49 Free Online Reference Tools for Freelance Writers

The first blogs were nothing but links. Early bloggers compiled links of wonderful and useful things to share with other folks online. I like keep that early spirit of sharing in mind when I make up my own lists of links to share. Today, I’ve accumulate some terrific free resources for writers. Some are dictionaries, some encyclopedias and others are tools to bookmark to use as needed. I hope you find these links handy and helpful.

49 Free Online Reference Tools for Freelance Writers

Dictionaries

1. Dictionary.com – You no longer have to lug around your Funk and Wagnalls.
2. The Free Dictionary - Words and references in many languages.
3. One Look – Definition Search
4. Word of the Day - From Merriam Webster – and they should know.
5. WordReference.com - Online language dictionaries
6. Net Dictionary
7. Hacker’s Dictionary – So I can pretend to know what geeks are talking about
8. Urban Dictionary – So we can know what our kids are talking about.
9. SlangSite.com – In case we can’t find what we’re looking for at the Urban Dictionary
10. Webopedia – More geekery
11. Duhaime.org - Legal Dictionary
12. UMCP’s Botannical Glossary
13. UMCP’s Zoological Glossary
14. UMCP’s Biochemistry Glossary
    

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Grammar and Usage

1. The Economist Style Guide – Style and usage at your finger tips.
2. Orango Spell Checker
3. The Element’s of Style - Strunk is online too.
   
4. English Grammar Online - Tutorials, lessons and more.
5. Online Dictionary of Language Terminology

Words

1. Thesaurus.com – When you need a word, but not that word.
2. Visuwords – Word Association

Facts & Statistics

1. RefDesk - Online fact checker, filled with links to all sorts of useful sites.
2. InfoPlease -Online encyclopedia
3. Encyclopedia Britannica - You no longer have to fill your shelves with volumes A to Z – it’s all right here online.
4. AllRefer.com Health Encyclopedia
5. Healthopedia.com – Ditto the above

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Miscellaneous References

1. How Cast – Web site filled with how to videos.
2. Fact Monster - Dictionaries, encyclopedia, a homework center and even an analogy of the day.
3. Top 100 U.S. Newspapers – For when Yahoo isn’t enough.
4. World Almanac – World facts
5. Famous Quotes & Authors – Impress everyone on Twitter.
6. U.S. Census Bureau – Statistics and stuff
7. Acronym Finder – So you don’t have to keep Googling letters to find out what they mean.
8. 10,000 Year Calendar - You never know when you need to look a few years into the future.
9. The World Factbook - For 2008
10. The Occupational Handbook - 2008 – 2009
11. Bible Gateway - An online searchable Bible
12. The Celebrity Almanac – Not that we really care about Tom Cruise’s real name
13. The Old Farmer’s Almanac - It hasn’t let us down yet.
14. Libweb - Connect to libraries around the world.
15. The Internet Public Library – Everything you need to know about everything.
16. CIA – The World FactBook – Lots of good stuff about the Government, people and economy.
17. Hoover’s Online – Profiles of more than 10,000 American businesses.
18. Google Maps – Getting you where you need to go.
19. Dot What? – Details on cyber extensions
20. Getty Thesaurus of Geographical Names
21. Flags of the World - You never know when you’ll need to know
22. The Art & Architecture Thesaurus
23. The Internet Law Library - Links to lots of legal stuff
24. NASA Thesaurus - Spacey terminology

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What are your favorite free online reference tools for writers?

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