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General Research

Biographies

Databases
 Accessible from home American Men & Women of Science: A Biographical Directory of Today’s Leaders in Physical, Biological and Related Sciences   
Lists biographies of prominent North American scientists.

Accessible from home Biographical Encyclopedia of the Modern Middle East and North Africa  
Find information on political and cultural leaders in this geographic region.

Accessible from home Biography in Context
Biographical information on people from around the world and throughout history.

Websites
Biography.com
Short biographies from A&E.

General and Subject Encyclopedias

Databases
Accessible from home Acronyms, Initialisms and Abbreviations Dictionary  
Find the full name of a group by its initials and look up the correct abbreviation for a word.

Accessible from home World Book Online
Five different World Book Encyclopedia sites including content geared to primary students, Spanish Language speakers, students with research projects, and the those looking for the latest edition of the encyclopedia.

Accessible from homeWorld Book Spanish Language Encyclopedia
Thousands of easy-to-read encyclopedia, newspaper, and magazine articles on a broad variety of topics from the latest edition of Enciclopedia Estudiantil Hallazgos.

Websites
Canadian Encyclopedia

Encyclopedia Astronautica
Covers all aspects of space travel.

Encyclopedia Mythica
Extensive coverage of mythology and folklore worldwide.

Encyclopedia of Chicago
This free new resource offers a wealth of information on Chicago's past. It is the electronic version of the highly acclaimed book and is sponsored by the Chicago Historical Society, the Newberry Library, and Northwestern University.

Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy

MedlinePlus Medical Encyclopedia

Physics Encyclopedia

Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

General Research Websites

Databases
Accessible from home Gale Virtual Reference Library
One search locates information in more than 300 full-text reference books.

Accessible from home Student Research Center
Aimed at high school students, this source includes full-text articles from magazines, newspapers and reference books covering topics such as history, biography, science and literature.

Accessible from home Student Resources in Context
Aimed at middle school and high school students, this source has information on many topics including history, literature, science and social studies from articles and reference books.

Library Catalogs

Databases
Accessible from home I-Share
Database of materials held at 65 Illinois college libraries.

Accessible from home SWAN Online Catalog
Database of Downers Grove Public Library's holdings and other SLS libraries' holdings.

Accessible from home WorldCat
A worldwide catalog of library holdings including books, videos, audios and other materials.

Magazines

Databases

Accessible from home Academic Search Premier
Scholarly journals on many academic areas of study, including biological sciences, economics, communications, computer sciences, engineering, language and linguistics, arts and literature, and medical sciences.

Accessible from home Consumer Reports
Consumer product ratings, reviews, recommendations, brand reliability, and buying advice from Consumer Reports.

Accessible from home ERIC on FirstSearch
Extensive index of education articles for teachers and students.

Accessible from home MasterFILE Premier
Full-text articles from 1,700 periodicals covering general reference, business, health, education, general science, multicultural issues, and more. Also contains full-text from more than 500 reference books, over 107,000 primary source documents, and an image collection of photos, maps and flags.

Accessible from home Medline on FirstSearch
A collection of current articles on health topics, many of which are full text.

Accessible from home Zinio - eMagazines
View 160 popular magazines that can be downloaded and read from cover to cover on your computer or mobile device. No limits or wait times!

Websites
Google Scholar
Search for articles, papers and books on scholarly subjects.

Newspapers

Databases
Accessible from home Chicago Tribune
Full text of newspaper 1985 to the present.

Accessible from home Chicago Tribune Historical Archive
Full text of newspaper 1849 – 1987.

Quick Lookups

Websites
Almanac
InfoPlease Almanac

Calculators
Martindale Online Center
Calculators, spreadsheets and more

Dictionaries
OneLook
Find a definition from an index to over 960 dictionaries.

Multiple Reference Sources
Bartleby.Com
Look here for the full text of many standard reference works such as Roget's Thesaurus, Bartlett's Quotations, the American Heritage Dictionary, Robert's Rules of Order, the Columbia Encyclopedia and much more.

Click On: Fast Answers on the Internet
Ready reference information at your fingertips: telephone directories, weather forecasts, calculators and much more.

Test Preparation

Databases
Accessible from home LearnATest
Online practice tests for many exams including the ACT, SAT, GED, and ASVAB.

Accessible from home Test Preparation E-Books
Study guides and test preparation e-books from Learning Express.

Websites
Test Prep Review
Free online practice that covers a variety of standard tests not found in LearnATest.

Booklists
Practicing for the ACT and SAT Tests
Books, CD–ROMs, and online sources to help you prepared and practice the ACT and SAT tests.