I’m blogging a bit differently for the month of December. Today, I share some online sources that have either been helpful to my own research, or that are part of my cyber-library for future reference. Naturally, this isn’t an all inclusive list (like that would ever be possible) and it’s a bit of a hodge podge, but it’s a place to start. I hope you’ll find some treasures here, whatever genre you write.

Do you know of an online source that should be added to this list? Please add it in the comments section and we’ll watch this list grow.

Throughout December, I’ll continue to share my favorite sites, blogs, and books. Pop back in when you get a chance.

Enjoy!

Style and Grammar
Grammar Handbook by the University of Illinois-Urbana
Chicago Manual of Style online
Modern Language Association (MLA)
The Elements of Style 
Purdue Online Writing Lab  https://owl.english.purdue.edu/
Purdue ” ” APA style is especially well covered here
Long Island University “Citation Style for Research Papers”
Citing Sources (Duke University Libraries)
Citing your Sources (University of California Berkeley)

Free Bibliography software
Easybib
Bibme

Sites about agents
Query Tracker 
Agent Query 
Publisher’s Marketplace (see who’s moved where and who’s sold what)
Literary Rambles (Casey McCormick blog) 


Language Translation
Yahoo Babel Fish
Google Translate 

Online Dictionary/Thesaurus
Dictionary.com


Geography and history
World Factbook


World Clock


Want to know the reading level and number of words in a published book?
Rennaisance Learning

Sources for hard to find Books 
WorldCat
Fetchbook
Alibris.com
Abe Books


Research Sources-History (no particular order)
Library of Congress
Colossal Directory of Children’s Publishers

History.org (Colonial history) 
History of the USA
History.com 
A Research Guide for Students (for writers, too. Find style guides, and how-tos)
World Almanac for Kids
In the First Person (index to letters, diaries, oral histories, and personal narratives)
Calisphere– University of California- primary sources and more
Early America archives- primary documents from 18th century.
Smithsonian Magazine
National Archives 
Ancestry.com (a little pricey, but it’s a convenient way to track a life)
National Parks Service
National Security Agency (NSA)
Chronology of American History
Archive.org (nonprofit digital library)
Google Scholar 

General Reference- Ref Desk
Highbeam Research
Newspaper archives
New York Times archives
Chicago Tribune Historical archives
Oxford Journal Historical archives
U.S. Census Bureau
Historical Census Browser 

ArtCyclopedia
Oxford African American Studies Center

Your public library like offers electronic access to EBSCO, Oxford Reference Online,
WorldCat (find resource material from other libraries as well)
Questia
Gale Virtual Reference Library (look who’s got ebooks now)

Money
Current value of old money. Convert money values as far back as 1600’s

Fashions from history
Fashion Era
History of the 20th Century
Fashion Institute of Technology
Fashion History Museum

Official Museum Directory

Online image source and historical photos
Library of Congress Prints & Photographs
U.S. National Archives 
istockphoto
istockvideo 
Life Magazine 
Various historical societies, museums. university archives,
photos.com
Shutterstock.com
Corbis Images 
Smithsonian Photographic Services 

Addendum. 12/19/2011- Special thanks to Ms. Hernandez, teacher at a California charter school, for passing on a student’s list of additional resources. Many have been incorporated into this list. Yay for students with initiative!