Language & Writing

Other Language Resources

• A Basic Guide to ASL

  Combines text, graphics, and animations to provide sign definitions for letters, numbers and many common terms.

General Sites

• AmericanRhetoric.com

  Hundreds of famous speeches in text, audio and/or video format.

• Bartleby.com Great Books Online

  Search dictionaries, thesauri, English usage, encyclopedias, quotation books, Elements of Style and more reference works.

• OneLook Reverse Dictionary

  Enter a concept (such as "green fruit" or "urge to travel") and get back a list of words and phrases related to that concept. Great for solving crossword puzzles!

• The Word Spy

  Devoted to recently coined words and phrases, old words that are being used in new ways, and existing words that have enjoyed a recent renaissance.

Foreign Language Instruction

• BBC Languages

  Free lessons and resources for learning Spanish, French, German, and Italian, as well as limited reources for a few other languages.

• How to Learn any Language

  Information and resources on teaching yourself foreign languages.

Tools for Students

• Citing Sources

  Duke University guide to citing sources in a variety of formats: MLA, APA, Chicago and Turabian. Also includes citations for electronic sources.

• Cliche Finder

  Have you been searching for just the right cliche to use? Cliche Finder can help.

• WorksCited4U

  Workscited4U automatically compiles MLA formatted bibliographies.

Dictionary and Thesauri

• Dictionary.com

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• OneLook Dictionaries

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• Thesaurus.com

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• Thinkmap Visual Thesaurus

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• WriteExpress Online Rhyming Dictionary

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• YourDictionary.com

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ESL Resources

• English as a Second Language

  A comprehensive and well organized ESL Web directory. A good starting point for ESL learners who want to learn English through the Web.

• ESL Resources

  Purdue University web site that offers resources for ESL students such as handouts, quizzes, questions, internet links and other helpful information.

Foreign Language Resources

• Ethnologue, Languages of the World

  Comprehensive database of the world's languages featuring language data, language maps, and other resources.

• I Love Languages

  A comprehensive catalog of over 4,200 hand-picked language-related Internet resources.

• Livemocha

  The world's largest online language learning community.

• Omniglot

  Provides a guide to over 200 different alphabets, syllabaries and other writing systems (like hieroglyphics, cuneiform etc. etc.), plus links to further resources.

Grammar Guides

• Jack Lynch's Guide to Grammar and Style

  A miscellany of grammatical rules and explanations, comments on style, and suggestions on usage.

• Purdue's Online Writing Lab

  Over 500 pages of handouts, tutorials, and workshops, plus hundreds of links to other writings resources across the web. An excellent grammar and punctuation resource!

• The Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation

  An easy-to-use reference guide to proper English grammar and punctuation.

• University of Chicago - Grammar Resources on the Web

  A listing of on-line resources on grammar, usage, English as a Second Language, and gender-neutral language.

Comprehensive Sites

• Legal Information Institute

  Legal information like court opinions, Constitution, codes, etc.