Research Tools: A Research Guide

The tools listed below will help answer many of the questions that can be answered by a quick reference to an encyclopedia, dictionary, almanac, or by a telephone call for information. Resources listed below help you find area codes, zip codes, translations, time zones, and currency conversions. This guide introduces researchers to some of these basic informational sources. If you need further assistance, please ask a librarian.

555-1212.com
www.555-1212.com
Looking to match an area code with the name of a city? Look no further.

Mapquest
www.mapquest.com
Easy access to driving directions from one point to another, customized maps, road trip planner, and local traffic reports.

MSN Maps and Directions
www.mapblast.com
Offers directions and maps internationally. Search by address or place name.

Yahoo! Maps
http://maps.yahoo.com
Simple searches for maps and directions.

ConvertIt: Conversion and Calculation Center
www.convertit.com
Provides measurement conversions, currency converter, world time clock, and links to a variety of calculators.

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Bartleby.com—Great Books Online
www.bartleby.com/reference/
Search the following BOOKS simultaneously: Columbia Encyclopedia , World Factbook, American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language , Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, and many more classics.

Britannica.com
www.britannica.com
Searchable encyclopedia entries, expert reviews of the Web's best sites, timely articles from leading magazines, and related books.

Dictionary.com
www.dictionary.com
Gives pronunciation, part of speech, definition, and history of the word from a variety of traditional print dictionaries. Includes thesaurus.

Free Translation
www.freetranslation.com
Translates English to Spanish, French, German, Italian, Norwegian, and Portuguese. Just type your text and press “Translate!”

Information Please
www.infoplease.com
Facts, dates, names and information on the following categories: world, history, government, biographies, sports, entertainment, business, and weather.

Old Farmer's Almanac
www.almanac.com
Gives weather updates for your region for this month and the next. Find the rising and setting sun times, gives best fishing days, and records information on gardening, astronomy, weather, food, and more.

Wordsmyth
www.wordsmyth.net
Combines the functions of a dictionary and a thesaurus by retrieving pronunciation, definition, synonyms, and grammatical information.

World English Dictionary
www.dictionary.msn.com
Provides definition and audio file of the spoken word to help you with pronunciation.

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The Official U.S. Time
www.time.gov
Gives the official time for all zones in the United States.

World Time Server
www.worldtimeserver.com
Provides current local times by country or state in one click. Makes real time adjustments for Daylight Saving Time.

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Roget's II: The New Thesaurus
www.bartleby.com/62/
Contains 35,000 synonyms in an easy-to-use format. Part of the Bartleby.com collection.

Thesaurus.com
www.thesaurus.com
Search or browse by word or category to retrieve similar words. Also includes antonym finder.

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Canada Post
www.canadapost.ca
Look up postal codes for any address in Canada and find postal rates. Also look up address ranges for given postal codes.

PostInfo
www.postinfo.net/links/
Need help finding a postal code in another country? Visit this site. Lists official Web sites of the postal authorities around the world. Includes rate calculators.

U.S. Postal Service
www.usps.com
Find zip codes or find the city or state associated with a zip code.