There are some sites online that are just amazing.
When I first started writing freelance articles for magazines there was very little useful information online; what there was almost invariably involved buying a usually quite expensive subscription to access it. In the end my friend the research librarian usually found what I needed to know for free.
Now there is so much ‘free’ information online that sifting through it to find the good stuff is the problem.
Here are links to a number of sites which I think provide outstanding information. I’ve sorted them by topic alphabetically and will be adding new topics from time to time;
The Best Starting Point for Research on just about any Subject
Ipl2; information you can trust is a public service organization maintained by thousands of students and volunteer library and information science professionals.
“In January 2010, the website “ipl2: information you can trust” was launched, merging the collections of resources from the Internet Public Library (IPL) and the Librarians’ Internet Index (LII) websites. The site is hosted by Drexel University’s College of Information Science & Technology, and a consortium of colleges and universities with programs in information science are involved in developing and maintaining the ipl2.”
If you are looking for useful information on just about any subject this has to be one of the best places to start. Avoid slogging through pages of SEO tweaked search results and get right to the source. Seriously, start with this one. I know I’ll be using it often myself.
Health
The BC Health Guide Online is a great resource for basic human health information, also offers links to provincial health resources and the latest public health alerts.
The Health Canada website includes all kinds of information on government health policies and legislation as well as information about consumer product safety, drugs and health products, environmental and workplace health, first Nations and Inuit health, food and nutrition, health concerns and science and research.
The Canadian Mental Health Association, Ontario website where you can probably find an answer to just about any question you might ask about mental health and related issues.
Women’s Health Matters contains current and informative pages focusing on women’s health issues from the Women’s College Hospital in Toronto.
The Mayo clinic site provides up to date health information and access to information about ongoing research at the clinic and more.
The New England Journal of Medicine is a good place to look for the latest developments in medicine and research. Sometimes tough slogging for those of us not actually working in the field of medicine.
The Parkhurst Exchange site might be worth a look if you want to maybe take a slightly different point of view. Published by Parkhurst Publishing which publishes a number of ‘physician publications.’
Natural Sciences
The Census of Marine Life posts an image gallery with fascinating photos of marine life. The project itself is an inspiration.
The Encyclopedia of Life is for anytime you want to take a look at just about any living thing on the planet.
Words from the site; “Our goal is to make freely available to anyone knowledge about all the world’s organisms.”
‘The Flora’ or ‘The Fauna’ of British Columbia can be found in these electronic atlases.