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Key Sites

These sites support learning across the curriculum. This list includes comprehensive and subject-related reference sources, as well as online tools for creating assignments.

Countries & Maps
Biographies
Community Resources
Current Events
Current Events
Encyclopedias
Dictionaries & Language Arts
General
Articles: journals, magazines, newspapers
Specialized Dictionaries
Sports
TV & Radio
Online Tools for Learning

Countries & Maps

                                                                         
  • Atlas of Canada     
  • BC Stats  - Statistical information for British Columbia
  • BBC Country Profiles
    Includes current news events as well as statistical and historical information.
    ​
  • Canadian Arctic  
    This is an excellent resource developed by the University of Guelph. There are large-scale and very detailed maps of northern Canada. Once you are in a detailed map, click on place names in the left navigation bar for a closer look and information about the area.
  • Canadian Atlas Online  
    This is a Canadian Geographic site. There are searchable and interactive maps.
  • Canadian Geographic: Mapping  
​               From online interactive maps, to printable tiled maps, to giant floor maps ... check out our selection of maps below. Don't forget to 
               also check out the latest 
articles relating to mapping and cartography from Canadian Geographic.
  • Google Earth
    Google Earth lets you fly anywhere on Earth to view satellite imagery, maps, terrain, 3D buildings, from galaxies in outer space to the canyons of the ocean. You can explore rich geographical content, save your toured places, and share with others.
  • Google Ocean
    With Google Ocean you can: Dive beneath the surface and visit the deepest part of the ocean, the Mariana Trench; Explore the ocean with top marine experts; Learn about ocean observations, climate change, and endangered species; Discover new places including surf, dive and travel hot spots and shipwrecks.
  • ​Human Development Indicators
    The United Nations Human Development Index uses health, education, and other demographic information to rank countries.
  • Information Please
    Brief information on many topics, combining the contents of an encyclopedia, a dictionary, an atlas and several almanacs.
  • Library of Congress Country Studies
    Comprehensive information about countries including history.
  • NASA's Landsat Science and EO Kids (Earth Observatory for students 9-14)
    These sites provide satellite images over time. Select an area and see if you are able to detect differences. Click on the link below the image to get a closer look.
  • ​National Geographic Mapmaker Interactive
  • NationMaster.com
    This database uses reputable sources such as Statistical Yearbook, United Nations World Statistics and CIA World Factbook. You can generate statistical comparisons for a wide variety of demographic information.
  • Outline Maps
              Excellent outline maps from Education Place. Some maps are in PDF format.
  • Perry Castaneda Library Map Collection (U. Texas) - Includes online maps of the world, including those of current interest.
  • Statistics Canada:
    • Statistics Canada: Historical Statistics   
    •  Census Teacher's Kit
    • Historical Census Information (Censuses of Canada: 1665-1871)   New France, Aboriginal Peoples et al.​
                                                                                 BIOGRAPHIES
  • A & E Biography
  • Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online  
    An extensive online reference for Canadian historical figures.
  • Eric Weisstein's World of Scientific Biography
    Brief biographies of scientists.
      
  • Who 2
    Biographies of famous people. There is a brief biography and found good links for each person.
                                                              COMMUNITY RESOURCES
  • BC Health Guide 
    Information about BC Health Services. Includes a drug guide.
 
  • HealthLink BC
    Go to the web site for phone numbers and information about this 24 hour consultation service.
 
  • Kids Help Phone 
    Help is available 24 hours a day for Kids Help Phone. Phone 1-800-668-6868 any time. Visit the web site for resources useful to teens.
 
  • Red Book Online
    The Redbook Online contains information on community services available in BC. This resources is available via the bc211 non-profit organization.
                                                              CURRENT EVENTS

In addition to the latest news, BBC provides a country profile and historical perspective.
  • BBC Country Profiles

Front pages from more than two hundred newspapers from around the world.
  • Newseum: Today's Front pages
 
  • Science Daily: latest research news.

Vast news archive from global sources.
  • World Network News​
                                                             ENCYCLOPÆDIAS
​
Start 
here with the outstanding encyclopedias & databases via our school district.  
NB Click on the database link to be automatically logged in from any school district computer.  From home, you must enter the username and password (see your school newsletters for these).  Included are:
  • World Book Encyclopedia (several levels + French and Spanish versions). 
  • Know BC (Encyclopedia of BC)
  • Historica Canada (Encyclopedia of Canada)
  • Many other comprehensive & subject related databases

Other:
  • Catholic Encyclopædia
    Read the information about the mandate of the encyclopedia.
​​
  •  CIA World Factbook: includes information about the people, government, history, and cultures of countries around the world, as well as a collection of world maps.
​
  • Encyclopedia Britannica (not full version as it is a paid source)
​
  • The Smithsonian Institution:  The world's largest museum, education, and research complex.
 
  • Internet Encyclopædia of Philosophy
 
  • Stanford Encyclopædia of Philosophy
  
                                                           DICTIONARIES & LANGUAGE ARTS

  • Barlett's Quotations
 
  • Bartelby Project
    This site contains many online texts as well as reference resources.
 
  • Bartleby.com : Verse
    Look here for a wide selection of poems.
 
  • Bibliomania Books online
​             Literature and study guides.
​
  • Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable
  • Conjuguemos
               Verb practice, language games and vocabulary development for learning French, Spanish, German, Korean, Italian, Latin, & 
               Portuguese.     
 

  • Glossary of Poetic Terms
 
  •   LitCharts Literary Devices  
​
  • Online Writing Lab at Purdue (OWL)
              Writing and Teaching Writing, Research, Grammar and Mechanics, Style Guides (APA, MLA & Chicago),
              ESL (English as a Second Language).
  • Merriam Webster English Dictionary & Thesaurus
   
  • MLA Style Guide Online​
 
  • Online English Grammar
 
  • Simpson's Contemporary Quotations (Quotations from 1950 to 1988)
 
  • The Word Detective
    Word meaning, origin, usage.
​
  • ​Word Reference 
              Multilingual dictionary. Check out the forum if you have a tricky language question.

 
                                                               GENERAL
  • Canada 411 Phone Directory  
 
  • Canada Post: Postal Code Lookup  
 
  • Canadian Information by Subject  
    The National Library of Canada provides a list of Canadian sites organized by subject.
 
  • National Library of Canada  (Collections Canada)
    
  • Government of Canada 
    All about Canada, including topics such as culture, history, sport, environment, industry, science, immigration, health.
 
  • Measurement Conversion
    This site provides converters for weights, measures, speed, volume, temperature and other measures.
    
  • Flags
    World flag database. Note the copyright information.
 
  • Google Earth
    Google Earth lets you fly anywhere on Earth to view satellite imagery, maps, terrain, 3D buildings, from galaxies in outer space to the canyons of the ocean. You can explore rich geographical content, save your toured places, and share with others.
 
  • Google Ocean
    With Google Ocean you can: Dive beneath the surface and visit the deepest part of the ocean, the Mariana Trench; Explore the ocean with top marine experts; Learn about ocean observations, climate change, and endangered species; Discover new places including surf, dive and travel hot spots and shipwrecks.
​
  • ​Library of Congress
 
  • Martindales's: The Reference Desk
    Contains a wide variety of reference resources.
     ​
Click on the Database link and you will be automatically logged in to the databases from any school district computer. From home you must enter the username and password (see your school newsletters for these).
  • Refdesk.com
    An enormous resource, with a wide variety of topics. Select the Facts Subject Index for a list of the resources that are indexed.
 
  • Refdesk.com : Science and Technology
    Science links arranged alphabetically.
    ​
  
  • Virtual Library
    The Virtual Library is an immense project that lists websites by topic.
  
  • World Digital Library
    The World Digital Library (WDL) , is an online partnership between the Library of Congress, UNESCO, and 32 partner institutions to share cultural materials. The site will include a wealth of manuscripts, maps, rare books, films, sound recordings, and prints and photographs, all available free to the public, browseable and searchable in seven languages (Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish) but with content offerings in dozens of languages.
 
                                                    Articles: Journals, Magazines, and Newspapers
​
  • EBSCO  - Large index of all kinds articles. 
  • EXPLORA  - EBSCO’s interface middle school or high school makes searching EBSCO easier. 
    Click on the Database link and you will be automatically logged in to the databases from any school district computer. From home you must enter the username and password (see your school newsletters for these).
      

  • DOAJ
             Directory of Open Access Journals.  
             
DOAJ is a community-curated online directory that indexes and provides free access to high quality, open access, peer-reviewed
              journals.
 
​
  • International Newspaper Index
​              Search by continent, country, province, state, or city.  Here are the BC Newspapers.

  • JournalismNet
    Look here for newspapers and magazines from around the world. This site also includes access information for online archives.
 
                                                       SPECIALIZED DICTIONARIES
  • MoMA Glossary of Art Terms
    You can search the glossary for terms or browse by theme or artist. Illustrated.
 
  • Biology Dictionary
    Biology online.org - Enter term in the search box.
 
  • Culinary Dictionary from What's Cooking America.  See also: Encyclopædia of Spices and Herbs
 
  • Duhaime's Law Dictionary
    A comprehensive source for Canadian law.
 
  • Wolfram Research :  Eric Weisstein's 
    • World of Astronomy
    • World of Biography
    • World of Chemistry  
    • World of Mathematics
    • World of Physics  
 
                                                                   SPORTS

  • Hockey News
  • SportsNet.ca


 
                                    TELEVISION & RADIO NEWS SOURCES  
  • British Columbia Radio Stations - list of all stations.
​
  • CBC Television - Canadian Broadcasting Corporation 
​​
  • Canadian News and Media:  television, newspapers, magazines - print & online. 

ONLINE TOOLS

​
  • Online tools
Kathy Schrock's Guide to Everything offers this list of tools for learning and teaching.  Includes video, audio & image recorders/editors, mind mapping, coding & programming, survey, collage, timeline, drawing, screen-casting, animation, presentation, citation, comic, avatar, math, podcast & webpage creators, infographics, graphing, collaboration, curation and more. 
  • Graphs: Create a graph
Kids' Zone graph creator for Pie Charts, Area Graphs, Line Graphs, and Bar Graphs for the statistics that you have collected.​​
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  • LFMSS Homepage
  • Research Help
    • Research 101
    • Notetaking 101
    • Where Do I Start Looking? >
      • District Databases
      • Key Sites
      • Search Engines
      • Community Libraries
    • Is it Really True?
    • Plagiarism is...
    • Bibliographies+ >
      • Giving Credit
      • Online Citation Makers
  • LLC Information
    • Hours of Operation
    • Signing out books
    • Understanding our book labels
    • Internet Use Policy
    • Library Values, Mission Statements & Goals
    • Contact Information