Research Sites for Writers: Refdesk

Refdesk is not a search engine, it’s a reference website. It is, in effect, a virtual version of the sort of thing you might find in the Reference section of your local library.

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Research Sites for Writers: Creative Commons

A good starting point for anyone wishing to find information, a picture, a recording or a video that they can reuse without falling foul of copyright law is the Creative Commons search site. As well as a good starting point, it’s a good one-stop shop, given that it covers such a range of media types.

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Research Sites for Writers: Ask

Ask goes back a long time. Originally called Ask Jeeves (and still called Ask Jeeves in the UK), it features a picture of an English Butler. Butlers have a reputation for serious quiet and efficient service; does Ask make the grade?

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Research Sites for Writers: Collecta

Collecta is well-named. A search engine, Collecta collects results from all over the social web: blogs, comments on blogs, tweets, social bookmarks – even videos and photos.

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Research Sites for Writers: Bing

Is Bing a sort of poor man’s Google? There is always a temptation to compare any search engine with Google, but each has its own strengths and shortcomings.

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