Online Resources
These resources have been gathered to facilitate your learning in the online environment. All links have been assessed for credibility, reliability, and usability.
Research
Chat with a Librarian
Ask a research question by chat, e-mail, or phone through University of Washington Q&A Live. A UW-only resource.
Research Skills Tutorial
The University of Washington's Research 101 is a free, interactive online tutorial for students wanting an introduction to research skills. The tutorial covers the basics, including how to select a topic and develop research questions, as well as how to select, search for, find, and evaluate information sources. A UW-only resource.
General Reference Materials
Online dictionaries, encyclopedias, maps, newspapers, journals, and more. Choose the “Off-campus Access” link in the upper right hand corner for access. Samples include:
Encyclopedias
General encyclopedias, such as the Columbia Encyclopedia, and specialized encyclopedias ranging from Information Science and North American Indians through Philosophy and Music. A UW-only resource.Electronic Journals
Full text articles from journals of anthropology, education, mathematics, and dozens more. A UW-only resource.Electronic Newspapers
Full-text articles from ethnic, minority, and native publications; the Foreign Broadcast Information Service, and over 27 U.S. newspapers. A UW-only resources.
Reference Materials by Subject
Including but not limited to Astronomy, Biology, chemistry, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Classics, Communication, Computer Science, Drama, Economics, Education, Environmental Science, Geography, German Social Sciences, History, Human Rights, Information Science, Law, Linguistics, Music, Nursing, Oceanography, Physics, Political Science, Religion, Sociology, Statistics, Women Studies, Zoology.
Special Subjects: Science and Medicine
Pub Med The famous database from the National Library of Medicine that includes over 15 million citations from MEDLINE and other life science journals for biomedical articles back to the 1950s. PubMed includes links to full text articles and other related resources.
Digital Anatomist Interactive Atlas Developed by the Department of Biological Structures at the University of Washington, this interactive atlas displays 3D views of anatomical structures and lets you quiz yourself on identification. Includes video clips.
Special Subjects: Technology
In the Encyclopedia of Information Science and Technology, find information on everything from cyber ethics to Web data mining. Search over 500 articles that range from information about IT in developing countries to distance education and wireless.
Literature Resource Center
Need information about an author, or a scholarly articles about a poem or short story? The UW Literature Resource Center, an online database with biographies of 120,000 writers, also features selected full-text journal articles, critical essays, plot summaries, and an encyclopedia of literary terms. A UW-only resource.
Writing
Common Errors in English Should you use "affect" or "effect," "capital" or "capitol?" Hundreds of often-confused English words are explained at this site.
Purdue University Online Writing Lab How do you start to write? How do you write effectively and expressively? How do you revise? You can find handouts and exercises on these and other writing topics at
Strunk: The Elements of Style Where do those commas go? How do you write a topic sentence? The classic book on English grammar has the answers:
Columbia Guide to Online Style How do you cite a reference from the World Wide Web? From an e-mail discussion list? Answers can be found at
Information Please
Information Please Almanac. Browse by section, use the alphabetical index, or enter a search term.
Information Please Atlas. Click on any region of the world map to get an enlarged map of a country along with a short encyclopedia article about the country.
Information Please Biographies. More than thirty thousand biographies at your finger tips!
Additional Reference Materials
by Subject
Dictionaries of astronomy, English, economics, history, philosophy, physics, math, and many more subjects at the Google Reference site:
Gale Virtual Reference Library E-Books
From corsets to Coltrane, discover interesting facts about U.S. and world history, popular culture, fashion, the arts, science, medicine, and more in this fascinating online reference library.
http://www.lib.washington.edu/types/databases/g.htmlby Type
Bartleby’s offers many types of reference books, including the Columbia Encyclopedia, the King James Bible, and Gray’s Anatomy. It also offers a library of online books, with representative fiction and non-fictional works from authors such as Dostoevsky, Virginia Woolf, Albert Einstein, Voltaire, and others.
Note: We make every effort to ensure that links are current. If you should encounter a broken link, please report it to dltechsupp@extn.washington.edu.