I'll start with Free Full Text at www.freefulltext.com.  The site provides links to over 7000 scholarly periodicals available on the Internet for free.  For those of you who have no access to a fee-based database but want access to professional journals as a means of continuing education, this one's for you.  However, to optimize the site, you should be looking for a particular article with complete citation already rather than searching for one because it would be such a waste of time to just browse the journals.

If you're a graduate or postgraduate student and is in a bind on what to write about, www.dissertationsandtheses.com should answer your problems.  It's a searchable database of more than 25,000 research papers and experimental studies.  Sample theses can be downloaded for a fee otherwise excerpts are free.  The site also provides a brief explanation of the different parts of a research study.

For serious students of Psychology and practitioners of the discipline, Psyplexus at http://psyplexus.com would be worthy of bookmarking.  It is a directory of free online full-text articles meant for mental health professionals maintained, owned, and edited by Dr. Shahul Ameen, an Indian psychiatrist.  The site contains articles on psychiatry, substance abuse, schizophrenia, depression, anxiety, and a lot more.  The site also offers a free monthly newsletter featuring new sites and useful tips.

Literature students, whether in grade school, high school, or college will find in The Literature Network (www.online-literature.com) a treasure chest of classical works.  With 300 full books, over 1,000 short stories and poems by more than 90 authors, and 8,500 quotes, the site has a pretty extensive collection for a free database.  However, only those works that are in the public domain (pre-1920s) are included. 

Students of communication and the arts, or for those who are making projects, oral or visual that need sound effects go to www.sound-effects-library.com.  The site claims to be the world's largest database of sound effects, music samples, and music tracks with sounds from over 60 sound libraries worldwide.  You can search the database and listen to an excerpt for free however download is not.

Another very useful website is Judy Vorfeld's grammar site at www.webgrammar.com.  It's a one-stop website for your writing and research needs.  It has a Writing Center complete with grammar basics and tips, dictionaries and glossaries, idioms, and a link to common mistakes in grammar.  The site also has links to educational sites on the Web on various disciplines like the arts, general education, botanical gardens, business and economy, literature, math, physical and special education, science and technology, etc.  It also has links to building websites that include analysis, tutorials, design, graphics, and HTML.  I for one will make frequent trips to this site.

The last website, http://manyworlds.com, is for students of business and business executives.  The amount of information found in this website is overwhelming that a lot of time is put into building the contents.  Knowledge management at the fore.  The editors of this site mine dozens of publications and websites then select those that are of high quality and relevant for managers and leaders.  The site runs on a patented in-house technology called Epiture.  This truly is a website worthy of a daily visit.

(For feedback, suggestions, or questions you want answered because you don't have the time to search the Web, e-mail Peachy LImpin at eunico@mb.com.ph.  Don't have e-mail, then spare a few pesos and drop me a line at Opening Page c/o Technews Section, Manila Bulletin Publishing Corp, Muralla St., Intramuros, Manila)