Reference

Key: E = Elementary (K–5), I = Intermediate (6–8), HS = High School (9–12), C = College, G = General Public

Ask an Expert

Ask an Expert Sites. from Center for Improved Engineering and Science Education, Stevens Institue of Technology.
Suitable for all grades the Ask an Expert Page provides links to experts in a number of different categories. One of the greatest values of the World Wide Web is the people that are part of the Internet community. This site offers a quick one-step process for finding experts in any field.
Ask Dr. Universe. from Washington State University.
A very curious cat answers your questions.
Ask Doctor Global Change. from US Global Change Research Information Office. (HS, C, G)
“Dr. Global Change” is a Reference Service that assists researchers, students, educators, resource managers, decision-makers, and the general public in finding information and data relevant to global environmental change. This site features a searchable database of previously asked questions, and allows users to submit original queries. Help is available in the areas of climate variability and change, atmospheric composition, global carbon cycle, global water cycle, changes in ecosystems, and human dimensions of global change. This site also contains links to some of the best web sites on global change data and information.
MadSciNet: The Mad ScientistsNetwork. from Washington University Medical School
MadSci Network represents a collective cranium of scientists providing answers to your questions. For good measure we provide a variety of oddities and other ends as well.

Kids’ Reference

Ask Jeeves for Kids.
Ask Jeeves for Kids is a fast, easy and kid-friendly way for kids to find answers to their questions online. Designed to be a fun destination site focused on learning and “edutainment,” Ask Jeeves for Kids uses natural-language technology that allows kids to ask questions, such as “Why is the sky blue?” or “What’s it like to live in space?” in the same way they would ask a parent, friend or teacher. The service combines human editorial judgment with filtering technology to enable kids to find both relevant and appropriate answers on the Web.
Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th Edition. from Information Please
Fact Monster. from Information Please (E, I)
Information Please has been providing authoritative answers to all kinds of factual questions since 1938 — first as a popular radio quiz show, then starting in 1947 as an annual almanac, and since 1998 on the Internet. Fact Monster is the Internet version designed for kids.
Fact Monster: Almanac — Chemical Elements. from Information Please
Fact Monster: Almanac — Energy and the Environment. from Information Please
Fact Monster: Almanac — Water Supply of the World. from Information Please (E, I, HS)
World Almanac for Kids. from World Almanac Education Group
Yahooligans! Reference. from Yahoo!

Ready Reference Titles

Biography

Eric Weisstein’s World of Scientific Biography. from Wolfram Research
This resource has been assembled over more than a decade by internet encyclopedist Eric W. Weisstein with assistance from the internet community.
InfoPlease -- Biographies -- Notable Scientists.
Search more than 30,000 biographies in Infoplease’s almanacs, dictionary, and encyclopedia. Biographies also searchable by category.

Dictionaries

Water Words Dictionary (Nevada Division of Water Resources), from the Nevada Division of Water Resources, Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. (HS, C, G)
Compiled by Gary A. Horton, an Economist, it contains technical water, water quality, environmental, and water-related terms. Also includes many useful appendices.

Directories

Global Change Master Directory. from U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration. (HS, C)
This directory provides descriptions of Earth science data sets and services relevant to global change research. The GCMD database includes descriptions of data sets covering agriculture, the atmosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere and oceans, snow and ice, geology and geophysics, paleoclimatology, and human dimensions of global change.
The National Environmental Directory.
National Environmental Directory, a directory of more than 13,000 organizations in the United States concerned with environmental issues and environmental education. This directory is the most complete and most comprehensive environmental directory in the United States.
Visible Earth: A Searchable Directory of Images, Visualizations, and Animations of the Earth. (G)
Provides a consistently updated, central point of access to the superset of NASA’s Earth science-related images, animations, and data visualizations. These images are considered to be public domain and, as such, are freely available to the interested public-at-large, the media, scientists, and educators for re-use and/or re-publication. Credit and caption information is already provided in the metadata for all the materials within the Visible Earth. At the very minimum, credit must be given to NASA for use of these materials.

Encyclopedias and Almanacs

Bartleby.
The preeminent Internet publisher of literature, reference, and verse, providing students, researchers, and the intellectually curious with unlimited access to books and information on the web, free of charge.
Encyclopedia of the Atmospheric Environment. (HS, C, G)
This encyclopedia is a one-stop source of information on a range of atmospheric issues, including air quality, acid rain, global warming and ozone depletion.
Encyclopedia of Water Terms, from the Texas Environmental Center. (HS, C, G)
InfoPlease.com. from Information Please (I, HS, C, G)
InfoPlease: Almanac - Chemical Elements. from Information Please
InfoPlease: Almanac - Environment. from Information Please
Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th Edition. from Information Please
Waterpedia.
Water encyclopedia.

Handbooks

NIST Chemistry WebBook. from the National Institute for Science and Technology
This site provides thermochemical, thermophysical, and ion energetics data compiled by NIST under the Standard Reference Data Program.

Virtual Reference Shelves

Alexa > Subjects > Reference. from Alexa Internet
Founded in April 1996, Alexa Internet grew out of a vision of Web navigation that is intelligent and constantly improving with the participation of its users. Browse subject categories or search this web site. Click on “site info” to see related links (people who visit this page also visit).
Ask Jeeves.
Provides authoritative and fast ways to find relevant answers to everyday questions.
Internet Public Library. from The University of Michigan
The Internet Public Library (IPL), is a public service organization and learning/teaching environment at the University of Michigan School of Information. Activities include: providing library services to Internet users; finding, evaluating, selecting, organizing, describing, and creating information resources; and direct assistance to individuals.
iTools.
Quick access to selected Internet tools: search, language, research, financial, map, and networking.
The LibrarySpot. from StartSpot Mediaworks, Inc.
LibrarySpot.com is a free virtual library resource center for educators and students, librarians and their patrons, families, businesses and just about anyone exploring the Web for valuable research information. LibrarySpot.com was created to break through the information overload of the Web and bring the best library and reference sites together with insightful editorial in one user-friendly spot. Sites featured on LibrarySpot.com are hand-selected and reviewed by our editorial team for their exceptional quality, content and utility.
Martindale’s ‘The Reference Desk’.
National Geographic Map Machine. from National Geographic Society and ESRI.
Refdesk.com.
Refdesk is about indexing quality Internet sites and assisting visitors in navigating these sites.

Copyright © 2005 American Chemical Society