I often use the Internet to do research. Whatever the reason, (essay, poster, book report, etc) I find it helpful to have some backup information. If the library doesn't have enough books for my needs, then I can use the Internet. However, I find it hard to find some good sites. So, I thought I would give you a few of my favorites.
Wikipedia.org Good for a ton of information at once, for a big project. Usefulness: 4 stars
Lost-Civilizations.net This is okay for some ancient civilizations, like ancient Egypt, but the information on it is HUGE! Usefulness: 5 stars
Google.com I know, I know, you probably know this one. The key is, you have to know how to search it. I find that the extra 20 seconds it takes to enter the extra information into a Google Advanced Search. I usually start out with some, scroll to the end of the page, and find a few things I don't want. Then, I go into Advanced Search, and say I don't want this. For example, if I am doing a paper on model airplanes, I probably don't want Amazon.com popping up asking me to buy one. So, in the "does not have the words:" field I enter "buy" or "Amazon" or something like that. Usefulness: 5 stars
Worldology.com This site is a good site for getting a geological time line for the past 3-4 thousand years. I used it for the Babylonian empire. I Googled Babylonian Empire 605-561 BCE. Worldology popped up, and gave me a complete time line of the area, now called Iraq, and the rulers, what they did, etc. Usefulness: 4 stars
Godchecker.com This site is great for getting a quick view on any ancient god, what they are the god of, what the might look like, and what they were also known as. For example, the Ancient Egyptian god Horus is the god of birds, looks like a falcon, and--heck, I don't even know what he looks like! This is why godchecker is so useful. Quick, easy, and instantaneous.
Google Documents (docs.google.com) This is where I wright all of my papers, essays, presentations, science fair projects, etc. It is very safe, you are backed up, and (this is a problem for me, maybe not for you) I have about 5 computers, so Google docs allows me to access my documents whenever I am connected to the Internet. Usefulness: 4 stars
Answers.com Answers.com is good because it is edited by the world wide population, and it is good if you have a specific question you want answered.
Example: Q: What was the Phoenician top trading item? A: Purple dye. The recipe was kept secret for years.
Sometimes it is hard to phrase something right for a Google search, and Answers.com solves this problem.
Also, if the question is not in the database, it lets you sign in with servers like Google, Yahoo!, MSN/Bing, Wikipedia accounts, etc, so you can get emailed when someone answers it. Usefulness: 4-5 stars.
Dropbox This is both a website and a software piece. I loved Google Docs until I got an iPhone. I LOVED my iPhone. It was perfect for music, email, etc. However, you had to pay $20 for an app to edit my documents on Google. So, I got Dropbox. There are cheep to free apps on the iOS App Store for editing your Dropbox folder. Sadly, there don't seem to be any cheap apps on the Android app store (the lowest is $19.99). The awesome thing is this: you install Dropbox, and it is just a folder on your computer. It syncs your files in it to the web so that wherever you are, you can easily access them. So, since I have multiple laptops and computers, having a current version of a document or whatever I wanted was really nice.
Links for Dropbox:
Dropbox.com--Setup Dropbox account and install
Droptext--Dropbox editor for iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad ($.99)
PlainText--Slightly less good but free Dropbox editor for iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad
QuickOffice Pro--Dropbox editor for Android ($19.99)
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