- Useful Web Sites
The following web sites give you quick facts and ready reference information on a wide range of topics. When your research requires more in-depth information, you may want to use other electronic resources or printed publications. Check with a reference librarian for assistance. If you have suggestions for additions to this list, please contact the Library at: leslie.bretall@canyons.edu
Click on one of the following headings to select a site. Or, you may simply scroll down the screen.
ACRONYMS
Acronym, Abbreviations, Initials (this is a list of acronyms by subject, and not a dictionary listing)
ALMANACS
BIOGRAPHIES
A&E Television--Biography (lists over 20,000 entries; also searchable by alphabetical listing)
Biographical Dictionary (includes more than 27,000 persons from ancient times to the present day)
Gale Biography Resource Center (includes biographies of more than 185,000 persons - access from campus networked computers; off-campus access for students, faculty and staff of the College only)
POTUS: Presidents of the United States (includes biographies, speeches and writings, election results, odd facts and presidency highlights)
BOOKS ONLINE
Bartleby Library Great Books Online (lists some 70 full-text titles, including Familiar Quotations and Elements of Style)
On-line Books Page (lists thousands of books and documents in full-text, at Univ. of Pennsylvania)
Project Gutenberg (a huge library of electronically stored books, mostly classics)
BUSINESS/CAREER
Hoover's Online: The Business Network (a comprehensive source of business information about companies, industries, career development, money management, etc.)
Occupational Outlook Handbook (describes what workers do on the job, working conditions, the training and education needed, earnings, and expected job prospects in a wide range of occupations; searchable by occupation. Also available in paper copy in the Library.)
CENSUS
American FactFinder (U.S. Census Bureau site for population, housing, economic, and geographic data)
COLLEGES & UNIVERSITIES
American Universities (lists home pages of American universities granting bachelor or advanced degree)
California State Universities (home page for the entire system; includes links to all campuses)
Community College League of California (contains information about the 71 community college districts in California)
Guide to California Colleges & Universities (Web site of California Postsecondary Education Commission, contains detailed information about California's public and private postsecondary educational institutions)
Peterson's Education and Career Center (a comprehensive resource on higher education)
US News & World Report College & Careers Center (to find a college and compare colleges)
CONSUMER INFORMATION
California Department of Consumer Affairs (provides many publications in full-text online - some are available in Spanish)
Federal Citizen Information Center (contains online publications and links to related sites; allows you to read publications online or order free/for fee publications)
COUNTRY INFORMATION
CIA World Factbook (an overview of all countries of the world; includes statistical data and maps)
CountryWatch (contains up-to-date economic, political and social data about every country on the globe) - free access from campus networked computers
Library of Congress Country Studies (a series of in-depth country studies prepared under the Country Studies/Area Handbook Program sponsored by the Dept. of the Army; presently contains studies of 91 countries)
United Nations Cyberschoolbus (a quick look at various data about the world's countries)
DICTIONARIES & THESAURI
Internet Public Library Reference--Dictionaries (lists Web resources about various aspects of languages)
Onelook Dictionary (allows you to look up words in several different dictionaries)
Roget's Thesaurus Search Form (Univ. of Chicago ARTFL Project site for searching in ROGET's thesaurus)
WWW Webster Dictionary/Thesaurus (Webster's dictionary/thesaurus online)
ENCYCLOPEDIAS
Encyclopedia Britannica Online - (access from home with COC Library database log-in; call the Reference Desk for more information)
Encyclopedia.Com (contains more than 57,000 articles from the Columbia Encyclopedia, 7th edition)
FINE ARTS
Center for Creative Photography Digital Collections (Univ. of Arizona site containing archives of great 20th-century photographers, including Ansel Adams, Edward Weston)
GOVERNMENT INFORMATION / OUR REPRESENTATIVES
GOVERNMENT:
United Nations (official web site locator for UN organizations with links to other governmental and non-governmental international organizations)
USA.gov (provides one-stop access to all online US Federal Government resources)
U.S. Congress (THOMAS – information on Congress, bills, and laws)
FedWorld Information Network Home Page (to search for US government resources on the Web; contains full text of Supreme Court decisions from 1937 to 1975)
Vital records - Where to write for birth/death/marriage/divorce records (lists all state agencies to contact for these documents)
Easy Voter Guide (a nonpartisan resource for voters - also in Spanish, Chinese, Korean and Vietnamese)
CALIFORNIA GOVERNMENT (general information about California and its agencies)
California Secretary of State home page, including election results (March 1996- )
California Codes (official Web site for the codified laws of California, including the State Constitution)
OUR REPRESENTATIVES:
U.S. Senate:
Dianne Feinstein (D)
Barbara Boxer (D)
U.S. Congress: 25th District:
California State Senate
21st District: Steve Knight (R) (represents the northeastern portion of the Santa Clarita Valley and includes the Canyon Country Campus)
27th District: Fran Pavley (D) (represents the southwestern portion of the Santa Clarita Valley and includes the Valencia campus)
California State Assembly
36th District: Steve Fox (D) (takes in part of the northeastern corner of the Santa Clarita Valley and includes portions of Saugus)
38th District: Scott Wilk (R) (includes most of the Santa Clarita Valley)
Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors: 5th District:
HEALTH & MEDICINE
AARP (provides links to informative pages on health care and housing issues related to the older population)
CDC - Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Health Central (a comprehensive coverage of health/medical issues)
National Institutes of Health (the U.S. Government's premier source for health information)
OncoLink, University of Pennsylvania Cancer Center (contains comprehensive information about specific types of cancer, updates on cancer treatment and news about research advances)
Pan-American Health Organization (contains public health profiles and statistics for all countries in the Western hemisphere)
HISTORICAL DOCUMENTS
Chronology of U.S. Historical Documents (provides links to full-text of U.S. historical documents from the colonial period to the present)
American Memory (U.S. Library of Congress site for historic maps, photos, documents, audio and video)
INTERNET SEARCH TOOLS
Infomine (University of California Riverside Library's database of Internet resources, annotated and arranged by subject categories)
IPL2 (an annotated guide to Web resources for all types of research - formerly Internet Public Library)
Refdesk.com (links to hundreds of Web sites with fast facts, current news stories, etc. A one-stop online information desk)
Virtual Reference Shelf (selected Web resources compiled by the Library of Congress on various topics, including links to other Web reference resources)
LIBRARIES
Internet Public Library (a comprehensive catalog of Internet resources on a wide range of topics)
Los Angeles County Public Library (with links to branch libraries in the Santa Clarita Valley)
MELVYL (searchable database of the library catalogs of the University of California system)
MAPS
David Rumsey Map Collection (extensive digitized gallery of maps, globes, atlases, charts, school geographies, and material in other cartographic formats)
Map and Geography Library (comprehensive collection of resources on maps and geography including current and historical maps at Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign)
Perry-Casteneda Library Map Collection (collection of current and historical maps at Univ. of Texas at Austin)
NEWS/NEWSPAPERS/MAGAZINES
ABYZ News Links (comprehensive list of news sources by region, country, etc.)
News & Newspapers Online (Univ. of North Carolina index of Web sites of newspapers and news services worldwide)
Pathfinder (lists online version of magazines - Time, Time for Kids, People, Fortune, Sunset, Cooking Light, Real Simple, and more)
The Signal (newspaper of the Santa Clarita Valley, with a searchable archive dating back to June 6, 1998)
QUOTATIONS
Bartlett's Quotations (10th ed., 1919)
STATISTICS
Consumer Price Indexes (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics information on consumer price indexes)
FedStats (the gateway to statistics from over 100 U.S. Federal agencies, including international comparisons, national, state, county, and local data)
Statistical Abstract of the United States (selected features from the Statistical Abstract of the United States)
STYLE MANUALS/WRITING AIDE
Avoiding Plagiarism (compiled by Glendale Community College Library on avoiding plagiarism)
Chicago Manual of Style Online Quick Guide
Elements of Style (the classic writer's guide)
Guide to Grammar and Writing (compiled by Capital Community College, Hartford, Connecticut)