• American Memory: Part of the Library of Congress, the American Memory project provides electronic access to documents related to the American experience. Browsing by subject, date, or geographic location is provided, along with browsing by file type. Photographs, sheet music, manuscripts, and many more forms of documentation are available.
  • http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/browse/updatedList.html
• Bartleby provides links to a diverse collection of free resources, including reference works, quotes, verses, and works of both fiction and nonfiction. This is a free site which has everything from the Holy Bible to ghost stories. This is a very handy site.
  • http://www.bartleby.com/
• The CIA World Factbook, provided by the Central Intelligence Agency of the United States is a guide to almost 270 world “entities”. The site provides maps of the various regions, a guide to each “entity”, a comparison tool, and a “flags of the world” section. It is a very handy tool to use and given how swiftly the world changes, this is often more reliable than many print encyclopedias.
  • https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/index.html
• Dictionary.com provides an online dictionary, along with numerous other functions, such as a thesaurus and an encyclopedia. Along with providing audio pronunciations, the site also has words of the day, crossword puzzles, a flashcard generator for vocabulary, and a translator.
  • http://www.dictionary.com/
• Easybib is an online citation generator that has partnered with the OCLC to provide correct citations for works cited/bibliography pages. Although it offers more paid features, the simple citation generator is free. Just like using the library database citations, ALWAYS remember to double check the citations using a style manual.
  • http://www.easybib.com/
• Google Books provides a digitization of literary works (among other endeavors). While this service (the paid part) is still in question in the courts, the most beneficial aspect to consumers is the vast amount of items in the public domain. Any work in Google Books that is in the public domain is free to view, print, or download. Works inside of copyright are displayed according to the wishes of the copyright holders and vary wildly from being able to read most of the work to no preview.
  • https://books.google.com/?hl=en
• Google Scholar provides a simple way to broadly search for scholarly literature. From one place, you can search across many disciplines and sources: articles, theses, books, abstracts and court opinions, from academic publishers, professional societies, online repositories, universities and other web sites
  • https://scholar.google.com
• Infoplease, which is run by Pearson Education, provides reference works such as a free atlas, encyclopedia, dictionary, timelines, and much more. In addition, the site provides a homework center, fun facts, and quizzes over a wide range of topics
  • https://www.infoplease.com/
• The Internet History Source Book, created by Paul Halsall from Fordham University, contains thousands of links to primary and secondary sources on history. In addition, there are also links regarding the study of history, how to use primary sources, and historiography.
  • https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/index.asp
• The New York Public Library Digital Gallery provides public access to a number of documents and collections held by the NYPL. The collection boasts a wide array of subject areas, as one would expect from public library holdings and the digital images available range in resolution. The collections can be browsed based on topic or patrons can choose to use the search engine to seek specific items.
  • https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/
• Nutrition.gov is run by the United States government, and provides links to all relevant official information regarding nutrition. Provided for consumers, this site lists the official recommended daily intake of calories, weight management guides, physical activity guidelines, and the new “food plate”, which replaces the iconic “food pyramid”.
  • https://www.nutrition.gov/
• The Old Farmer’s Almanac has provided a plethora of information since 1792. The oldest continuously published periodical in the United States, the almanac provides information on items from astronomy to gardening.
  • https://www.almanac.com/
• Project Gutenberg is a pioneering site in digitizing that provides free access to roughly 36,000 ebooks. It was the first site to begin digitizing books and the site does not require any cost or registration to use. It provides functionality with Kindles, iPads, iPhones, and Nooks, among others, including Android devices.
  • http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page
• The Purdue Online Writing Lab is run by the department of English at Purdue University and is a wonderful tool for students of all disciplines to access the major citations styles online. Guides for MLA and APA are available for virtually every type of source imaginable, along with guides on avoiding plagiarism, and general guides on effective writing.
  • https://owl.english.purdue.edu/
• Refdesk is an indexing site for the internet, whose vision is to review and list credible sources of information. Links to everything from government websites to movie reviews can be found here. Careful, there are an overwhelming number of topics linked here.
  • http://www.refdesk.com/
• The Smithsonian Institute is a website of the world’s largest museum “complex”, comprised of 19 zoos and museums. Hosting a broad array of collections for all ages, the Smithsonian hosts a number of useful collections that a college student should be able to harness for research, if not for pleasure.
  • https://www.si.edu/
• THOMAS is named after Thomas Jefferson, and provides the public with online information regarding the activities of the federal legislature. Maintained by the Library of Congress, the site provides access to bills and resolutions, although much more can be access. Librarians work overnight to have the previous day’s activities updated by 9 AM the next morning…this site is very up-to-date. Beware; this site can be quite overwhelming.
  • https://www.congress.gov/
• USA.gov is a one-stop catch-all for government information and searches. In addition to browsing topically, there are indexes for federal government agencies and links to state and local governments as well.
  • https://www.usa.gov/
• The Virtual Library, created by the inventor of the internet (and html), Tim Berners-Lee, is a small list of reliable sites approved by volunteer experts in their particular fields.
  • http://vlib.org/

List accessed at: http://www.fpctx.edu/Students/Documents/Reliable%20online%20resources.pdf

Here is a list of some of my favorite FREE nonfiction reading websites:

And here is a list of FREE fiction reading websites for kids: