Day 9

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Lesson 9

Well, we’re almost done. I thought today we would actually look at something more serious. Research! Or more correctly, how to reasearch stuff online. Now, there are always search engines like our friend Google. But sometimes you want to learn something specific that a more specialized website would help you zoom in on. Over time you will learn where your favorites are. As a matter of fact, I previously made a list and the list keeps growing as I type this. Here are some of my favorites (before I let the list get too long):

You Don’t Need A Library Card

Where to start, where to start. Let’s kick it off with a website that is more like a directory of where to find research sites. http://www.ipl.org is the “Internet Public Library”. It’s not a library in the “check a book out” kind of sense. It is more like a repository of links to online research websites. Many of the other websites I’m about to list are in this collection.

Look It Up

Dictionary.com is another must have. I wonder what they do? Hmmm. I’m thinking you go there to look up words. It has become THE online dictionary. Their actual address is http://dictionary.reference.com, but typing www.dictionary.com will redirect you to the official website.

Big Brother

Let’s go for the spooky one next. I always feel a little creepy going here, but http://www.cia.gov has something called the “World Factbook” that has an incredible amount of information about every country on the planet. Go to http://www.cia.gov and click on the link to the World Factbook under Quick Links. The official address is a little long, but you can go there by clicking here.

A Long Way From The Printing Press

Project Gutenberg, named after the printing fellow not the actor (his name has two T’s), is a long time favorite of mine. They have a huge volunteer staff dedicated to transcribing books into formats that can be read online. They have over 30,000 free eBooks that can be downloaded and read from your computer or other devices. Visit http://www.gutenberg.org to see what they have to offer.

How

The next two awesome websites are similar, yet different enough to list them both. eHow.com shows you how to do just about everything. HowStuffWorks.com does just that, it shows you how stuff works. These two websites are easy to get lost in for hours. They can be found at http://www.eHow.com and http://www.howstuffworks.com respectively.

The Greatest Encyclopedia You Never Had

Next up, the good, the bad, and the ugly. Wikipedia.com is an online encyclopedia unlike anything you’ve ever seen before. The articles are user generated content that is moderated. In other words, Joe off the street can go write or edit an article on Aardvarks in Wikipedia. It will then be flagged as well researched or not well researched. It’s a bit more complicated than that, but I think you get the idea. The good thing about Wikipedia is that the articles are kept current unlike the old dusty set of Collier’s I used to have. The bad thing about Wikipedia is that you really can’t stake your life on the content. It’s pretty good most of the time, but it’s not valid for academic research. And now the ugly. The site just ain’t pretty. It is efficient at using it’s space, but it’s got a face only a mother could love. Go visit http://www.wikipedia.com to get quick information on just about anything you can think of.

All Movies All The Time

Now, my favorite. IMDB.com is fan-tastic! IMDB stands for Internet Movie DataBase. It has tons of information on every movie ever made. Here’s why I absolutely adore it. When it’s 2 a.m. and I can’t remember the name of the guy that played in that movie with that guy who was in Streetcar Named Desire. You know the one where he was the son of the godfather of that crime family? Give me about 30 seconds on http://www.imdb.com and I’ll have the answer and a good night’s sleep.

Homework

Go learn something! Pick one of the websites listed above. Visit their website. Really dig in and see what it’s all about. Have fun with it. If you’re not having fun, come back and find another website. Once you find a website you enjoy, come back here and leave a comment below reviewing the website. Tell us what you like about it and what you don’t like about it.

For extra credit, go to http://www.ipl.org, the “Internet Public Library” and find a website that wasn’t mentioned above and give us a review of a completely different website in the comments.