Google and Wikipedia are not all there is. But neither is it possible to do a complete rundown of all the possible general reference sites; there are too many of them. However, here are a few general sites that have proved to be useful (for specific sites likes History, Education, etc. see the specialized pages listed on the page that brought you here).

The Front Page: a site composed entirely of links through which you will access a collection of search engines, web sites, e-mail addresses for people and businesses, telephone directories, news and discussion groups: http://www.thefrontpage.com/search

The AFEA site (Association Française d’Etudes Américaines): for all kinds of information about American studies, libraries, reference tools, new publications, useful web sites, bibliographies for the CAPES and the Agrégation, etc.: http://www.afea.fr/

IRC (Information and Resource Center): the American Embassy has closed down the Benjamin Franklin Documentation Center they once maintained in Paris, as well as the IRC which was located in the same building on the rue Saint-Florentin. However, the IRC continues to exist as a website maintained by the Embassy and the State Department. It provides basic (and very varied) information on the US as well as information for teachers of English, acces to online publications and lesson plans for teachers, advice for students and answers to most-asked questions about studying in the US, and basic information for tourists. None of this information is intended for researchers, although English teachers will find that a large amount of it will be useful for their classes. In addition, the IRC publishes "web alerts," which are on-line bibliographies of government publications concerning foreign policy, social problems, the environment, etc. The homepage for the IRC is: http://french.france.usembassy.gov/irc.html

Branch for the Study of the U.S. (USIA): the United States Information Agency was closed down in 1999. It is now maintained as a State Department archive by the University of Illinois at Chicago. It offered links to American Studies centers outside of the U.S. as well as to American Studies resources within the U.S. It also provided information about the USIA American Studies Collection, a selection of over 1,000 books and documents deposited in university libraries throughout the world (there is no library-depository in France). Although many links are now dead or out of date, it still provides much information that can be used as a starting point for research: http://dosfan.lib.uic.edu/usia/

For research information, return to the USA home page for links to other pages with more specialized information. If you know of other general-reference sites, we will be happy to hear from you. Send us the link and a general description of what is to be found there.