• Search the Collins English Dictionary (2000 edition) at WordReference.com (use the English Definition section at the bottom of the page). The site also offers translation tools.

• Use xrefer to search encyclopaedias, dictionaries, thesauri and books of quotations from OUP, Penguin, Bloomsbury and Macmillan.

• The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy covers all sorts of cultural references. You can search, browse, or page through sections which include fine arts, idioms, proverbs, the Bible, world geography, mythology and history.

• Search the McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific and Technical Terms.

• Use the acronym finder to search 50,000 acronyms. Consult various language, specialised or English dictionaries, or look up Webster's dictionary.

• Hear a word pronounced at the Encarta World English Dictionary.

• Check synonyms at Roget's Thesaurus or other thesauri.

• Search computing terms in the PC Webopaedia.

• Search one of four Cambridge dictionaries.

• There is a whole range of tools at Research-it, including language identifiers, dictionaries and thesauri, and various look-up tools for people and addresses.

• Use the Bloomsbury research centre for quotations, a thesaurus and other look up tools.

• For English usage, consult Fowler's The King's English, or other style guides and writing resources at dictionary.com

• Consult a range of grammar guides at a YourDictionary's Grammars..

• Look up dictionaries and thesauri at KnowPlay.

Encyclopaedias

• Consult Hutchinson's Encyclopedia, Encarta, the Columbia Encyclopaedia or Encyclopaedia Britannica (fees may apply to Britannica).

• Use xrefer to search encyclopaedias, dictionaries, thesauri and books of quotations from OUP, Penguin, Bloomsbury and Macmillan.

• Use the Bloomsbury research centre for quotations, a thesaurus and other look up tools.

Telephone, Fax and Email Directories

• Need an Australian phone number? Both Telstra's white pages and yellow pages are searchable online.

• Find people's telephone numbers, fax numbers and addresses worldwide in either the International White and Yellow Pages or via Telephone Directories on the Web.

• The all nations telephone search engine provides dialling codes and links to appropriate searchable phone directories.

• World time at World Time.

• The US Naval Observatory provides global rising and setting times for the sun and moon.

Facts and factbooks

• How far is it? Find the distance between places, e.g. the distance from Brisbane to Townsville, or try GeoScience Australia's place names search.

• Find a whole range of geographic facts and information about Australia, see a map of Australia, or search Atlapedia for broader information about Australia or other countries.

• To find general information about countries of the world, consult the CIA's World Fact Book. It includes maps, statistics, demographic data, geography, land use, and current government information.

• The CIA also provides an online guide to Chiefs of State and Cabinet Members of Foreign Governments.

• Search the Guinness book of records.

Calculators and converters

• Consult the Dictionary of Units of Measurement to find measurement terms from around the world explained.

• Find a huge range of online calculators, or use a morse code translator.

• Check the worth of the A$ and other world currencies, according to today's market trading, at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and the Bank of Montreal's universal currency converter.

• Exchange rates for earlier dates can be found via the historical currency table.