elective guide to online reference resources: each section includes links to generally accessible research resources as well as to resources accessible only at UCSB. "Recommended" references are marked as for users whose time is limited.

General Access

• TheFreeDictionary.com — a suite of English, medical, legal, and Ccomputer dictionaries, thesaurus, encyclopedia, literature reference library
• Merriam Webster Dictionary
• Wordsmyth Educational Dictionary-Thesaurus — an extraordinarily comprehensive set of results is produced, including cross-references, derivations, syllabification, synonyms, hypernyms and hyponyms.

• OneLook Dictionaries (Robert K. Ware) — searches here produce results sorted by discipline, providing a specific context for a particular word's usage.
• Bibliomania (Maytech Publishing Ltd) — a wonderful way to see how words are used by particular authors, this site demonstrates the variety of possible word meanings (requires registration).
• Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, Ninth Edition, 1901 (Project Bartleby) — although rather outdated, this is currently the only online edition of this reference. The more recent 16th edition on CD-Rom can be purchased for $14.95.
• YourDictionary.com — a collection of links to specialized dictionaries, organized alphabetically by subject and/or discipline.
• Glossary of Rhetorical Terms with Examples (Ross Scaife) — organized for easy access on one page, this brief guide lists many of the most common terms and includes examples.
• Glossary of Literary Terms & Handbook of Rhetorical Devices (Robert Harris) — Includes an introduction to rhetorical style and a self-test.

• Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1996 (Chadwyck-Healey) — an online reference which is continually updated.
• Merriam Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (Encyclopedia Britannica) — on the same search page as Encyclopedia Britannica (see below), making it easy to conduct searches in two different reference resources.

General Access

• Thesaurus.com — produces more results than Merriam Webster's, is better and visually organized for easier use, and each result links to categories of similar words.
• Visual Thesaurus (Plumb Design) — a fun way to visualize relationships between the searched word and its synonyms, and to follow threads between words.
• Merriam Webster Thesaurus — provides synonyms and related words, but this site is not as well-organized for easy use.
• Lexical FreeNet (Carnegie Mellon University) — a "connected thesaurus" which, in addition to finding related words, will find connections between two words, rhyming words, and words that are spelled similarly.

General Access

• National Geographic Map Machine (National Geographic Society) — easy to use, this site provides physical and political maps with data on all world countries, as well as satellite image maps, printable maps, and star maps from both northern and southern hemispheres. A very enjoyable site!
• Atlapedia (Latimer Clarke Corporation Pty Ltd.) — provides both maps and statistical data on all world countries.

Specialized

• OSSHE Historical & Cultural Atlas Resource (University of Oregon) — contains maps from different periods in history, up to the medieval in Europe and the start of the Civil War in North America. Some maps must be viewed with the Shockwave plugin. This site also contains an image library.

UCSB Campus Access Only

• The Alexandria Digital Library (UCSB) — a collection of maps, aerial photographs, databases, georeferences, etc., focusing in particular upon Southern California.

General Access

• Infoplease Encyclopedia & Dictionary (Family Education Network, Inc.) — access to the Sixth Edition of the Columbia Encyclopedia.
• Encarta.com (Microsoft Corp.) — access to portions of Microsoft's Encarta encyclopedia (other "deluxe" articles require membership)
• Encyclopedia.com (Alacritude, LLC) — access to encyclopedia articles (other services require membership).

Specialized

• The Encyclopedia Mythica (M.F. Lindemans) — contains over 5,000 articles on world mythology, folklore and legend.
• Philosophy Resources (Tula Hanneman) — scroll down for links to four online encyclopedias of philosophy.

UCSB Campus Access Only

• Encyclopedia Britannica — browse or search through the complete encyclopedia online, which also contains links to other related sites.
• The Johns Hopkins Guide to Literary Theory and Criticism (Johns Hopkins University Press) — this searchable online guide is both thorough and wide-ranging.