Research References
There are numerous list of development research resources that are available these days. This is by no means comprehensive list, as I don’t see the need to duplicate what development research colleagues have done so well already at sites like Portico from the University of Virginia and Stanford University’s Development Research Online Resources. Please see Development Research Sites of Note below for a few other collections.
Here I am simply sharing my favorites and regular go-to sites. Additionally, I am saving bookmarks with a “development_research” tag at my collection at Pinboard.
If you have a suggestion or if you encounter a broken link, I welcome your feedback. Please contact me.
General Search:
- Alta Vista: http://www.altavista.com/
A search classic.
- Blekko: http://blekko.com/
Slashtag searching to filter your search.
- Dogpile: http://www.dogpile.com/
Meta search engine.
- Google: http://www.google.com
According to On the Media, “the intrepid, intrusive gateway to everything…”
- WayBack Machine: http://www.archive.org/web/web.php
Historical web search.
- Zuula: http://www.zuula.com/
Meta search engine.
Directories:
- Anywho: http://www.anywho.com/
Online directory.
- Info USA: http://www.infousa.com/
Directory assistance.
- Who Called Us: http://whocalled.us/
Reverse phone lookup.
Biographic
- Anybirthday: http://www.anybirthday.com/
Public records.
- Dead People Server: http://dpsinfo.com/dps/
Useful and entertaining. Confirm celebrity deaths here.
- Forbes People Tracker: http://people.forbes.com/
Business bios.
- Legacy.com http://www.legacy.com/ns/
Obituaries database.
- Muckety http://www.muckety.com/
Relationship mapping – who knows who
- Obituary Archive: http://oa.newsbank.com/
Obituaries database.
- Search Systems: http://publicrecords.searchsystems.net/
Free public records.
- Social Security Death Index: http://ssdi.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/ssdi.cgi
Confirm dates of death.
News
- Chicago Public Library: http://www.chipublib.org/cplbooksmovies/research/newspapers.php
I recommend that in lieu of a subscription service like Lexis Nexis, ProQuest or Factiva, use your local public library. Many local libraries have searchable news databases available to the public (usually only if you have an active library card). The Chicago Public Library has a wonderful list of resources.
- Chronicling America: http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/
From the Library of Congress, more than 500 digitized US Newspapers from 1836-1922. Subsite http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/search/titles/ will allow you to search the newspaper directory from 1690 to the present.
- Hometown Free Press: http://www.hometownfreepress.com/usa.htm
Small town newspapers
- Newsroom: http://assignmenteditor.com/
An exhaustive list of news outlets
Business
- Business Journals: http://www.bizjournals.com/
Local business journals
- Crain’s Chicago Business: http://www.chicagobusiness.com/
Chicago business news
Public company records.
- Yahoo! Finance: http://finance.yahoo.com/
Stock quotes, current and historical
Assets and wealth
- Bucknet: http://www.bucnet.com/
Boat values and boats for sale.
Plane owners search.
- SalaryList: http://www.salarylist.com/
Salary estimation
- Tax Assessor Database: http://www.pulawski.net/
State-by-state, county-by-county assessors offices, for real estate valuation.
- Zillow: http://www.zillow.com/
Real estate valuation.
Development Research Sites Of Note
- Internet Prospector http://webcert.fullerton.edu/Internet-Prospector/index.html
One of the original online prospect research resources. This site is no longer updated, but there is still a goldmine of information here.
A fantastic collection of resources
- Stanford University: http://www.stanford.edu/dept/OOD/RESEARCH/
Great resources and insights from my friends at Stanford.
- Supporting Advancement: http://www.supportingadvancement.com/research/research.htm
General Reference:
- Special Issues List of Lists: http://www.specialissues.com/lol/
Formerly Gary Price’s List of Lists, tracking industry trends
- Internet Public Library: http://www.ipl.org
A virtual reference desk. Librarians’ Index to the Internet has merged with this site.
- Infoplease: http://www.infoplease.com/
General reference, including an atlas, encyclopedia, thesaurus, etc…
- I welcome your feedback! Please contact me:
