A students' guide to research online

What did students ever do without the Web? Maybe learn less about topics their parents would prefer remain under wraps.
But undeniably, the Internet is a tremendous research and study tool.
In that spirit, here's our annual guide to free sites in a variety of topics that crop up from grade school through college.
The list begins with five super-sites that go to the head of the class.

ACADEMIC ALL-STARS

www.crf-usa.org/links/research1.html: The Los Angeles-based, nonprofit Constitutional Rights Foundation, which sponsors youth programs to promote civic responsibility, also offers on its site hundreds of links to a variety of school subjects.

www.ipl.org: Started as a class project at the University of Michigan, the Internet Public Library provides a clickable index of research sites in numerous fields. It's now maintained by a consortium of colleges and universities.

vos.ucsb.edu: The Voice of the Shuttle (the name refers to weaving on a loom) from UC Santa Barbara has been compiling links to academic topics for more than a decade.

www.doaj.org: More than 800 professional journals concerning science, education, the arts and other topics can be searched on this Directory of Open Access Journals site.

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ANATOMY

www.bartleby.com/107: The 1918 version of Henry Gray's "Anatomy of the Human Body" (not to be confused with the TV show "Grey's Anatomy") provides descriptions and vibrant illustrations.

www.innerbody.com: An interactive guide to not only the skeletal but also the digestive, muscular, cardiovascular and other systems.

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ARCHAEOLOGY

archnet.asu.edu: Links to museums, digs and academic papers, maintained by Arizona State University. It's organized by topic and geography.

www.cyberpursuits.com/archeo: In addition to links, this site provides a guide to recent magazines and journal articles.

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ART HISTORY

witcombe.sbc.edu/ARTHLinks.html: Comprehensive set of links to sites dealing with art periods, artists and museums.

www.metmuseum.org/toah: The Metropolitan Museum of Art's timeline of art history, from cave drawings to the present.

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BIOLOGY

www.biology-online.org: This site, maintained by current and former students worldwide, contains not only links but also tutorials and a forum where questions can be posted.

www.biology.arizona.edu: This University of Arizona site features links organized by topic.