing Links
A Columbia University professor offers tips on searching on the Web.
Cal-Berkeley: Journalism Research Tools
Links to online almanacs, encyclopedias, directories, subject guides, etc.
Internet Resources for News Librarians and Others
Links galore, grouped by topics and types of tools.
Law Library of Congress
Links galore to research, other law centers, collections databases, reading room, bibliographies, etc.
FASCNET Internet Resources
A searchable database of hundreds of helpful sites, organized by beats and topics.
SearchSystems.net
Great one-stop shopping for links to public records databases.
Acronym Finder
A helpful database of more than 200,000 acronyms, abbreviations, etc.
USPS: Quick Zip Code Search
AreaCodeDownload.com
Quick reference area codes and zip codes.
S9.com
Biographical dictionary with 33,000 entries.
National Archives
Thousands of public records and historical documents.
Art Science Research Laboratory
A New York based, not-for-profit organization that creates intellectual environment and advocacy of interdisciplinary study, encompassing the areas of research, collections and publishing. On a daily basis, art historians, scientists, artists, designers, and programmers contribute ideas, participate in a dynamic environment, and challenge the outdated but still prominent structures of practices in the arts, sciences, and humanities.
Nobel Prize Winners' Research
A database of their papers.
Dietary Supplements Labels Database
From the National Library of Medicine, this database offers information from the labels of over 2,000 brands of dietary supplements in the marketplace, including vitamins, minerals, herbs or other botanicals, amino acids, and other specialty supplements.
HelpaReporterOut.com
Run by blogger and PR pro Peter Shankman, is a free subscription site that allows reporters to submit a query looking for sources. Simply enter your query into a form, and it will get posted on the site's next e-mailing. Queries are sent out three a day to a list of more than 18,000 global sources. If a source has knowledge of a specific query, that source can just e-mail the reporter directly. Note that PR people are kicked off the list for off-topic pitching.
PDFTextOnline.com
Site lets you download to a ZIP file.
Zamzar Conversion Tool
A free service that turns a .PDF into flat-file text.
PC Magazine's Undiscovered Websites: Info, Reference and Search
From November, 2007, a great collection of sites that provide shortcuts on the web.
Library of Congress: Ask a Librarian
Submit questions to a librarian. Includes a chat feature and links to various collections.
Chicago Reader: The Straight Dope
Answers to dozens of offbeat (sometimes silly) questions. Good for looking for quirky story ideas.
Worldwide Words
Michael Quinion writes about international English from a British perspective. Fun with pop culture catch phrases.
Pali Research
Friend or Follow
A helpful database for tracking Twitter followers and to track who's following you.
Google Definitions
Look up a word's definition instantly.
iSearch
People-finding search tool.
YoName.com
Search Facebook, Linkedin and other social media sites for names.
Tweetake
Lets you back up your followers and people you are following.
Topify
Receive an e-mail notification that someone is following you on Twitter. It includes information about that person (how many followers, updates, etc.)
ZipWho.com: Free Zip Code Demographics
Stats and demographic information in an easy-to-search format.
Library of Congress Webcasts
News and reviews of the latest documentary films.
U.S. Public Interest Research Groups
Transportation, healthcare, money and politics, media reform, tax and budget, law, higher education and environmental issues.
Academic Earth
Videos of academic lectures by top scholars on various topics.
Neat New Stuff on the Web
A super list of new resources updated weekly by librarian Marylaine Block.
Library of Congress: State Resource Guides
Provides links to external Web sites and a bibliography containing selected works for both general and younger readers. This site will be updated on a regular basis.
Library of Congress: State Digital Resources
Includes memory projects, online encyclopedias, history and cultural materials.
Research Channel
More than 3,500 videos from "a consortium of leading research and academic institutions to share the valuable work of their researchers with the public."
National Press Club Library
Columbia University Online Library
Northwestern University Journalism Library Collection
University of California, Berkeley Journalism Library
University of Texas Journalism Library
Library of American Broadcasting
Museum of Broadcast Communications
Library of Congress Newspaper and Current Periodical Room
University of Washington Library Resources for Communication Studies
British Library
Association of UK Media Librarians
NewsliBlog
SLA Newspaper Archives on the Web
Indianapolis Star Library
Portland Oregonian Research Blog
Liz Donovan's Behind the News Blog
Poynter Institute's Eugene Patterson Library
Policy Archive
More than 12,000 public policy documents.
North American Transportation Statistics
Sort by country or type of stat. Includes passenger travel, safety, vehicles, infrastructure, etc.
Federal Citizen Information Center
Answers consumer problems with government services.
NewGeography.com
Economic, demographic and political commentary about places.
SpinSpotter
An interesting piece of software tool that claims to expose news spin and bias, misuse of sources, and suspect factual support. Uses algorithms to spot spin keywords on sites you surf .
Bioinformatics: A Brief Review of Resources on the Web
A nice collection of links to journals and books from the American Library Association.
Footnote
Uses the National Archives to digitize and upload every document housed there. You can cull through thousands of famous documents.
St. Ambrose Library: Best Information on the Net
Thousands of resources from the web, just a click away.
World Name Profiler
Enter a surname to view its map and statistics.
GrammarGuard.org
Press Think
Blog from NYU's Jay Rosen on new media and other timely topics.
Idealist.org
The nonprofit group Action without Borders provides this database to find volunteers, internships, etc.
OAIster
Catalog of digital resources from government agencies, libraries, schools, etc.
Journalist's Guide to Covering Adoption
able2act
A service from Infosphere that delivers information and records on military warfare, terrorism, organization profiles, company profiles, long reports on global countries, cybercrime, etc. More than 2,000 records are added each week.
Wolfram
AARP: AgeStats Worldwide Database
Comparative statistical data on the situation of older adults, projections, etc.
Encyclopedia of Television
Special Issues: List of Lists
Links to rankings in many consumer, political and other categories.
World Names Profiler
Use this tool to track a surname and map the results.
Translation Crawler
Sites indexed for interpretation, etc.
Listable
Social network for people who make lists.
Google Timeline
Calendar of news site RSS feeds.
The Globalist
Articles, facts and book quotes of the day are browsable by countries and regions, and by globalization topics such as children, development, markets, religion, technology, etc.
Days To Pay Calculator: How Long Until You Pay It Off?
Enter the cost of an item and other information compute how long it will take to pay off the item you want to purchase. Helpful for writers doing consumer spending stories.
Arrangeonline.com: National Obituary Archive
With more than 55 million individual entries on file.
Atlas Obscura
Search, or browse by categories or places.
Center for Gaming Research Media Guide
From the UNLV library. Great for sources for gambling revenue statistics, experts and issues related to the casino industry. The site includes a special media page.
Social Science Research Network
Search this database of abstracts and papers on hundreds of topics.
Gallup
Surveys and research.
Harris
Surveys and research.
Zogby International
Polling information on elections and other issues. Has a good newsroom section.
NPD Group Global Insight
Marketing firm media page posts dozens of retail trends and surveys.
Trilby Lundberg
Surveys and research.
Kelton Research
Consumer marketing research firm.
URL Appraisal
Find out how much your web address is worth.
INFOdocket
Gary Price and Shirl Kennedy blog about information industry news, new web sites, and tools.
CalculateWhat Online Calculators
Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names
National Geologic Map Database
From the USGS, this is a geoscience resource for maps and related data to geology, hazards, earth resources, geophysics, geochemistry,
geochronology, paleontology and marine geology.
