I agree with Anthony that physical books are likely to be more reliable than websites, mostly for the obvious reason that books pass through a lot more hands before they can be published--generally at the very least, the author, an editor, a proofreader, and a copy-editor/fact checker. A website has no such protocol for checking, in general. However, websites that are affiliated with books or series of books that are reliable are probably OK. *Information Please* (www.infoplease.com) is a decent site for this sort of thing. I've also found that--also kind of a common sense thing--websites associated with academic departments at colleges and such are pretty good to work from. They're put on the web, by and large, by people who have a strong impetus to maintain credibility in their work, and people who have quite a bit invested in it. As far as web-only presences, among the better ones are the Bartleby project (I can't think of the URL off the top of my head, but a search would find it) and Electric Library. The US Government also has some decent informative stuff online -- databases and the like, as does the UN. It should go without saying that anything not from a really reputable source shouldn't be used unless you find corroboration of the information elsewhere (most things that are *really* good will be referenced in footnotes and thus easily verified). --V.
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