Research Links

Note: External sites are not affiliated with, nor endorsed by, the Writers Guild of America. The WGA accepts no responsibility for their accuracy, content, or tone.

If you have a favorite link that you think would be helpful to screenwriters, please send it to: Website Administrator.

Reference

• Acronym and Abbreviation List - If you think LLOX belongs on a bagel (no, silly--it's Lunar Liquid Oxygen), or you're not sure what DEFCON stands for (DEFensive [Readiness] CONdition), this is the site for you.
• Acronym Finder - The Acronym Finder bills itself as the web's largest database of its kind, with over 156.000 listings and their meanings. Definitions for acronyms, abbreviations and initialisms about all subjects, including information technology, telecommunications, military, government, and more.
• Adcouncil.org - The Advertising Council, a private, non-profit organization, has been the nation's leading provider of public service campaigns for more than 60 years. Through partnerships with non-profit organizations and government agencies, the Ad Council has unprecedented access to the critical information and resources needed to address many of the nation's most important social issues. Ad Council icons and slogans are woven into the very fabric of American culture - from Smokey Bear's "Only You Can Prevent Forest Fires" and McGruff the Crime Dog's: "Take A Bite Out of Crime," to the United Negro College Fund's: "A Mind is a Terrible Thing To Waste," and "Friends Don't Let Friends Drive Drunk."
• Airliners.net - Features photos of commercial and military airliners and helicopters, including cockpit views. The site also contains airport overviews and photos of aviation accidents, if you're into that kind of thing.
• Allexperts.com - This is an interesting concept: the site lists experts in a variety of categories, who will attempt to answer any question you submit. The number of categories isn't huge, but this site might be valuable if you need an answer in a covered category.
• AltaVista Translation Page - We have no idea how it works, but this site provides a rudimentary translation of any web page from French, Spanish, Italian, German or Portuguese into English (and vice versa). You can also input plain text phrases. Very cool.
• American Family Immigration History Center - This searchable database contains records on the 22 million passengers and ship crew members who passed through Ellis Island between 1892 and 1924 on their way to The American Dream. In addition to basic passenger records (name, ethnicity, place of residence, age, marital status, ship of travel, etc.), visitors can also view a copy of the original ship manifest, and even a picture of the ship traveled on. A treasure for online genealogy research.
• American Secular Holidays Calendar - Enter any year after 1776 and get a chronological listing of all secular U.S. holidays for that year.
• American Sign Language Dictionary - This cool site uses animated photos to teach basic American Sign Language (ASL). Although kind of slow, it's an excellent use of the Web, and includes resource links of interest to the deaf community.
• Ameristat - This site offers some revealing statistics about the increasingly diverse population of the United States.
• Ancestry.com - Billing itself as "the World's #1 Genealogy Web Site", the site includes hundreds of searchable databases that will help you trace your (or someone else's) roots. The focus is on the United States, but links are included to the Social Security Death Index, The Ancestry World Tree and many others.
• Ariga - An indexed-by-first-letter listing of familiar and not-so-familiar Yiddish words and expressions with their English translations.
• Ask An Expert - A directory of links to people who have volunteered their time to answer questions and webpages that provide information.
• Ask Jeeves - Ask Jeeves allows you to ask a question in plain English and, after interacting with you to confirm the question, takes you to one and only one web site that answers your question.
• Ask Oxford - This site is devoted to helping visitors make the best use of the English language. It includes a word of the day, quote of the week, language and writing tips, and word games. Users can email questions to the Oxford Word and Language Service.
• Association of Film Commissions - This site links to film commissions around the world. A useful aid for location scouting from your computer monitor.
• The Aviation Zone - The Aviation Zone bills itself as the most comprehensive online resource for military transports, aerial tankers, and fixed-wing gunships. The site represents about 75 different aircraft dating back to 1940, and includes over 2000 high-quality photo images, detailed fact sheets with aircraft diagrams, and dozens of video and sound files.
• Bartlett's Familiar Quotations - Searchable database of the standard reference work.
• Baseball Almanac - This site contains an enormous amount of information about baseball teams, players, managers, and ballparks, including quote books, statistics, and everything you'd ever want to know about the Hall of Fame.
• Baseball Reference - If you can't find the fact you're looking for about America's Pastime on this site, you're not trying. Stats on past and present players and managers, sections for every Major League Baseball team, and a whole lot more. A grand slam.
• Behind The Name - The site lists the origin and meaning of a huge number of first names.
• Bible Gateway - Search through six different English translations of the most widely read book in history. Besides English, you can search in French, German, Swedish, Spanish, Latin, and...Tagalog!
• Bibliomania - Bibliomania has complete texts of hundreds of classic literary works formatted for easy web browsing. A search tool lets you stroll through public-domain reference books, novels, short stories, drama, poetry, biographies, science texts, and other works.
• Biographical Dictionary - Includes more than 27,000 notable men and women who shaped our world from ancient times to present day. The dictionary can be searched by name, birth year, death year, positions held, profession, literary and artistic works, miscellaneous achievements, and other keywords.
• Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress - This site lists every Congressperson from 1774 to the present, including such basic info as state represented, political party, years served, and a short biographical paragraph. Searchable by name, state, and/or position, this is a great reference resource.
• Birding On The Web - If you're looking for facts about our fine feathered friends, this is the site for you.
• Britannica.com - The Encyclopedia Britannica, that peerless, quintessential reference work, is now online in its entirety, and its free. In at least two ways, the online version is even more useful than its hardcopy counterpart: subjects can be looked up using either specific terms or by category, and articles contain hyperlinks to related subject matter. We find the user interface a little clunky at this point, but hopefully that will be smoothed out with time.
• Bulfinch's Mythology - A searchable on-line version of the venerable reference work.
• Calendars Through The Ages - Unlike other websites which offer an assortment of actual calendars, this site concentrates on the how's and why's of a large variety of calendars. If you want to know why those things the bank gives you look the way they do (no matter what country you're in), click here.
• Card Games - Contains complete rules for hundreds of card and tile games from all over the world.
• CheeseNet - Okay, cheeseheads, this one's for you. This site houses a world of information on characteristics of various cheeses, the history of cheese, facts about cheesemaking, cheese in poetry and fiction, and much more.
• CIA Factbook 2001 - The newly-updated and re-designed version of the CIA's extremely useful global guide. Contains facts on 250 countries: maps, flags, and information on the geography, population, government, transportation, and defense systems of each country. Widely recognized as one of the finest online resources for quick country information.
• College and University Home Pages - Home pages for universities and colleges all over the world.
• Common Errors in English - A great place to check those tricky little spelling and grammatical quirks of our language. Are you sure you know the difference between "imply" and "infer"?
• Compendium of Common Knowledge: 1558-1603 - Full of interesting facts about and idiosyncrasies of the Elizabethan era, including language, religion, games, currency, foods, and a lot more. A WHOLE lot more.
• The Costume Gallery's Research Library - A rich resource dedicated to the art and history of costuming.
• Country Studies - Information on 85 countries around the globe, including photographs, tables, glossaries, and bibliographies.
• Crash Database - This Web site is the Internet's first fully searchable online database of virtually every commercial airline accident, from 1970 onward.
• Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships - The hardcopy version, commonly known as DANFS, is regarded as the foremost reference on US naval vessels. This online version of DANFS is similarly exhaustive, chronicling virtually every ship that the US Navy has ever put to sea. Among other things, it includes over 7,000 ship histories and physical characteristics.
• dMarie Time Capsule - This online database generates an information page for any given date from 1800 to the very recent past. Useful for an overview of headlines, top songs, Academy Award winners, and political leaders of the day.
• Duhaime's Law Dictionary - English and Latin legal terms translated into plain English, with internal hyperlinks.
• Ecclesiastical Calendar - Enter any year after 325 A.D. and get a chronological listing of the major ecclesiastical events for the year.
• eHow - Step-by-step instructions on how to do lots of stuff, like play third base, create an Austin Powers costume, or spot a Libra.
• The Elements of Style, William Strunk - Classic aid for basic writing.
• eNature.com - The core of this site is its searchable Field Guides section, containing information about more than 4,800 North American plants and animals. Also includes a searchable database of U.S. national parks.
• Encyclopedia Britannica Guide to Black History - Dedicated to the contributions African Americans have made to the cultural, political, and scientific life of the United States, this site features articles, photos, and a time-line going back to 1517.
• Encyclopedia of Conspiracies - Everything you were afraid to ask about conspiracy theories, neatly indexed by alphabet.
• The Encyclopedia Mythica - An on-line encyclopedia of mythology, folklore, legends, magic and more, with over 2,300 definitions of gods and goddesses, supernatural beings and legendary creatures and monsters from all over the world.
• ERIC - The Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC), a database of educational information and materials.
• Ethnologue - An exhaustive language reference that presents statistics about more than 6,700 tongues, including number of speakers, countries and regions, and dialects.
• Everyrule.com - Contains the rules for card, casino, and board games, and even for many TV game shows.
• The Farmer's Almanac - On-line version of the venerable print publication.
• FAQ Finder - FAQs are documents with answers to Frequently Asked Questions about a particular subject. This site helps you find a wealth of useful FAQs on the Web.
• The 50 States of the United States - Listings of state capitals; population figures; official birds, trees, flowers, and songs; government representatives; etc.
• FindArticles.com - Search for on-line articles from more than 300 magazines and journals.
• FishBase - If you're an ichthyologist (and who isn't?), you'll find this enormous database about everything to do with fish very useful. The site is so extensive there's even a section on fish stamps--for you philatelists.
• Foreignword.com - Provides 178 on-line dictionaries for 64 languages, as well as links to lots of other web-based language translators.
• Freetranslation.com - This site allows you to translate text or an entire Web page from Spanish, French, German or Portuguese to English, or from English to Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, Italian, or Norwegian. Be forewarned--the translations are sometimes laughable, but they will at least give you the gist of what's being said.
• French Reference Library - Potpourri of information including French national holidays, an on-line metric conversion program, a list of French departments (the French equivalent of states), a glossary of French legal terms, even French wine vintage tables.
• Fuller Up, The Dead Musician Directory - Named for the gasoline-swallowing event that took the life of young rocker Bobby Fuller, the creator says this is A Site About Dead Musicians And How They Got That Way. Even if it doesn't help you write your script, it might help you win a bar bet.
• Geography at About.com - This valuable jumping-off point for geography-related websites includes annotated links to hundreds of the best sites for maps and geographical information, an online world atlas, a glossary, weekly articles about geography, weekly quizzes, a forum and a chat room for geographical discussion. The historical map links are especially cool.
• Glass Encyclopedia - This site educates visitors about collectible glass, from depression glass to ornately cut crystal stemware. Along with a little history, listings occasionally include a list of recent auction prices.
• Glossary of Construction Terms - Need to know what a cantilever is? Or screeding? This site presents a limited but useful glossary of construction terms. Categories include Carpentry, Concrete, Electrical, Heating and Air Conditioning, Painting, Plumbing, and Roofing.
• Glossary of Hardboiled Slang - A guide to the English language as spoken by Philip Marlowe, Sam Spade, and Mike Hammer.
• Government Information Locator Service (GILS) - GILS records identify public information resources within the Federal Government, describe the information available in those resources, and assist in obtaining the information.
• Hickok's Sports History - Historical data on sports from air racing to yachting. The info on this site isn't comprehensive for any given sport, but it sure covers a lot of territory.
• Holidays on the Net - A site devoted to our favorite days. Choose a holiday and get a concise primer on the traditions, folklore, foods and fundamentals associated with it.
• Household Cyclopedia - A cyber-translation of the sort of book an American pioneer would have packed carefully into his covered wagon before heading West; a book for people who needed to be able, if the circumstances demanded, to amputate a limb, grow their own fiber for material, take care of their horses, give birth to children, build houses, concoct medicines, all with a minimum of help from others. Great stuff.
• How Stuff Works - Ever wonder how your cell phone works? Or your refrigerator? Or your immune system? Useful illustrations and clear explanations make this a great reference site.
• I Love Languages - Devoted to information about the languages of the world, ranging from dictionaries and general reference works to language tutorials and spoken samples.
• Inflation Calculator - Pick a year between 1800 and 1998, input a dollar amount, and find out what it was worth in any other year in that range.
• Information on Militias - A single page of links to websites of, and articles about, some of the scariest folks around.
• Information Please - On-line version of the classic all-purpose almanac and fact book. And like the printed version, this site contains an enormous potpourri of factoids. And unlike many websites, this outfit takes pride in the accuracy of its content.
• Infonation - A great source for up-to-date statistical information on all the member states of the United Nations. The database contains dozens of statistical categories including largest city, major imports, life expectancy, population growth, etc. And you can compare the stats for up to seven different countries.
• Infowar.com - Large collection of articles concerning computer hacking, cyber-terrorism, espionage, privacy issues, and more. If you're not paranoid, you will be after you read some of this stuff.
• International Atlas - This site, called Altapedia, supplies not only physical and political maps of the world, but concise social, political and historical profiles of every country. If you want to know the total area of Argentina, the capital of Kazakhstan, or the main exports of Estonia, this is the place for you.
• The Internet Archive - Web pages and sites appear and disappear constantly. This site is a digital archive that lets you search for Web pages that no longer exist in their original locations. Cool.
• Internet FAQ Archives - FAQs are Frequently Asked Questions, and thousands of FAQ lists on thousands of subjects are on the Net. Problem is, they're all over the place and they can be tough to locate. This site organizes them in easily searchable ways. You can choose to display listings by Category, Archive Name, Author, or Newsgroups. A handy and valuable research resource for topics from acorns to Zoroastrianism.
• Internet Hockey Database - This site has the standings and regular season scoring stats of every professional hockey team to play since 1926-27, as well as info on many junior, NCAA, and amateur teams. Not to mention an archive of hundreds of hockey team and league logos both past and present.
• Investopedia - If terms like "EBITDA" and "P/E Ratio" make you scratch your head, this on-line glossary will help you understand the special jargon of the financial world.
• ITOOLS - Search, language, and research tools.
• Jane's Internet Defence Glossary - Over 20,000 defense-related acronyms and abbreviations from the publisher of England's famous "Jane's All the World's Aircraft."
• Jargon File Resources - Everything you ever wanted to know about computer-speak, and more.
• Journalist's Guide for Finding Data on the Internet - Statistics geared to writers, basic reference data, and topics ranging from aviation to weather.
• Legends - Explanations of the songs and stories surrounding King Arthur, Robin Hood, pirtates, and other characters of legend and lore. Includes some links to original texts on-line.
• Librarian's Index to the Internet - Though designed for use by public librarians, this 7,000-site directory is a useful resource for any Web researcher. It includes links to sites related to the arts, education, geography, literature, law, medicine, sports, and many other subjects. Each site listing contains a brief review.
• Library Spot - A reference mega-portal with links to all sorts of dictionaries, thesauri, encyclopedias, maps, and more.
• Lighthouse Explorer Database - A database with information on over 1,300 lighthouses around the world. Browse the listings alphabetically, by category, by state or country, or search by keyword. Entries include name, location, supervising organization, contact information, email and website (when available), and in some cases a photo.
• List of Dictionaries - Links to lots of useful on-line dictionaries, including language-to-language, technical, rap, hackers dictionaries, acronyms, etc.
• LiveManuals - This site has multimedia manuals for a wide variety of common products. Requires downloading and installing a small plug-in, but the process is painless.
• MagPortal.com - A categorized index of links to some of the latest magazine articles available on the Net.
• MapQuest - This site will generate a zoomable map of any location in the U.S., down to the street level! You can find business addresses, get the distance between any two points, obtain personalized driving directions and shortcuts, etc.Includes interactive maps of six continents. Very cool.
• Medal of Honor Citations - More than 3,400 Medals of Honor have been presented to America's bravest military men and women since the decoration's creation in 1861. This site, arranged by wars and intervening time periods, lists each recipient along with a brief description of the actions that prompted the medal being awarded.
• Mental Health Matters - This extensive site includes research, libraries, societies, mental health law, databases, substance abuse, childhood disorders, phobias, anxiety disorders, and much more.
• Merriam-Webster Dictionary - On-line version of the standard reference text, with hyperlinks to associated terms.
• Merriam-Webster On-line - This website of the venerable dictionary publisher includes a hyperlinked dictionary and thesaurus, a handy pronunciation guide, and a daily word game.
• Military Analysis Network - Just one part of the Federation of American Scientists website, this enormous collection of data on American military and naval firepower may be the most comprehensive ever made available to the public.
• Minor League Baseball - Everything you might want to know about the diamond stars of tomorrow.
• NASA Thesaurus - Sound like you know what you're talking about with this low-tech, but detailed site.
• New York City Subway Resources - This site's collection of subway maps shows the system's evolution from the 1880's to the present, and it's Rolling Stock section highlights the locomotives and work cars of the subway, offering thousands of pictures of the current and retired fleets, as well as the trainyards that house the cars.
• The Nobel Channel -This rich and gorgeously-designed site boasts exclusive access to the largest archive of Nobel materials in the world.
• The Nobel Prize Internet Archive - Information on current and past Nobel Prize winners in all categories.
• OneLook Dictionaries - At this mega-dictionary site, you can input any word and the site will search close to 600 on-line dictionaries to retrieve a meaning. Words can be looked up with wild cards if you're not sure of the spelling, and the dictionaries referenced by this site cover a huge range of classifications including general, medical, scientific, computer, military, religious, and acronyms.
• Online Conversion - There are more than 8,100 conversions available on this extremely handy site. Need to convert feet to meters? Kilocalories to joules? No problem.
• ParkMaps.com - Get maps of favorite and hard-to-find parks from all over the world.
• The Phobia List - You wouldn't believe how many things there are to be afraid of, and this site seems to list them all. Interestingly, there doesn't appear to be any such thing as a fear of lists.
• ProfNet - Ask a question and have it answered by an expert source at one of more than 1,000 colleges and universities in North America and Europe. Free to reporters and writers, the ProfNet (Professors Network) database allows you to search 7,500 expert profiles and to send queries individually or in small groups.
• The Pulitzer Prizes - Contains the works and profiles of Pulitzer Prize winners past and present.
• refdesk.com - Refdesk is basically a reference portal of impressive scope. From this site you can link to a mind-boggling number of resources, from news to finding the best "10-10" long distance phone rates.
• Reference Desk - A comprehensive collection of reference links; it's like sitting in the middle of your public library research area.
• Researchpaper.com - An on-line repository of research papers covering over four thousand research topics across more than one hundred categories.
• Resources for Writers - Links to scores of Web sites for writing and research.
• Rhyme Zone - Type in a word to find its rhymes, synonyms, definitions, and more.
• Roget's Thesaurus- An on-line version of the standard reference book.
• RxList - Search this drug database for information about thousands of medications, dosages, side effects, drug interactions, and warnings. Includes a list of the top 200 medications prescribed in the U.S.
• Search for Scotland - Scotland's complicated history and complex character are explored in this website (a companion to the BBC's 10-part series of the same name), which explores the country's rich history and character. We liked the Historical Oddities section, especially the story of the 200-foot woman who washed up on the country's shores.
• SYMBOLS.com - Contains more than 2,500 Western signs (ranging from Cro-Magnon ideograms to hobo signs), arranged into 54 groups according to their graphic characteristics, plus 1,600 articles about their histories, uses, and meanings.
• The Slot - Bill Walsh, a copy editor at The Washington Post, presents this wry website dealing with the niceties and not-so-niceties of the English language. Not sure if the correct term is "jerry- rigged" or "jury-rigged"? Check out The Curmudgeon's Stylebook.
• THOR: The Online Resource - Created by Purdue University, this site collects links to a variety of reference materials (dictionaries, zip codes, maps, etc.) and organizes them into convenient and well-populated categories.
• Time Zone Converter - Handy on-line program that converts dates and times between major cities and countries all over the world.
• The Totally Unofficial Rap Dictionary - Get wit' dis.
• Travlang's Translating Dictionaries - Translate between a large assortment of languages, including Portuguese, Afrikaans, and Esperanto.
• Tutorialfind - This index of online tutorials leans pretty heavily toward computer-related tutorials, but it also covers arts and crafts, health and fitness, sports, and other topic areas.
• Universal Currency Converter - Fast on-line program that converts the current value between any of over sixty currencies, as well as gold, silver and platinum.
• U.S. Census Bureau - Searchable statistics on social, demographic and economic information for the United States from the official 1990 census. Maps, customizable search matrices and numbers galore.
• Usenet Message Archives - Searchable statistics on social, demographic and economic information for the United States from the official 1990 census. Maps, customizable search matrices and numbers galore.
• US Military Aviation - An extensive website dealing with active aircraft operating units and air bases of US forces around the world. Includes links to related US organizations and other aviation sites as well as a government website search engine.
• Webtender - One of your characters is a bartender. Yeah, that's it! This site has nearly 6,000 cocktail recipes to keep the party a happening place.
• Whatis.com - An on-line encyclopedia for the IT (Information Technology) Age. Need to know what a "qubit" is? Look it up here.
• Wildflower Center - The companion website for former First Lady Lady Bird Johnson's Texas-based Wildflower Center, its database can be searched by state, common name, and scientific name.
• Witchcraft In Salem Village - 18 people were hanged as witches in Salem, Massachusetts in the late 1600s. This site offers sizable collections of verbatim transcripts from the 1692 trials, and narratives from witchcraft cases between 1648 and 1706. Also included: the digitized full text of a 1693 treatise on witchcraft, a brief introduction to the Salem trials, a map of Salem village, and some answers to FAQs about witchcraft.
• WordNet - An extremely useful searchable on-line dictionary/thesaurus. Includes how terms are used in context.
• The Word Spy - This Web site and its associated mailing list are devoted to recently coined words, existing words that have enjoyed a recent renaissance, and older words that are now being used in new ways.
• World Wide Words - If you're the type who's curious about the origins of phrases like "hat trick" or the meanings of obscure words like "autohagiography," Michael Quinion is your man. His site explores the English language's many strange and fascinating roots.
• Writer's Free Reference - An extensive list of free reference web pages useful to writers and anyone looking for free information.
• Writer's Resource Center and Reference Library - A great place to kick-start any writer's imagination, this website is an interestingly organized group of links to other websites. Includes sections on nostalgia and other provocative locations, searchable databases, various on-line reference works, even puzzles to sharpen your wits.
• WWWebster Dictionary - Merriam-Webster's searchable on-line dictionary provides hyperlinked definitions, word origins and pronunciations.
• Yahoo Phone & Address Reference - This handy section of the Yahoo search site lets you look up businesses/individuals and find national and international area codes.
• Yourdictionary.com - A fabulous compendium of on-line dictionaries and thesauri of every imaginable description, including foreign language, acronyms, biographical, multilingual, and the ever-popular Pimbly's Dictionary of Heraldry. If you can't find it here, it's probably not a word.

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Science

• Autopsy - Think of it as "My First Real Book of Autopsies". Put together by a professional pathologist, this small but concise site explains in very simple lay terms the procedure followed in an autopsy. And it includes cute cartoony illustrations.
• Billion Dollar U.S. Weather Disasters (1980-1998) - The National Climatic Data Center presents these summaries of the costliest weather disasters to hit the U.S. in the last two decades. Includes detailed summaries, images, and links to additional resources.
• Biotechnology Information Center - Guides, directories and newsletters -- along with tons of things you won't remotely understand.
• CSICOP - Skeptics unite! This site from the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP) investigates paranormal and fringe-science claims.
• eNature.com - The core of this site is its searchable Field Guides section, containing information about more than 4,800 North American plants and animals. Also includes a searchable database of U.S. national parks.
• EurekAlert - A comprehensive news server for up-to-date research in science, medicine, and engineering. Tracks the latest advances in cancer treatments, gene mapping, global warming, space probes, etc.
• Fear of Physics - This modest site tries to take the mystery out of certain areas of physics by explaining them in plain English. It includes some interactive experiments that let you explore physics in action by, for example, practicing your dunk shot and riding a roller coaster.
• Forensic Science Web Pages - Provides lay person-level explanations of the main disciplines within forensic science. Includes links to more technically-oriented forensic sites.
• The Galileo Project - A hypertext source of information on the life and work of Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) and the science of his time. Includes maps and timelines.
• How Stuff Works - This site offers refreshingly easy-to-understand explanations of how many everyday objects around us operate. It includes some animated diagrams to make things easier. And best of all, the site is operated by... Mr. Brain! We kid you not.
• How Things Work - Louis A. Bloomfield, Professor of Physics at the University of Virginia, provides this site where you can ask him to explain, in simple terms, how the things around us operate.
• Latent Print Examination - Fingerprint expert Ed German, a veteran print examiner with 25 years of U.S. Army criminal investigations under his belt, presents this website that should tell you everything you might want to know about the art and craft of fingerprinting.
• NASA Kennedy Space Center -information on recent missions, manuals, phone contacts and space-related links
• PhysLINK - Includes links to equations, online periodic tables, nuclear and particle physics resources, physics journals, newsletters, and publishers.
• PLANTS - Provided by the US Dept. of Agriculture, the PLANTS Database provides a single source of standardized information about plants. PLANTS provides standardized plant names, symbols and other plant attribute information. What does PLANTS stand for? Plant List of Attributes, Nomenclature, Taxonomy, and Symbols. Hey, it's a government acronym, after all.
• Frank Potter's Science Gems - Physical science, earth science, life science, mathematics, and engineering.
• RxList - Information on over 4,500 of the most common drugs in use today. Includes a medical encyclopedia defining over 53,000 terms as well as a section on alternative medicine.
• SciCentral - Maintained by professional scientists, this site's mission is to identify and centralize access to the most valuable scientific resources online. It provides a gateway to over 50,000 sites pertaining to over 120 specialties in science and engineering.
• Your Weight on Other Planets - Putting on a few pounds? Take heart -- you can weigh much less if you travel to a different planet. This calculator gives your poundage elsewhere in the solar system.

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Screenwriter Sites

• All About Screenwriting - A site offering many full screenplays, info on script structure, agent listings, contests, and a screenwriting club.
• Box Office Guru - An unbelievably comprehensive and constantly updated collection of film box office stats, including opening/total grosses for over 1600 pix released since 1989; current and past opening weekends; monthly averages; a release schedule for the coming four months, and some very pithy commentary by Gitesh Pandya, whose site this is. Gitesh deserves a medal.
• Done Deal - A constantly-updated list of recent film script deals, including title, log line, studio, agent, price, and other info. A truly great resource. Be sure to check out the New Archives section.
• Emotional Toolbox - Laurie H. Hutzler teaches in the MFA Program and the Professional Program in screenwriting at the UCLA Film School. Her website offers lots of free screenwriting information, tools, and materials from her courses. It lists her UCLA seminars and workshops that are open to the public and profiles her consulting work.
• Equery Direct - A query submission service to over 300 literary agents and managers via email.
• Free Script Exchange - Aims to give beginning writers a chance to get visibility. Based on the notion that beginning writers have the least resources (and funds for marketing of their work) we offer a place were they can review other's materials and improve their skills. This site is absolutely free and requires all posted material to be registered with the WGA.
• Hollywood Writers Network - Beginning material and current industry information.
• Inside Film Magazine Online - This site features listings of film festivals all over the world, as well as articles which focus on independent film and filmmakers.
• The Internet Movie Database - First and foremost, the site contains the best searchable online database of information about films. Over 180,000 of them! But the IMDB site doesn't stop there. This vast resource also includes current and near-future movie releases, recent box office numbers, movie quotes, daily entertainment news, and much more. Indispensable.
• The Online Communicator Website - This rich and diverse site is divided into main sections that include film, video, writing, talent, audio, and multimedia. Each of these sections has a wealth of varied and valuable links to real information that real writers can use. Too much to describe, just check it out.
• Name-o-Matic - A free site that generates last names, masculine and feminine first names, and masculine and feminine full (first & last) names. With over 5,300 first names and 34,000 last names, there are more than 185 million unique name combinations.
• PAGE - The Professional Authors Group Enterprise - a full-service bulletin board system for and run by professional writers, with dozens of forums on writing, as well as general information topics.
• ScreenplayContests.com - Home of the world's most popular screenplay contests!
• Screenwriters & Playwrights Home Page - Designed to meet the special needs of screenwriters and playwrights.
• Screenwriters Inc. - Screenwriters Inc. is the only organization in Los Angeles that mounts weekly workshop readings of original screenplays. It is the Writers Division of the Filmmakers Alliance. Screenwriters Inc. holds weekly staged readings of original screenplays at the Strasberg Theater Institute. The readings are presented in workshop format with cast actors and constructive feedback afterwards.
• Screenwriters Utopia - Lots of interviews, articles, and links of interest to both new and seasoned screenscribes. The site also has bulletin board and chat areas.
• Screenwriting Source - Provides an online directory of literary agents and managers, film production companies, and movie producers, as well as a continually updated list of articles to help new screenwriters.
• TheScriptSmith - TheScriptSmith offers script analysis, development notes and consulting for screenwriters. The website also includes tips for aspiring screenwriters and selected industry links, including WGA.org, as a resource for signatory agent listings and the magazine, Written By.
• Scriptologist.com - The how-to magazine for screenwriters that shows you how to write and sell your screenplay to Hollywood.
• Spec Screenplay Website - Aimed primarily at the novice screenwriter, this site includes an area where "producers" can leave messages about what kind of scripts they're looking for and a companion area where writers can post synopses of their original scripts. We put "producer" in quotes because the website doesn't vouch for the producers trolling for material, so be careful: protect your script (by registering it with the Writers Guild, for example). The site also contains tips for writers, a chat room and various message boards.
• Stars' Agents - A section of the Moviepartners.com site, this is a fairly extensive list of Hollywood's hottest performers and the agents and managers who represent them.
• Wordplay - From working screenwriters Terry Rossio and Ted Elliott, this site reveals some of the secrets of writing and selling scripts. Scripters just breaking in will find Terry's and Ted's answers to questions in the Letters and Q&A sections especially useful. Pros might, too.
• World of Writing - Many writing-related links.
• The Writers Store - The Writers Store celebrating its 23rd anniversary, is recognized as a leading resource for specialized software, books, supplies and reference materials for writers and filmmakers. An artist-friendly destination for established screenwriters and authors as well as newcomers, the Writers Store not only provides the necessary tools of the art, but is also a welcoming haven for the writing community to connect and share tips and tales.
• WriteWood Screenplay Consulting - Expert screenwriting analysis by a veteran top level development and production executive for the major Hollywood studios. Douglas Wood is bringing his years of expertise to the aspiring screenwriter due to his belief that Hollywood always needs fresh voices and that untapped talent can come from just about anywhere, not just within the confines of its own backyard.
• ;Writer's Dreamtools - A collection of tools to enhance writers’ and students’ creativity, spark ideas and fight writer’s block.

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Script Software

• Final Draft 7 - The Screenwriter's Choice ®. You have a story to tell. Use Final Draft to write it. Use your creative energy to focus on the content; let Final Draft take care of the style. Final Draft is the number-one selling word processor specifically designed for writing movie scripts, television episodics and stage plays. It combines powerful word processing with professional script formatting in one self-contained, easy-to-use package. There is no need to learn about script formatting rules — Final Draft automatically paginates and formats your script to industry standards as you write.
• Final Draft AV 2.5 - Watch your ideas line up. Final Draft AV is the only dedicated full-featured scriptwriting software specifically designed for the professional writers of commercials, corporate and training videos, documentaries and presentations. Unlike standard word processors, Final Draft AV keeps the audio and video columns automatically aligned when text is added, edited or deleted. There are no complicated commands to learn and no need to worry about style or placement of text; Final Draft AV creates a professionally formatted Audio-Visual script in no time.
• Montage - The only screenwriting software exclusively developed for Mac OS X, Montage makes it easy to create, edit, and manage screenplays on your Mac. From the ability to import Final Draft documents, to using custom, pre-formatted templates for film, TV, and theater, to the Smart Views, Montage helps guide both the first-time screenwriter and the seasoned veteran from start to finish. When you’re finished, Montage allows you to submit, track, and send your query, synopsis, and scripts to hundreds of included industry contacts through Montage's integration with Apple's Address Book.
• Movie Magic Screenwriter - Movie Magic Screenwriter is the best selling* screenplay formatting software and the choice of Hollywood professionals. Screenwriter automatically formats while you write so you can focus on what you’re writing, not where it goes on the page. It also formats for television, stage, novels and comic book scripts so you’ve got an all in one package for any story you want to write. With a massive set of features designed to make the rewriting process fast and simple you can get from FADE IN: to FADE OUT effortlessly. Online collaboration, the ability to compare drafts of screenplays and the most comprehensive production features of any screenwriting software all make Movie Magic Screenwriter the clear choice for getting your stories from concept to screen. *NPD tracks world-wide software sales at over 27,000 brick and mortar retail locations, including CompUSA, and 9 e-commerce retailers, including Amazon.com.
• Page 2 Stage - The Screenwriter's word processor. Page 2 Stage is screenwriting software designed expressly for people writing screenplays, scripts, and plays. It provides numerous features needed by screenwriters not found in standard word processors. Written from the ground up it is the fastest and most modern screenwriting word processor available on the market today. Page 2 Stage operates exactly as you expect a Windows program to.
• Scriptware - What makes Scriptware the best-selling scriptwriting word processor in Hollywood (and the rest of the world)? Simple. With Scriptware scriptwriting software you have the fastest, easiest and most powerful way to get the story that's in your head onto the page in the format professionals demand. As you type, Scriptware formats. Automatically, instantly and perfectly. Margin changes, capitalization, spacing and all the rest happen on the fly and on your screen. And when you get to the end of a page, Scriptware knows what to do there, too. It breaks scenes, action, and dialogue in the proper places. It puts in (more) and (CONTINUED) lines when you need them. When you make changes on page one, Scriptware invisibly checks and paginates every page afterwards! If you know nothing about formatting, Scriptware does everything you need. If you want to change a format so it's just right, Scriptware lets you do everything you want. Scriptware is a full-featured word processor with everything you'd expect: Cut and Paste. Speed Buttons. 100,000+ word Spell Check and Thesaurus. Headers and Footers. Find and Replace. Autosave. Bookmarks. Plus, Scriptware has features you won't find in your word processor, but will want as a script writer: Quick Lists (to enter names, scenes and more with one keystroke). Electronic Script Notes. Automatic Page, Scene and Act numbering. Instant Title Pages(s). Scene Shuffle (rearrange your script as if it were on index cards). Breakdown reports. And much more.

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Weather & Travel

• thebackpacker.com - Thinking (or writing) about hitting the trails? At this information-packed backpacking site, you can learn the basics about clothing, gear, and related subjects; read articles from other backpackers about their adventures; search a database of trails to find prime locations in your region; and browse links backpacking-related sites.
• CNN - Weather Main Page - CNN world maps, weather, satellite images, updated every 12 hours.
• Extreme Weather Sourcebook 2001 - This site offers figures on the economic damage from hurricanes, floods, and tornadoes in the United States and its territories. Time spans for each type of extreme weather vary from 50 to 100 years back.
• Lonely Planet - Very comprehensive travel guides and detailed commentary.
• MapQuest - This site will generate a zoomable map of any location in the U.S., down to the street level! You can find business addresses, get the distance between any two points, obtain personalized driving directions and shortcuts, etc. Includes interactive maps of six continents. Very cool.
• ParkMaps.com - Get maps of favorite and hard-to-find parks from all over the world.
• Travel.org - A detailed travel directory with well-organized links to countless international sites.
• UM Weather - Provides access to thousands of forecasts, images, and a huge collection of related weather links.

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