General Reference Sources

This guide compiles online general purpose reference sources. For resources on specific topics, including health-related information, please see this guide.

I. Acronyms/Abbreviations

II. Citation and Style

III. Company Information

IV. Dictionaries, Glossaries, and Thesauri

V. Encyclopedias

VI. General Reference Sources

VII. Internet Archives

VIII. Library Catalogs

IX. Maps

X. Quotations

XI. Statistics

XII. Telephone/Address Directories

I. Acronyms/Abbreviations

• Common Legal Abbreviations - From the Southern Illinois University School of Law Library.

• GovSpeak: A Guide to Government Acronyms & Abbreviations - Lists acronyms and abbreviations commonly used by the United States federal government. From University of California San Diego.

• Bluebook Abbreviations of Law Review Titles - Bluebook abbreviations for law reviews indexed in the Current Index to Legal Periodicals (CLIP). From the University of Washington Gallagher Law Library.

• Cardiff Index to Legal Abbreviations - Focuses on English language legal publications, from the British Isles, the Commonwealth and the United States. Compiled by Cardiff University, Wales.

• MediLexicon - Over 70,000 medical, pharmaceutical, biomedical & healthcare acronyms and abbreviations.

II. Citation and Style

• Introduction to Basic Legal Citation - A citation primer by Prof. Peter W. Martin (Legal Information Institute (LII), Cornell Law School). Based on the Bluebook.

• Oxford Standard Citation of Legal Authorities (OSCOLA) - A publication providing a system of citation for legal writing focusing on the United Kingdom. Produced by the Oxford Law Faculty in consultation with leading academic law publishers.

• The Maroonbook: The University of Chicago Manual of Legal Citation (PDF) - Citation handbook edited by the University of Chicago Law Review.

• Citing Electronic Information - A collection of resources about how to cite electronic sources. Includes links to style guides, citation generators, and citation format bibliography. Compiled by the Internet Public Library (IPL).

• International Legal Citation Manual - A project of the Washington University in Saint Louis Global Studies Law Review. Arranged by country, this manual provides citation format for constitutions, laws, codes, statutes, administrative regulations, case law, journals and treaties.

• The Elements of Style, William Strunk, Jr. - Freely available electronic reproduction of the first edition of the seminal style guide.

III. Company Information

• Illinois Secretary of State Corporation/LLC Search
  • Publications and Forms - From the Business Services department

• North American Industry Classification System (NAICS)

IV. Dictionaries, Glossaries, and Thesauri

• FindLaw Legal Dictionary - Free legal dictionary with more than 8,000 entries.

• A Law Dictionary by John Bouvier - The 1856 6th edition of the first American legal dictionary. From the Constitution Society.

• The 'Lectric Law Library's Legal Lexicon's Lyceum - Free online legal dictionary partially incorporating material from Bouvier's Law Dictionary.

• Wex - Free community-built legal dictionary and encyclopedia from the Cornell Legal Information Institute (LII)
  • También disponible en español

• Glossary of Legal Terms (PDF) - Provided by the American Bar Association.

• Merriam-Webster's Thesaurus 

• Roget's International Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases

V. Encyclopedias

• NOLO Legal Encyclopedia - Articles on legal topics written for a general audience

• Wex - Free community-built legal dictionary and encyclopedia from the Cornell Legal Information Institute (LII).
  • También disponible en español

• Electronic Encyclopedia of Chicago - Comprehensive encyclopedia of Chicago history. A collaboration between the Chicago History Museum, the Newberry, and Northwestern University

VI. General Reference Sources

• Robert's Rules of Order - The most commonly used manual of parliamentary procedure in the United States.

• Codes of Ethics Online - A compilation of ethics codes from industry, the professions, sciences, associations and organizations provided by the Center for the Study of Ethics in the Professions (IIT)

• National Association of Counties (NACo) - Select a state to find a listing of counties and a listing of cities with county seat. Links for county web sites when available.

• Federal Citizen Information Center - Formerly the Federal Consumer Information Center. Features guides and handbooks on a variety of consumer topics including cars, computers, education, employment, family, federal programs, food, health, housing, money, small business and more.

• Internet Public Library - Resources on a wide variety of subjects as well as newspapers and magazines. Originally maintained by the University of Michigan School of Information; now hosted by the Drexel iSchool. No longer updated as of June 2015.

• Kelley Blue Book - The standard for determining car value.

• World Factbook - Provides basic information about countries worldwide. From the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)

• Chronicling America - Search and view newspaper pages from 1880-1922 and find information about American newspapers published between 1690-present. Provided by the United States Library of Congress.

• Internet Scout - High quality Internet resources selected by librarians and educators. From University of Wisconsin-Madison.

• SearchSystems - Searchable public record database for states, counties and municipalities. Also links for Canadian and global public records.

VII. Internet Archives

• WayBack Machine - Searchy by URL for archived versions of websites. From the Internet Archive.

• CyberCemetary - Permanent public archive of government websites that have ceased operation. Browse agencies by branch of government, date of expiration, or agency name. Provided by University of North Texas Libraries.

VIII. Library Catalogs

• Cook County Law Library

• Chicago Public Library

• The Newberry

• CARLI I-Share - Search the catalogs of the more than 125 member libraries of the Consorium of Academic and Research Libraries in Illinois.

• Supreme Court of Illinois Law Library

• Library of Congress

• WorldCat - Search the collections of more than 10,000 libraries worldwide

Chicago Area Law School Libraries

• Chicago-Kent

• DePaul

• John Marshall Law School

• Loyola University Chicago

• Northwestern

• University of Chicago

Other Illinois Academic Law Libraries

• Northern Illinois University

• University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

• Southern Illinois University Carbondale

Other Illinois County Law Libraries

• DuPage County

• Kane County

• William D. Block Memorial Library (Lake County)

IX. Maps

• Maps and Geospatial Data - Interactive maps of Cook County. Includes maps featuring transportation infrastructure, Tax Increment Financing (TIF) Districts, County facilities, fishing lakes, and more. From Cook County Geographic Information Systems (GIS)

• City of Chicago Geographic Information Systems - Interactive maps of Chicago that display political boundaries, public transit routes, street closures, and more.

• National Geographic Maps - Locate maps for any place on Earth, and view it by population, climate, and much more. Browse antique maps and find country facts. Formerly known as MapMachine.

• National Map - Interactive maps and data sets from the United States Geological Survey (USGS)

• Protected Area Database of the United States (PAD-US) - The official inventory of protected land in all U.S. states and territories. View areas protected by state, local, and federal agencies.

• Atlas of Historical County Boundaries - Map and text data featuring the boundaries of all United States Counties from inception to the present. Also includes information on unsuccessful authorizations for new counties, changes in county names and organization, and the temporary attachments of non-county areas and unorganized counties to fully functioning counties. From the Newberry's William M. Scholl Center for American History and Culture.

• Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection - Maps from around the world including online maps of current interest.

X. Quotations

• Bartlett's Familiar Quotations - Full text of the 1919 10th edition.

• Respectfully Quoted - The 2,100 quotations most frequently requested by members of the United States Congress.

• Wikiquote - Free online database of quotations in dozens of languages. Organized by person, literary work, theme, location, and more.

XI. Statistics

• Bureau of Labor Statistics - Part of the United States Department of Labor.

• Consumer Price Index (CPI) - Monthly data on the change in price paid by consumers on a representative mix of goods and services.

• FedStates - The portal to statistics from over 100 U.S. Federal agencies.

• NationMaster - Compare statistical information on more than 300 countries.

XII. Telephone/Address Directories

• AnyWho - Includes white pages, yellow pages, toll-free numbers, email lookup and reverse lookup.

• Zip Code Lookup - Find zip codes for commercial and residential addresses or generate lists of all cities within a given zip code. From the United States Postal Service (USPS)

• Frank's Compulsive Guide to Postal Addresses - Information compiled at Columbia University for effective addressing for international mail. Arranged by world region.

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The web sites listed in this guide are for information only and are not endorsed or supported by the Cook County Law Library. Please independently verify the accuracy and currency of all information. Consult an attorney for legal advice.

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Revised August 2017 by David Sanborne