LibGuides: Reference sources and tools online: Home

What's your go-to, possibly off-the-map site?

This LibGuide is a collaboration of reference librarians across Massachusetts. This guide brings together free internet reference sources. This list is constantly growing and changing, and relies on its users to keep it robust and relevant. Please use the forms on this site, or email the guide facilitator directly to report omissions or suggest sites. Happy searching.

Quality Control your information

Factcheck.org
A project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania, factcheck.org reports on the accuracy of "what is said by major U.S. political players in the form of TV ads, debates, speeches, interviews and news releases."
Politifact
PolitiFact started in 2007 as an election-year project of the Tampa Bay Times (then named the St. Petersburg Times), focused on looking at specific statements made by politicians and rating them for accuracy.
Media Bias/Fact Check
A volunteer run site that evaluates news sources for bias and factual accuracy. A detailed "Methodology" section explains the process the MBFC uses. (It's also a useful read if you, dear librarian, could use a refresher on vetting sources.)

General use sources

The Wayback Machine
From Internet Archive - this is The Go-To service to view a website as it appeared in the past.
Internet Archive
Digital Library of internet sites and digital "cultural artifacts."
iTools
An aggregator of search tools. Look up people, information, IP addresses, currency values...you name it.
Forvo
All the words in the world. Pronounced.

Online Instruction

DigitalLearn.org
A collection of self-directed tutorials for learners to increase their digital literacy. Topics include: searching the internet, using email and creating a resume.
The Khan Academy
Short instructional videos mostly focused on math, economics and science, with a bit of test prep and humanities mixed in.
Code Academy
Earn badges proving your mastery of javascript, html, css and jQuery.
MIT Open Courseware
Free lecture notes, exams, and videos from MIT. No registration required.
Udacity
Free online learning through problem solving, focusing on IT and science.
Class Central
Directory of free online courses offered by Stanford Coursera, MITx, Harvardx, Berkleyx and Udacity.
Coursera
Coursera provides universal access to the world’s best education, partnering with top universities and organizations to offer courses online. Now offering certificates for a fee.

Presentation and teaching tools

Awesome Screenshot
Capture, annotate and share screenshots. This is a browser plugin for Firefox, Chrome or Safari.

Politics & elections

OpenSecrets.org
This site tracks the influence of money on US politics.
Follow the Money
A non-profit, non-partisan organization investigating the influence of money on politics.

Subject Guide

Anna Popp

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Subjects:Marketing and Outreach, Readers' Advisory, Reference