Resources

Welcome to Hand Middle School Media Center

AR List : List of the Accelerated Reader Tests

Reference Tools

Online Databases	Encyclopedias & General Resources	Weather
Almanacs & Statistics	Dictionaries & Word Resources	Current News
Biographies	Citations	Miscellaneous
Summer Reading List		back to home page

Online Databases:

Discus
http://www.sc.discus.org
South Carolina's Virtual Library: newspapers and magazines, encyclopedias, biographies, and more.
To use these links from home, get the username & password from your school library media specialist.

		Grolier Online Library http://www.go.grolier.com/ Encyclopedia Americana Online, Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia Online, and the New Book of Knowledge Online can be found at this site.
		SIRS Discoverer Deluxe http://discoverer.sirs.com/ Fun and simple information about many subjects can be found this great database!
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Encyclopedias and General Resources

		Grolier.com http://go.grolier.com// Search here for several online encyclopedias and reference resources .
		Encyclopedia.com http://www.encyclopedia.com/ More than 17,000 short cross-linked articles make this on-line encyclopedia quick and easy to use.
		Library of Congress http://lcweb.loc.gov/ Searchable links to five LC research sites can be found on this home page. Research Tools, American Memories, and THOMAS: Legislative Information are three of those links.
		Information Please http://www.infoplease.com/ Encylopedia and Dictionary in one. So much all in one. Excellent! LibrarySpot http://www.libraryspot.com/ Visit the "Reference Desk" for links to excellent research tools.
		United States Postal Service http://www.usps.com/ Find zip codes and lots of other good information here.
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Dictionaries and Word Resources

		Merriam Webster's WWWebster Dictionary http://www.merriam-webster.com/ Based on Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, Tenth Edition.
		OneLook Dictionaries http://www.onelook.com/ Indexes and allows you to search 357 dictionaries.
		Roget's International Thesaurus http://www.thesaurus.com/ Quickly and easily search for that "just right" synonym or antonym.
		Bartlett's Quotations http://www.bartleby.com/100/ Look up many famous quotes by either the subject or the person responsible for them.
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Almanacs and Statistics

		INFONATION http://www.un.org/Pubs/CyberSchoolBus/infonation/e_infonation.htm OR COUNTRY AT A GLANCE http://www.un.org/Pubs/CyberSchoolBus/infonation/e_glance.htm The United Nations official data on member countries. Includes maps. Infonation allows for the comparison of country information.
		The World Factbook 2003 http://www.odci.gov/cia/publications/factbook/index.html The CIA's fact book on countries.
		Information Please Almanac http://www.infoplease.com/index.html Find bits of information on a wide variety topics. This site is organized by subject and can be searched!
		FedStats http://www.fedstats.gov/ Search here for statistics compiled by more than 70 agencies of the United States Federal Government.
		50states.com http://www.50States.com/ Easy to use facts and links make this an excellent place for state information!
		State Search - NASCIO https://www.nascio.org/ "...designed to serve as a topical clearinghouse to state government information on the Internet." Click on "State Profiles."
		U.S. Gazetteer http://www.census.gov/cgi-bin/gazetteer Includes maps and census information.
		U.S. Legislative Branch http://lcweb.loc.gov/global/legislative/congress.html Created by the Library of Congress, this site has extensive current information about the U.S. Congress.
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Weather

		CNN Weather http://www.cnn.com/WEATHER/index.html Search for current information about weather around the world.
		The Weather Channel http://www.weather.com/twc/homepage.twc More current weather information and maps from around the world.
		WeatherNex http://cirrus.sprl.umich.edu/wxnet/ Find current weather information and links to many more weather sites.
		National Severe Storms Laboratory http://www.nssl.noaa.gov/ Gives information about storms, lighting, and other bad weather.
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Current News

		CNN http://www.cnn.com/ Up to date information about national and international news.
		The State Newspaper http://www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/
		New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/ Constantly updated, this is an excellent source of news and other topics of current interest.
		News Index http://www.newsindex.com/ Search for current articles from around the world news sources.
		PBS http://www.pbs.org/ Search this site for current and past news stories and features.
		U.S. Legislative Branch http://thomas.loc.gov/home/legbranch/legbranch.html Created by the Library of Congress, this site has extensive current information about the U.S. Congress.
		The Washington Post http://www.washingtonpost.com/ The Washington Post site provides quick access to information about current events.
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Biographies

		Biography Resource Center http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/BioRC?locID=scschools A comprehensive database of biographical information on over 320,000 people from throughout history, around the world, and across all disciplines and subject areas. (see Media Specialist for home use password)
		Biographical Dictionary http://www.s9.com/biography/ Find brief biographical information about over 25,000 people past and present.
		Biography.Com http://www.biography.com/ Over 20,000 biographies of people past and present can be found on this web site!
		Lives, the Biography Resource http://amillionlives.com/ Looking for someone? Search Lives for links to biographies. In addition to being searchable, Lives also has subject lists of biography links.
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Citations

Noodletools
Choose Quick Cite for guide and template for citations

CYBERCITATIONS
http://kalama.doe.hawaii.edu/hern95/rt007/
This is a guide to citing a variety of electronic resources.

Columbia University Press: The Columbia Guide to Online Style
http://www.columbia.edu/cu/cup/cgos/idx_basic.html
© Janice R. Walker
Janice R. Walker, (jwalker@chuma.cas.usf.edu)and and Todd Taylor, are the authors of this exceptional citation source for electronic resources.

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Miscellaneous

		Amazon.com http://www.amazon.com Need information about a book? A bookseller, Amazon.com has a huge database that can be used for bibliographic information and sometimes descriptions.
		The Argus Clearinghouse http://www.clearinghouse.net/ Research guides organized by subject.
		Classroom Connect http://www.classroom.net/ For students and teachers, this site provides a wide range of resources and help.
		Contacting the Senate http://www.senate.gov/contacting/index.cfm Who is your U.S. senator & how can you find him/her? Look here.
		The Daily Globe Searchable Dates Archive http://www.dailyglobe.com/day2day.html Find out holidays, historical events, special months, special weeks, or other regular events, for any day, week, or month! This list is prodigious!
		Foreign Languages for Travelers http://www.travlang.com/languages/ Enter a word and have it translated into a foreign language. From Afrikaans to Zulu... there are about seventy languages on this fun and useful site.
		IMDb Internet Movie Database http://www.imdb.com/ Look for movie facts here.
		New York Public Library Search the Internet Tools http://www2.nypl.org/home/branch/links/ Locate web sites recommended by The New York Public Library Staff. These lists are organized by subject.
		StudyWeb http://www.studyweb.com/ Intended to help with school work, StudyWeb links to over 73,000 recommended sites. Click on "Study Buddy" for a pop-up set of virtual reference tools.
		The U.S. House Of Representatives: Write Your Representative http://www.house.gov/writerep/ Find your U.S. Representative and how to contact him/her with this site.
		What Time Is It?: US Naval Observatory Master Clock time ... http://tycho.usno.navy.mil/cgi-bin/timer.pl Find out the EXACT time here. Hit the Reload button on your browser to update the time.
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