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books, briefing letters and briefing memos. All sites found here
were free of charge at the time they were posted.
Recent additions are marked with an asterisk.*
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CONTENTS OF THE LINKS
The links are divided into the following sections:
General
Links to Numerous Reference Sources
Encyclopedias
Other General Reference
News and RSS Feeds
Weights and Measures
Time of Day and Calendars
Telephone Directories
Postal Codes
Driving Directions
Language and Writing
Dictionaries and Thesauri
Grammar and Style
Plain Language Writing
Briefing Notes; Writing for Government
Media Interviews
Speechwriting
Quotations
Acronyms
Arguments
French Language
Governments, Organizations and World Facts
Governments
International Organizations and Alliances
World Facts and Country Profiles
Maps and Satellite Photos
THE LINKS
The following are the links themselves:
Top
Links to Numerous Reference Sources
Note: RefDesk.com is
a huge site with over 20,000 resources. Five links to it are
provided below to help you navigate the site. Narrower links
to it are also provided under specific subjects lower on this
page. RefDesk.com's links have been screened for quality, thus
eliminating much of the guesswork that comes from using search
engines. The site has been rated the best by many prestigious
reviewers.
RefDesk.com (home
page; near the top of the page you will find a
search engine for RefDesk.com resources; scroll
to the bottom of the page for subject categories)
RefDesk.com (table
of contents)
RefDesk.com (subject
index)
RefDesk.com (reference
to reference sources)
RefDesk.com (fast
facts)
The
Wall Street Executive Library
The
WWW Virtual Library
Martindale's
The Reference Desk
Internet Public Library
Librarians' Index to the Internet
DMOZ Open Directory Project
Bartleby.com
InfoPlease.com
AcademicInfo.net (links to over 25,000 resources)
Top
Enclyclopedias
Encyclopedia Resources (RefDesk.com)
The
Canadian Encyclopedia
The Columbia
Encyclopedia
Encyclopedia.com
Encyclopedia
Britannica (concise online edition)
Top
Other General Reference
Corporate Profiles (Hoover's
Online)
Biography on A&E
How
Stuff Works
How
Things Work
Ask.com
About.com (owned by The New York Times)
WWW
Search
Engines
and Related
Tools #1 (University
of Minnesota)
WWW
Search Engines and Related
Tools #2 (categorized;
RefDesk.com)
Top
News and RSS Feeds
Note: RSS feeds are a way of getting
news sites to send links to articles directly to your computer
shortly after they are posted on the Web. If you are a news junkie,
they are an invaluable tool. To use the RSS feeds, you will need
to install an RSS reader on you computer. You can get one free here.
However, there are many other RSS readers available, some free,
some not.
Newspapers of the World (RefDesk.com)
BBC (Britain)
BBC RSS
Feeds (Britain)
CBC (Canada)
CBC RSS Feeds (Canada)
CBS (U.S.A.)
CBS
RSS Feeds (U.S.A.)
CNN (U.S.A.)
CNN
RSS Feeds (U.S.A.)
The
Christian Science Monitor (U.S.A.)
The
Globe and Mail (Canada)
The
Washington Post (U.S.A.)
The
Washington Post RSS Feeds (U.S.A.)
Top
Weights and Measures
Weights and Measures
Resources (RefDesk.com)
Weights
and Measures Converters (unitconversion.org;
this site provides a very extensive set of tools)
Currency
Converter #1 (Convertit.com)
Currency Converter
#2 (XE.com)
Metric
Converter #1 (OnlineConversion.com
Metric
Converter #2 (digitaldutch.com)
On-Line
Calculators (Convertit.com)
Top
Time of Day and Calendars
Time of Day and
Calendar Resources (RefDesk.com)
Duration Between Two Calendar Dates (TimeAndDate.com)
World Time Zones (WorldTimeServer.com)
Time of Day #1 (National
Research Council Canada)
Time of Day #2 (United
States Government)
Top
Telephone Directories
Phone Book Resources (RefDesk.com)
Canada 411 (includes phone number searches)
411.com (U.S.A. and Canada for white
pages; includes phone number searches)
SuperPages (U.S.A.)
Area
Codes #1 (international; searchable
by city or area code)
Area
Codes #2 (U.S.; searchable
by city or area code)
Top
Postal Codes
Canadian
Postal Codes
U.S.
Zip Codes
Worldwide Postal Codes (RefDesk.com)
Top
Driving Directions
Yahoo Driving Directions
MapQuest Maps and Driving
Directions
MSN Maps
and Driving Directions
Google Maps (includes access to satellite photos)
Top
Dictionaries and Thesauri
Web Tip: To find the definition of a
word on Google, just type in "define:" followed by the word you are looking for. For even more options, type in "definition of " followed
by the word you are looking for.
Dictionary.net (provides definitions, antonyms, relevant quotations, usage examples, and words that rhyme)*
Dictionary Resources (RefDesk.com)
Compact Oxford English Dictionary
Merriam-Webster OnLine Dictionary
and Thesaurus
Thesaurus.com
Roget's
Thesauri (Bartleby.com)
Duhaime's
Law Dictionary
On-Line
Translator #1 (Langenberg.com;
multi-source; multilingual)
On-Line
Translator
#2 (Dictionary.com;
multilingual)
On-Line
Translator #3 (Google;
multilingual)
Top
Grammar and Style
Writers'
Resources (RefDesk.com)
Grammar
Resources (Yahoo.com)
The
University of Victoria's Hypertext
Writer's Guide
The
Blue Book of Grammar
and Punctuation
InfoPlease
Concise
Guide to
Grammar
and Style
The
Elements of Style (Bartleby.com)
Guide
to Grammar
and Style
Glossary
of Grammar
Terms (UsingEnglish.com)
Top
Plain Language Writing
Plain
Language Resources (Plain Language
Association International)
Federal Plain Language Guidelines (Plain Language Action and Information Network)
Plain Language Resources (Center for Plain Lanugage)
A Plain English Handbook (U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission)
U.S. Government's Plain Language Web Site
U.S. Government's Quick Tips for Plan Language
Plain Language Quotations (U.S. Government)
Top
Briefing Notes; Writing for Government
Format for Memoranda to Cabinet (Privy Council Office, Government of Canada)
Format
for Treasury Board Submissions (Government of Canada)
How
to Write Memos to Cabinet (University of Regina)
Writing
for Government (Susan Doyle, University of Victoria)
Write clear and effective briefing notes (Government of Canada)
Research, Decision-Making and Briefing Notes (McMaster University)
The Knowledge Translation Toolkit (International Development Research Centre)
Writing Effectively for WHO (The World Health Organization; use the search engine to find material on briefing notes)
Top
Speechwriting
A Learning Guide to Public Speaking (cornerstoneondemand.com)
Speechwriting (davegustafson.com)
Speechwriting (inc.com)
Speechwriting (about.com)
Speechwriting (bizjournals.com)
Speechwriting (scholastic.com)
Speechwriting (mentalgamecoach.com)
Public Speaking Links (CorporateConferenceCalls.com)
Public Speaking Links (BeyondTheOfficeDoor.com)
Public Speaking Links (WiseOldSayings.com)
Public Speaking Links (Max Zaron)
Overcoming Anxiety About Public Speaking (Texas A&M U)
Overcoming Anxiety About Public Speaking (Jack Milgram)
Top
Quotations
RefDesk.com
Quotation Resources
QuoteWorld
Quotations
Bartelby.com
Quotations
Quoteland
FamousQuotesAndAuthors.com
Plain Language Quotations (U.S. Government)
Top
Acronyms
Acronym
Finder #1 (acronymfinder.com)
Acronym
Finder
#2 (Acronym
Server)
Top
Arguments
Arguments
and Their Evaluation (University of Northern Colorado)
Fallacies
in Logic (Michael
C. Labossiere, Nizkor.org)
Logic
and Argument (University
of Victoria)
Top
French Language
Google Language Tools (translates text and Web pages to and from many languages)
French Grammar (About.com)
French Verbs (About.com)
French Verb Conjugations (Cactus2000.de)
Top
Governments
Government of Canada
Canadian Provincial
and Territorial Governments
Government of
the U.S.A.
U.S.A.
State Governments
Governments
on the WWW
World
Heads
of State
and Cabinet
Members
Top
International Organizations and Alliances
Links to Numerous International
Organizations (WWW Virtual Library)
Links to Numerous International Organizations (Governments on the WWW)
African
Union
Arab
League
Asia-Pacific
Economic Cooperation
British Commonwealth
European
Union
Mercosur
Organization
of American
States
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
Organization
of the
Petroleum
Exporting
Countries
United
Nations
Top
World Facts and Country Profiles
World
Factbook (C.I.A.)
Country
Profiles #1 (U.S.A. Department
of State)
Country
Profiles #2 (U.S.A.
Library of Congress)
Country
Profiles
#3 (InfoPlease)
Country
Profiles #4 (Atlapedia.com)
Flags
of the
World #1 (crwflags.com)
Flags
of
the
World
#2 (wave.net)
World
Holidays
and
Celebrations (EarthCalendar.net)
Top
Maps and Satellite Photos
(see also Driving Directions above)
RefDesk.com Map
Resources
Martindale's
Map Resources
The Atlas of Canada
The National Atlas of the
United States
Color
Landform Atlas of the United States
Holt,
Rinehart and Winston Maps of the World
InfoPlease
Maps
Google
Earth (software that
provides satellite photos
of the whole world)
Google Maps (includes access to satellite photos)
NASA
World Wind (software
that provides
satellite
photos
of the
whole world)
