I wanna be like Cecil

In My Humble Opinion
1

I used to do library research. Back in the day, I was a poly sci guy who had some classes in quantitative research and design and whatnot. Unfortunately all of that seems to have been atrophied by a decade (or so) of graphic design. What little memory I have of the Guide to Periodic Literature, let alone how to use it has been destroyed by the Internet, that wondrous field so full of chaff with so little wheat.

So my questions are many, but all in the same vein.

How does one go about finding source material to answer questions about life, love and reality? More to the point, are the sources that list journals of academia? (I recall that there hundreds of obscure specialized political science journals, I can only imagine that other disciplines would be the same).

How does one find out what records are in the public domain, such as crime statistics, funding records of organizations and what not?

What sites on the Internet are useful for setting one on the right path?

Other than the usual “expect that it will take a fair amount of time to track down what you want, 'cause nothing’s ever easy”, any advice on how to proceed?

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Absimia

2

Why this amazing site, has quite extensive information to set you straight.

3

Well, astronomers have the Astrophysical Data Service. I imagine that most fields have a resource like this, but I don’t think that there’s a single entity that links all of the databases for all fields. There’s also the point that many such databases are really only useful to folks in those fields: Peer-reviewed journal articles are usually not written for a layman audience.

4

Reference Desk Dot-Com

I think most General Questions posted in GQ can be solved through here. That would help you be like Cecil.

5

Golly, gosh, darn, is my face red! I should have checked that link in the preview.

http://www.refdesk.com/