The Internet is a collection of computers and computer networks that have come to an agreement how to communicate with each other. Information on the Internet is distributed among thousands of computers that are connected together. There are vast amounts of information on the Internet on many different topics, such as: psychology, history, government, religion, politics, criminal justice, education, entertainment, business, corporations, human resources management, business law, business finance, and much more.

There are so many sites out on the Internet that deal with business that to list every one would take a list many times larger than this one. You can use the search tools mentioned in section 2 to find more Internet business resources.

There are millions of Internet sites now. Each site has an address on the Internet. That address is called a URL (Uniform Resource Locator). After each Internet business sites mentioned in this list, there will be the URL, location, or address of the site on the Internet. When you want to access a site on this list, type in the address which appears after the letters URL. You must type in the address exactly as it appears. If you do not, you will not access the site. DO NOT TYPE IN URL.

1. INTERNET SEARCH TOOLS

Google URL: http://www.google.com

Internet Search Tools  URL: http://www.se.edu/lib/search3.htm  This page contains links to many search tools on the Internet, including, search engines, meta search engines, deep web search engines, image search engines, blog search engines, wiki search engines, scholarly search engines, people search engines, and directories.

There are quite a few general business resources out on the Internet. Here are a few:
 

A2Z-Busness & Investment  URL: http://a2z.lycos.com/Business_and_Investing  Contains links to many business resources, including Advertising, Corporate Home Pages, Banks and Banking, Business Schools, Investment Information, Real Estate, Personal Finance and Trade and Labor Resources

A Business Researcher's Interests  URL: http://www.brint.com/interest.html  This site contains links to many sources on the Internet that would be useful to business professionals. It contains access to hundreds of full-text articles and papers, magazines & journals, case studies and tools, and other resources.

Yahoo-Business And Economy  URL: http://www.yahoo.com/Business/  This is part of the Yahoo database. It contains links to many business resources, including: Current business headlines, classifieds, business schools, links to over 130,000 companies, marketing, ,management information systems, markets and investments, small business information, and more.

BizWeb Business Guide URL: http://www.bizweb.com/ THis site says that it is a "web business guide to 46,290 companies listed in 208 categories."

Basic BiZ Search URL: http://rollyo.com/businessresearch/basic_biz_research/ Rollyo is a site that allows you to custom make your own search engine searching the sites that you select. This particular search engine searches the following web sites : WWW.FTC.GOV, usitc.gov, investor.reuters.com, WWW.BUSINESSWEEK.COM, investopedia.com, business.gov, osha.gov, hemscott.com, biz.yahoo.com, federalreserve.gov, lib.berkeley.edu, ebusinessforum.com, clickz.com, bls.gov, forbes.com, money.cnn.com, docuticker.com, library.hbs.edu, trade.gov, sec.gov, census.gov, acronymfinder.com, economagic.com, consumerwebwatch.org, fedstats.gov.

Reference for Business URL: http://www.referenceforbusiness.com/ This is a combination of several reference business resources: The Encyclopedia of Small Business, Encyclopedia of Business, Business Biographies, Business Plans, Encyclopedia of American Industries, Encyclopedia of Management, Company Histories, and Leading American Businesses.

General Business and Finance Resources on the Internet URL: http://www.se.edu/lib/subbusgen1.htm This site contains many good and useful general business sites on the Internet.

 

3. BUSINESS DIRECTORIES & COMPANY INFORMATION
 

Canada411  http://canada411.sympatico.ca/  This is a telephone directory for Canada that contains some 10 million residential white pages listings and business listings from all over Canada.

Infospace-The Ultimate Directory  URL: http://www.infospace.com  With this directory, you can look for a businesses in a city, businesses near an address, company executives, company web sites, fax numbers, and toll-free numbers. You can find federal government information, state government information, county government information. You can find company websites, stock quotes. You can use the restaurant guide, apartment locator and obtain weather information. You can also locate businesses in Belgium, Canada, the Netherlands and Luxembourg.

Switchboard  URL: http://www.switchboard.com  If you need to find the address or phone number of a person or business, you might try Switchboard. It has over 90 million names and 10 million businesses in its directory. Information is obtained from telephone white pages and other sources of public information. The information given is presented like it would appear in a telephone book. You can use the search tool and fill in as much as you know: first name, last name, city

WEB World Email Directory  URL: http://worldemail.com  This site has millions e-mail addresses from all over the world in its collection of directories and databases, plus millions of business addresses, telephone numbers or fax numbers from all over the world.

Business Directories on the Internet URL: http://www.se.edu/lib/subbusdirectories.htm This site general, national, and directories from other countries, plus state and local business directories for the Durant area and Oklahoma, and toll free numbers directories.

4. FINANCE & STOCKS
 

EDGAR  URL: http://www.sec.gov/edgarhp.htm  database of Securities and Exchange Commission information on U.S. corporations. You can find 10-K reports of all public corporations in this database.

Financial Data Finder  http://fisher.osu.edu/fin/osudata.htm  This site was developed by Ohio State University, and it contains many links to useful and important business finance sites.

Stockwiz  http://www.stockwiz.com  This is a stock market search engine. You can obtain historical information on stocks, stock prices, charts, technical analysis, and more.

Finance and Banking Resources on the Internet http://www.se.edu/lib/subbusfinbank.htm  This site contains links to many important finance and banking sites on the Internet.

Stocks and Investing Resources on the Internet http://www.se.edu/lib/subbusstocks.htm  This site contains links to many important stocks and investing sites on the Internet.

InvestorGuide  http://www.investorguide.com  There are many, many sites on the Internet that pertain to investing and finances. InvestorGuide was created to help people to sift through the financial information and find the most useful financial information on the Internet. You can find news, market summaries, get answers to investing questions, investing information, personal finance information, such as: how to buy a car, how to buy a house, loans, insurance, banking, and more.

Stockmaster  URL http://www.stockmaster.com/  Using this resource, an investor can find stock quotes on many companies.

5. NEWS RESOURCES
 

Business Magazines, Journals and Newspapers on the Internet  URL: http://www.se.edu/lib/subbusmag.htm

Business News Sources on the Internet  URL: http://www.se.edu/lib/subbusnews.htm

AJR NewsLink  http://www.newslink.org/statnews.html  This site is offered by the American Journalism Review, and it contains links to U.S. newspapers by state, including several in Oklahoma.

Businesswire  http://www.businesswire.com

CNN Money  http://money.cnn.com/

 
 6. FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
 

USA.gov URL: http://www.usa.gov/ This is a search portal to the federal government.

Business and Economics Resources from the Federal Government URL: http://www.se.edu/lib/govdocs/businessgov.html This site contains links to federal government accounting, business, economics, finance, international business, management and statistical sites.

The U.S. Census Bureau  URL: http://www.census.gov  Look up census information at this site. You can obtain demographics of the population for a wide range of topics and geographical areas, plus economic statistics. Several Census publications are available: Statistical Abstract of the United States, State and County Profiles, Business Retail Sales.

 
7. STATE GOVERNMENTS
 

STATE CAPITALS News on State Legislation and Laws  URL: http://statecapitals.com/

8. BUSINESS RESOURCES ON THE INTERNET -- OKLAHOMA

Oklahoma Legislative URL: http://www.lsb.state.ok.us/ Contains a listing of all members of the House and Senate, plus all committees, and news items relating the legislature.

Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education  URL: http://www.okhighered.org/ This site contains a history of OSRHE, staff directory of OSRHE, information on the Oklahoma Guaranteed Student Loan Program and the Oklahoma Tuition Aid Program. Also listed are job opportunities at OSRHE, plus a higher education directory, which gives the name, position, telephone and fax number, and internet address of top university officials of each university in Oklahoma. The last thing is the full text of the Oklahoma Higher Education Code.

Oklahoma State Government  URL: http://www.state.ok.us/ Contains current news about Oklahoma Government, news releases from the Governor's and Lt. Governor's offices, information on government agencies, such as: State Treasurer's Office, Oklahoma Tax Commission, Budget information, Oklahoma Employment Security Commission, Public Employment Retirement System, Oklahoma Department of Commerce, Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, and more.

ONENET  URL: http://nic.onenet.net/

9. MARKETING RESOURCES
 

Marketing Resources on the Internet URL: http://www.se.edu/lib/submarkt.htm  This site contains links to general marketing sites on the Internet, marketing organizations, marketing magazines, purchasing links, and non-profit marketing sites.

10. BUSINESS ASSISTANCE AND DEVELOPMENT SOURCES
 

Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance  http://12.46.245.173/cfda/cfda.html This resource contains information on Federal programs, projects, services, and activities that provide assistance to the public. For each program listed, it gives the federal agency involved, the legal authorization for the program, the objectives of the program, the types of assistance, eligibility requirements, the application and award process.

Grants.gov http://www.grants.gov/ "Grants.gov is your source to FIND and APPLY for Federal government grants. There are over 1,000 grant programs offered by all Federal grant making agencies. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is proud to be the managing partner for Grants.gov, an initiative that is having an unparalleled impact on the grant community. Grants.gov allows organizations to electronically find and apply for more than $400 billion in Federal grants."

Grants and Funding Resources on the Internet http://www.se.edu/lib/grants8.htm  This site contains many links to grants and funding sites on the Internet. It contains links to fundraising databases, fundraising organizations, federal sources of funding, state sources of funding for Texas and Oklahoma, sources of funding from public and private foundations, sources of funding outside the United States, different search tools for the Internet, different fundraising magazines on the Internet, and sites that explain how to write grant proposals or apply for a grant.

Small Business Administration Home Page  http://www.sbaonline.sba.gov  The Small Business Administration aids, counsels, and protects the interests of small business in the United States. It provides several programs of financial assistance to small businesses. This web site contains information on the SBA and its programs, additional financial resources and information, and links to other hot business sites.

Empowerment Zones and Enterprise Communities Program  http://www.ezec.gov/  This is a government program of the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban development. Its mission is to create self-sustaining, long term economic development. in areas of pervasive poverty, unemployment. There is one of these zones set up in Choctaw and McCurtain counties.

 
11. EXPORTING AND INTERNATIONAL TRADE RESOUCRES
 

U.S. Department of Agriculture -- Foreign Agriculture Service  http://ffas.usda.gov/  The foreign agriculture service is to develop and expand foreign markets for U.S. food and agriculture products. You can find information on the Asian Pacific Economic Council, U.S. Import laws, NAFTA, and more. You can find exporting information about individual countries, trade information on individual agricultural commodities, get help for exporting products.

SICS- Foreign Trade Information System  http://www.sice.oas.org/root/index.stm  We're the "Foreign Trade Information System" (SICE for short from its Spanish acronym -- Sistema de Información al Comercio Exterior) -- the information technology arm of the Trade Unit of the Organization of American States (OAS). Our goal is to provide the most complete information and documents on trade in the Western Hemisphere as possible. SICE centralizes the location of public -- but often difficult to locate or obtain -- documents on our Web site in the four official languages of the OAS (English, Spanish, Portuguese and French).

Center for International Business Studies http://cibs.tamu.edu/ This site is maintained by Texas A&M University, and it contains links to many sites on the Internet related to International business.

International Trade Administration http://trade.gov/index.asp This is "the Web site of the International Trade Administration (ITA) of the Department of Commerce! ITA's mission is to create prosperity by strengthening the competitiveness of U.S. industry, promoting trade and investment, and ensuring fair trade and compliance with trade laws and agreements. Trade.gov provides you access to ITA's valuable information and services regarding U.S. international trade policy. For those businesses wanting to expand their export markets, visit the U.S. Government Export Portal, export.gov. The ITA's "Market Access and Compliance (MAC) identifies and overcomes trade barriers, resolves trade policy issues, and ensures that our trading partners fully meet their obligations under our trade agreements. MAC ensures access to world markets for American companies and workers so they can compete on a “level playing field.” International Trade Administration of the Department of Commerce. This service contains the Latest in country and regional information for American Exporters."

LANIC  http://www.lanic.utexas.edu/  This is the Latin America Network Information Center at the University of Texas at Austin. It contains information and links to information about the countries of Latin America. if you click on MEXICO, and then scroll down the list of items under MEXICO, you will find the subject category of NAFTA resources. Click on that, and you are taken to a list of academic resources, documents and publications, news, and other resources about NAFTA.

Export-Import Bank of the United States  http://www.exim.gov/  This is an independent government agency that is responsible to help finance foreign sales of U.S. goods and services. it provides loans for U.S. exporters, and makes loans to foreign purchasers of U.S. goods and services.

United States Trade Representative's Homepage  http://www.ustr.gov  The purpose of the United States Trade Representative is to develop and coordinate U.S. and international trade, and leading or directing negotiations with other countries on trade related matters. The USTR is to coordinate trade efforts of all federal agencies and coordinating U.S. government positions on international trade. At the USTR's web site, you can find information regarding agreements negotiated by the USTR, such as the Information Technology Agreement, General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, and the North American Free Trade Agreement.You can find reports on trade concerns issued by the USTR, and specific information regarding NAFTA, such as: NAFTA and the U.S. economy, NAFTA and U.S. Jobs, NAFTA and agricultural trade, NAFTA and sovereignty, NAFTA and the Environment, NAFTA and Labor rights, and NAFTA and the Western Hemisphere.

 
 12. NAFTA RESOURCES
 

The Nafta Secretariat http://www.nafta-sec-alena.org/DefaultSite/index.html "The NAFTA Secretariat, comprised of a Canadian Section, a Mexican Section and a United States Section, is responsible for the administration of the dispute settlement provisions of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)".

SICE-North American Free Trade Agreement http://www.sice.oas.org/trade/nafta/naftatce.asp This site, which is a part of the Foreign Trade Information System (SICE) contains the full text of the NAFTA agreement.

National Law Center for Inter-American Free Trade  http://www.natlaw.com  This site contains english translations of Mexican laws and laws if other Latin American states, and links to other related sites on the Internet.

NaftaLab  http://naftalab.bus.utexas.edu/  A site created at the University of Texas at Austin that contains information and links to sites on NAFTA and other trade related information.

NAFTA Resources on the Internet http://www.se.edu/lib/subbusnafta.htm

 
13. BUSINESS RESOURCES -- CITY INFORMATION
 

Foreign Trade Zone #227 http://www.ruralenterprises.com/c_about_foreign_trade.php "Foreign Trade Zone #227 is located in the 320 acre International Business Park in Durant, Oklahoma, off US Highway 69/75. The highway is the most direct route from Laredo, Texas to Kansas City which is the east-west turnaround. This route also passes through the Port of Muskogee on the McClellan-Kerr waterway."

14. BUSINESS RESOURCES ON THE INTERNET -- JOB FINDING TOOLS
 

1st Steps In The Hunt  URL: http://www.interbiznet.com/hunt/  A good place to go for information about jobs, and the tools needed to find a job. Included are sites that offer resume guidance, research on a company, job guide sites, and over 50 of the best job ad sites on the internet, including: matching services (match employers to potential employees) and headquarters and recruiters.

America's Job Bank  URL: http://www.ajb.dni.us/  This is a database of around 250,000 jobs nationwide that is maintained by the U.S. Department of Labor. You can search for job listings by a menu, or by keyword search, or search by DOT code. There are links to State Employment Services Web Sites, Employer Web Sites, and Private Placement Agencies. Listed by PC Magazine as on the Top 100 web sites on the internet.

The Monster Jobs URL: http://www.monster.com/ Search the Monster Jobs database of thousands of job opportunities in all levels and all fields. You can limit your search to a particular area, or job type. You can also post your resume, or check out the career center, which has job seeking advice, information on career fairs, and other career resources.

Career Resources on the Internet URL: http://www.se.edu/lib/subcar.htm This mega site contains links to all kinds of career sites, including sites that help you to determine what career to select, sites that contain trends in careers and statistics about certain careers, sites that do it all with careers, sites that help you to find out about careers, sites that help you to find out about colleges, sites that help you to pay for college, sites that help you to get into college, sites that list jobs in all fields, sites that list jobs in a specific field, sites that will help you to obtain an internship, and sites that will help you in writing a resume or cover letter, and sites that will help in writing a recommendation letter and sites to help in interviewing.

 
 

QUALITY OF RESOURCES ON THE INTERNET

The Internet has a vast amount of resources. More and more people are putting information out on the Internet. Many people have set up their own home page on the WWW. How do know that all the information is good? How do you know if the information is factual. There is no control over what goes on the Internet. People can set up information accessible on the Internet that may be full of false ideas, lies, bad data. How do you determine what is good and what is not?

GUIDELINES THAT YOU MAY USE IN EVALUATING MATERIAL ON THE INTERNET

There have been attempts to come up with criteria to evaluate material on the Internet. Librarians have been involved in this process. The following guidelines were obtained at a meeting of the Oklahoma Bibliographic Instruction Council Meeting in November of 1995.

A. Purpose -- The purpose of the Internet site should be clear from the title or introductory screens. Can you tell what the purpose is? Is there any bias?

B. Authority - Is the site maintained by a well-known association or governmental agency? Does the site supply the source of the information?

C. Scope -- How current is the information? Some information at some sites is rarely updated. How old is the site? Some sites are here today, and gone tomorrow.

D. Audience - Who is the site meant for? A layperson or specialist?
 

Not all of these criteria can be used at each site. Sometimes the information to answer the questions above is not available. But these 4 criteria can be useful to evaluate Internet cites.