Try These Free Online Research Tools - Comments Page 1

Where is Wikipedia?

WOW......this article is a tremendous resource !!

Thanks, Bob

Bart....Wiki is written by ANYBODY who wants to write something, even you can add something.

Not a credible source.

I just love the way you give me shortcuts to the best sites on the Internet! I don't have time or interest in looking all that stuff up myself, and I'm very grateful to you for doing the searching for me! I would add BlueLetterBible.com as a bible resource, and city-data.com as a resource for a lot of information about cities in the USA. Thank you for your quality articles and helpful techie information.

What about Wolfram Alpha?

Thank you for this great compilation, BobRankin.
I was surprised that you did not include one of (both of) 'our' favorite sites >> Wolfram|Alpha
Since most of your followers appear to be Windows users, should usafacts.org get an honorable mention here, as this site was created based on a conversation Steve Ballmer had with his wife Connie?
@BillC >> I must not have gotten that memo about Wikipedia being "Not a credible source".

Thank you for pulling these all together. It will be handy for my students as they learn to do research.

Anytime you use Google that fact gets added to your google account. If you don't have one you are pressured into getting one. You can always delete all the info in your account (or so they say) but it is not easy actually to do. And the most you can get is to "pause," not delete.
YouTube is a great resource, but it is owned by Google. You can delete previous searches, but it's no picnic. I found notations of pieces of music I searched for 10+ years ago.
Google sells your info.
WebMD sells your searches. They have your email but if you register for an account they have your name and the rest of it. It's spam city. Vendors try to reconstruct your health status by your medical searches and send you ads that reflect that. Like targeted ads? I'd rather have irrelevant ads than ones that prove someone's been breathing down my neck.
Try Drugs.com.
Bob neglected to mention DuckDuckGo, a search engine just as good as Google but which does not track or keep records of your searches. I stopped using Google years ago, and guess what, I stopped getting spam from unexpected sources.
Google is OK if you don't mind being passed around behind your back. And get spam from sources who seem to know a lot about you.
Accuweather was not mentioned. It deserves a look.

Wonderful list and many I have used with students as a school librarian. But, depending on where you live, your public library probably has a sizable collection of paid reference sources that can be accessed for free either remotely o in the library only using your library card number. These services would cost individuals many hundreds of dollars to subscribe. I know Bob has shared with us the free audio and video streaming services provided by libraries. But don't forget the online print collections. AND don't forget that real-life search engines, your local librarians, are there to help you find answers, too.

Also don't forget the Urban Dictionary for deciphering the casual talk of the younger ones around you.

P.S. I am older than a Boomer. So I need to use the Urban Dictionary frequently.

I tried getting google earth and maps but could not get an account set up because I do not have a cell phone to get their texted code to complete the process. Oh well, I can still use other maps. I get a lot of good sources from your site Bob, thanks.

>> Hoover's Online provides company capsules and profiles that give comprehensive company, industry, and market intelligence to investors and business professionals. (Insert vacuum cleaner joke here.)

>> Finally, you can find out why Manfred Mann had a boulder on his shoulder in the song "Blinded by the Light."

Bob, I swear you are the funniest (maybe the only funny) guy on the internet!!! Your turns of phrase like these above certainly tickle my funny bone; I almost look forward to them more in your 'contributions (here) to the sum total of human knowledge' more than I do the excellent information you impart. THANKS SO MUCH!!!!

Hey Bob, what happened to my quotes from your newsletter here I wanted to hilight for your fans like me? My praise showed up, but not the quotes I included. Nuts!!!

Clicking on your link to fastpeoplesearch brings up "ERROR 1020 Access denied
What happened?

This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks."

Is therre a solution?
Regards,
Chris.

Bob, Thanks so much for all those links. I didn't know that some of them existed.

Holy cow, what a treasure trove, Bob. THANK YOU!!

Great site Bob - very informative. I should like to mention an other seardh engine: "Dogpile.com" When I was told about it 4 or 5 years ago I thought it was a joke site, but far from it, really fantastic and extremely fast.

Top Squirrel is right - avoid Google and all its works if you don't want to be spammed. Duckduckgo doesn't track you, and Reverso.net is better than Google translate without the tracking that follows everything Google.

Bob, THANK YOU for NOT including Wikipedia! Any online "authority" that permits anyone who wants to add to, subtract from, not print verified information, and edit at will is NOT a reliable source of information. I've trusted you for years and never hesitate to follow your advice. BTW, your recommendation of using DuckDuckGo as a search engine is for those of us who do not want every search to be monitored by Google/Yahoo/whomever and really cuts down on ads appearing on my screen based upon what's been searched! Thank you!