Internet Archive

The Wayback Machine - Archive.org
"Browse through 40 billion web pages archived from 1996 to a few months ago. To start surfing the Wayback, type in the web address of a site or page where you would like to start, and press enter. Then select from the archived dates available. The resulting pages point to other archived pages at as close a date as possible. Keyword searching is not currently supported."

The Wayback Machine will appeal more to "advanced" web surfers - people who have been online long enough to think, from time to time, "Jeez, I wish I'd downloaded that page instead of just bookmarking it - now it's gone". The Wayback Machine is a tool that lets you revisit/recreate bygone versions of sites and extensive archival content of websites and web pages. Paste a URL in the box on the home page, and the Wayback machine will retrieve as many copies of that page as it has archived. If you paste http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/ into the Wayback Machine, for example, you'll see links to 143 separate versions of this entire website (not just the home page) going right back to December 2000, two months after the site acquired its own domain name ("canadiansocialresearch.net"). Use the Wayback Machine to access sites right back to 1996...
Play with it - you don't have to register or anything, and you can't break it.
And don't miss the special collections of historical links!

Megasites

Google.com Directory - there's no Google.ca directory per se, but if you follow the Regional / North America link in this directory, you'll find over 100,000 Canadian links...

Yahoo Canada Directory

Dictionaries - Thesaurus - Encyclopedia

dictionary.com
OneLook Dictionaries
WWWebster Dictionary
YourDictionary.com
ROGET'S Thesaurus Online
Refdesk.com- 716 links to online reference sites
Visuwords Online Graphic Dictionary - It's a dictionary! Its a thesaurus!
"Look up words to find their meanings and associations with other words and concepts. Produce diagrams reminiscent of a neural net. Learn how words associate. Enter words into the search box to look them up or double-click a node to expand the tree. Click and drag the background to pan around and use the mouse wheel to zoom. Hover over nodes to see the definition and click and drag individual nodes to move them around to help clarify connections."

TheFreeDictionary.com
"English, Medical, Legal, and Computer Dictionaries, Thesaurus, Encyclopedia, a Literature Reference Library, and a Search Engine all in one!"

LookWAYup
Multilingual English dictionary that allows you to find definitions, synonyms and related words (thesaurus) for English words as well as their other-language equivalents.

allRefer - encyclopedia containing almost 52,000 entries along with a North America gazetteer containing almost 50,000 entries. Includes country studies and facts.

Wikipedia
"... the free encyclopedia that anyone can edit. In this English version, started in 2001, we are currently working on 1,222,731 articles (in English)" [as at June 29/06]
Source:
Wikipedia
"The biggest multilingual open access encyclopedia on the internet"
- articles in 200+ languages!

Infoplease - All the knowledge you need
"Information Please has been providing authoritative answers to all kinds of factual questions since 1938—first as a popular radio quiz show, then starting in 1947 as an annual almanac, and since 1998 on the Internet."

The Canadian Encyclopedia
"With the aid of its partners and the generous support of Heritage Canada, Historica presents this site free of charge to all Canadians and to interested users around the world. The site contains the complete text of the acclaimed Canadian Encyclopedia in English and French, the text of the Junior Encyclopedia of Canada (in English only), numerous interactivities, feature articles, games, the Canucklehead Quiz, and an extensive timeline of Canadian and world events. The entire text can be searched via the simple search or advanced search and the user can switch languages at any time."

- features more than 10,000 articles written by a broad base of over 4,000 Canadians who are experts in their individual subjects. In addition to entries written in  hypertext format with bibliographies, the encyclopedia offers interactive elements, such as statistical graphs, multimedia presentations of key historical events, quizzes and games, student guides, monthly topical features, and more. The encyclopedia is accessible in French and English. 

Check out these two sample entries from the Canadian Encyclopedia:

Social Security
- excellent online resource by an expert in the field, Dennis Guest.
- includes History of Social Security in Canada and Renewing Canada's Social Programs.

100 Greatest Events in Canadian History

Masterliness.com
Thousands of articles, organized by various regional and topical categories including information about people, business, multiculturalism, history and Canadian values.

Google Directory : Encyclopedias

Bartleby.com
"The preeminent Internet publisher of literature, reference and verse providing sutudents, researchers and the intellectually curious with unlimited access to books and information on the web, free of charge."
- incl. tabs/drop-down menus for : Reference - Verse - Fiction - Nonfiction
- browse indexes by author, by subject or by title

Sample reference material available on the Bartelby.com site:

Columbia Encyclopedia (Sixth Edition)
"Containing nearly 51,000 entries (marshalling six and one-half million words on a vast range of topics), and with more than 80,000 hypertext cross-references, the current Sixth Edition is among the most complete and up-to-date encyclopedias ever produced."
Roget’s II: The New Thesaurus (Third Edition)
"Containing 35,000 synonyms and over 250,000 cross-references in an easy-to-use format, this thesaurus features succinct word definitions and an innovative hyperlinked category index."
The American Heritage® Book of English Usage
A Practical and Authoritative Guide to Contemporary English
"With a detailed look at grammar, style, diction, word formation, gender, social groups and scientific forms, this valuable reference work is ideal for students, writers, academicians and anybody concerned about proper writing style."
The Columbia World of Quotations
"The 65,000 essential quotations that constitute this authoritative collection represent the research of 154 experts. Entries from more than 5,000 authors and speakers are multiply classified into 6,500 subjects."
Familiar Quotations "A Collection of Passages, Phrases, and Proverbs Traced to Their Sources in Ancient and Modern Literature"
Compiled by John Bartlett
"This tenth edition of 1919 contains over 11,000 searchable quotations and was the first new edition of John Bartlett’s corpus to be published after his death in 1905—the new editor, however, choosing more to supplement than revise the work of the first name in quotations."
The Elements of Style - William Strunk, Jr.
"Asserting that one must first know the rules to break them, this classic reference book is a must-have for any student and conscientious writer."
The World Factbook, 2003
"The U.S. government’s complete geographical handbook, featuring 268 full-color maps and flags of all nations and geographical entities. Each country profile tracks such demographics as population, ethnicity and literacy rates, as well as political, geographical and economic data."
The American Language An Inquiry into the Development of English in the United States by H.L. Mencken
"This classic was written to clarify the discrepancies between British and American English and to define the distinguishing characteristics of American English. Mencken’s groundbreaking study was undoubtedly the most scientific linguistic work on the American language to date and continues to serve as a definitive resource in the field."
The Encyclopedia of World History, 6th ed. 2001
"Renowned historian Peter N. Stearns’s comprehensive chronology of more than 20,000 entries that span the millenia from prehistoric times to the year 2000."
Harvard Classics - "...the complete 70 volumes of the most comprehensive and well-researched anthology of all time."

SourceWatch (formerly Disinfopedia)
"...a collaborative project to produce a directory of public relations firms, think tanks, industry-funded organizations and industry-friendly experts that work to influence public opinion and public policy on behalf of corporations, governments and special interests. Sponsored by the Center for Media and Democracy (http://www.prwatch.org), the Disinfopedia was started in February 2003 and contributors are now working on over 7,000 articles.

FreeFullText.com
"...provides direct links to over 7000 scholarly periodicals which allow some or all of their online content to be viewed by ANYONE with Internet access for free (though some may require free registration)."

Speling, grammar and style guides 

The Elements of Style (William Strunk, 1918)
Common Errors in English
Grammar, usage and style resources

An Elementary English Grammar Book
- incl. : Word Order - The Indefinite Article - The Definite Article - Nouns - Pronouns - Adjectives - Comparison of Adjectives - Comparison of Adverbs - Prepositions of Time - Prepositions of Place - The Simple Present Tense - The Present Continuous Tense - The Future Tense - The Simple Past Tense - The Past Continuous Tense - The Present Perfect Tense - The Present Perfect Continuous Tense - Auxiliary Verbs - Modal Auxiliary Verbs - To Make and To Do - To Get - Been and Gone
Source:
Eurotemp Teacher Recruitment (U.K.)

A Handbook of Rhetorical Devices
"This book contains definitions and examples of more than sixty traditional rhetorical devices - from alliteration to zeugma - all of which can still be useful today to improve the effectiveness, clarity, and enjoyment of your writing."

Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation
- incl. grammar and punctuation exercises and tests

Webgrammar
...help with spelling, grammar, homonyms, punctuation, capitalization, and style; information in the areas of writing, education, typography, academic research, and Web development...

Word Wizards**(see note below)
"The Canadian Online Language Toolkit"
Government of Canada
Version française: Génies des mots - La trousse langagière canadienne en ligne.
"Word Wizards offers a comprehensive compendium of online, made-in-Canada language tools. You may also consult our Directory of Organizations to find out who is doing what in the language industries in Canada. (...)
- collection of online resources - some free, some for a fee - for people who write in either French or English
- incl links to : About Word Wizards - Directory of Organizations - Writing Tools - Translation Tools (Fr/Eng - Eng/Fr only) - Terminology Tools - Specialized Tools - Feedback - Study English or French in Canada.
Free Language Tools - links to a dozen online free resources, mainly from government and university.

**This site is dead - I don't think it was active for more than two years...
Our federal tax dollars at work!
Here's the Word Wizards website as it appeared (sans graphics) in March 2005
--- thanks to the Internet Archive

Plain English Campaign

The Phrase Finder
Meanings and origins of over 2,000 English sayings, phrases and idioms

Dictionnaire de la langue française - de l'Internaute

Dictionnaires, grammaires,
ouvrages de référence sur l'utilisation du français
Source: Office de la langue française (Québec)
(Sélection de ressources terminologiques, toutes à partir de la page d'accueil)

La grammaire interactive - navigation par thèmes, un outil de recherche et un index alphabétique permettent de consulter les fiches grammaticales de Softissimo. Les explications y sont claires et les exemples pertinents. De plus, la rubrique « Testez-vous » propose des exercices qui sont corrigés en ligne.
Grammaire : Les accords
Testez votre orthographe
Dictionnaire de synonymes
Conjugaison en ligne

Ode to Traductors - [image]
- why I have this love-hate relationship with government translation...

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Le grand dictionnaire terminologique
Source:
Office de la langue francaise
Excellent! Traduit du français à l'anglais et de l'anglais au français
 Trois millions de termes français et anglais dans 200 domaines d'activité
Translates words from French to English or English to French - three million French and English entries in 200 fields

French-English Dictionary - from The ARTFL Project (American and French Research on the Treasury of the French Language)

Eurodicautom
- online translation service from Europa, the European Union Online - allows you to translate to and from 12 languages: Danish - Dutch - English - Finnish - French - German - Greek - Italian - Latin - Portuguese - Spanish - Swedish

Termes juridiques - Ministère de la Justice du Québec (PDF file - 159K, 26 pages)
This is a French-to-English dictionary, but you can go to the English index at the end of the file and use it to find French legal terms.

Harper Collins French-English Dictionary (WordReference.com)
DICOVOX 2.0 français-anglais: Un dictionnaire bilingue avec sortie vocale

French-English (ARTFL Project, University of Chicago)

Familiar Quotations by John Bartlett
"A Collection of Passages, Phrases, and Proverbs Traced to Their Sources in Ancient and Modern Literature."

Quotations - Links (from Yahoo!)

Internet research tools 

Below, you'll find a selection of links to Internet tutorials that I highly recommend to anyone from the "newbie" to the seasoned veteran researcher - anyone who wants to improve their ability to find things online. I found these pages very helpful in my own Internet learning curve, and I'm pleased to see that they've recently acquired their own domain name ("www.internettutorials.net") and that their tutorials are all being kept up to date. (The date of the latest revision appears at the bottom of each tutorial.)

From the University at Albany Library's Internet Tutorials:

Over a dozen current guides and other resources in all - here are just a few:
[click the link above to access the complete list]
- all of the reports below have been updated within the last few months, and a few within the past month.
A Basic Guide to the Internet
Conducting Research on the Internet
Checklist of Internet Research Tips
How to Choose a Search Engine or Directory
Second Generation Searching on the Web - review of newer search engine services that make use of technology that organizes search results by concept, site, domain, popularity and linking.
Alphabetical list of Search Engines
Internet Subject Directories - extensive reviewed list of academic, professional and commercial directories & portals, including: The Best Information on the Net (BIOTN) - BUBL Link - INFOMINE - The Internet Public Library - Intute - Librarians' Index to the Internet - The Scout Report Archives - Scout Select Bookmarks - Subject Guides A to Z - The WWW Virtual Library - highly respected guides to many disciplines sponsored by the W3 Consortium - About - Google Web Directory - JoeAnt - JumpCity - LookSmart - Open Directory Project - WebBrain - Yahoo! Directory
Searching the Internet: Recommended Sites and Search Techniques - An extensive tutorial on the use of subject directories, search engine services, and the "deep Web." This tutorial covers the Yahoo Directory, BUBL Link, Brainboost, Don Busca and Google

HINT: after you've read and committed to memory all of the above tutorials, you can keep up to date by checking the What's New page of the tutorials site every so often

Source:
SUNY University at Albany

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Canadian Search Engines (almost 60 links)
Source:
Search Engine Colossus
(links to search engines from 217 countries around the world!)

Anywhere.ca - Canadian search engine and directory
"... a search engine and directory of over 75,000 Canadian websites. Online since April 2004, we are working to become Canada's largest human edited directory."

AcrossCan - an exclusively Canadian search engine owned and operated in Canada. The project was conceived after ongoing difficulty attempting to find Canadian results from the larger search engines. Our goal is to provide a search engine with Canadian only results.

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