www.discovery.com
The website of a US TV station, it invites us to "discover something new every day" - and it's a good philosophy for any student to have. With excellent, detailed sections on everything from dinosaurs to human behaviour to the weather, there is something to inform most interests here. The e-cards section has hundreds of beautiful cards to choose from, which is a great way of getting children interested in writing. The only difficulty with this site is leaving it. A brilliant place to start any project research.
www.historychannel.com
This is also linked to a US TV station, and is equally good. Putting "Ireland" into the keyword search on the home page leads to not only a whole host of articles, but also crystal-clear audio of Eamon de Valera giving a speech on the 40th anniversary of the Easter Rising. Some of the information is outdated (news of the Celtic Tiger phenomenon seems not to have reached their ears) but it is still very detailed on what to them is a peripheral market. "This day in history" will also be a big draw here.
www.newshub.com
NewsHub integrates and reports headlines from the world's major news sources every 15 minutes. It is a good and reliable way to stay informed about important topics because the stories are current, and reported by some of the most respected sources in the world. What it does best is technical news, but it also covers US, world, finance, science, health and entertainment stories. It has a useful facility which allows users to tailor the homepage to their specific interests. Of most use to business and technology students.
www.moreover.com
Established in 1998 in both San Francisco and London, claims to be "the world's largest collection of webfeeds". With headlines from over 1,500 sources it may well be. The site operates as an enormous series of links, so while the headline is here, the story is still on the original site. This means it acts as a one-stop-shop for scanning stories from a very wide selection of interests and sources. A great resource with, for instance, the sports section offering you 18 different sports before you even get to the headlines.
www.nature.com
Nature magazine is a weekly international journal of science whose serious content is reflected on its website. When last checked, the homepage was leading with stories on "Bubonic plague: still a threat after all these years" and "Indian scientists: cheap labour or equal partners?" The only thing that will put people off here is that you have to register with them to get what is called "a free account". This allows access to searchable abstracts, customised email alerting services, and web-only content.
