6 Online Resources for Kick Ass Term Papers

Writing a term paper doesn’t have to suck quite so badly. The Web offers many resources to make finding, sorting, organizing and presenting information easier. Try these six web sites and apps for help on your next paper.

1. Encyclopedia.com

This website is great if you’re looking for trustworthy information that can be cited as a reputable source for your paper. When searching for a topic on Encyclopedia.com, the site gathers the search results from over 100 reputable dictionaries, encyclopedias and academic sites, such as the Oxford University Press. Encyclopedia.com is not only a great site for finding quality information, but it’s also a good place for finding links to other credible and info-rich sites.

2. RefDesk

Whether you need to check facts or find credible information on a variety of subjects, RefDesk has it all. This free website offers users an assortment of helpful resources including encyclopedia articles, dictionary entries, current world news reports, the ability to quickly find or check facts, links to academic websites and much more. In addition to the vast number of reference materials that can be found on the site, RefDesk also allows users access several searchable databases. The site promises to be family-friendly and guarantees that it only catalogs credible information and current resources on the Web. With all of these great resources in one place, there is no way that you’ll leave empty-handed. It’s no wonder that RefDesk is an award-winning website.

3. ChaCha

While ChaCha may not count as a credible source, it can provide students with a great jumping board from which to brainstorm and start their research. For whatever question you might have, this “human-powered” search engine will have an answer. Should you stumble across a question that has yet to be answered, ChaCha’s staff guarantees that one will be provided as soon as humanly possible.

4. Academic Productivity

This site has coined itself as the “survival guide for the 21st century researcher.” Academic Productivity was developed by scholars in an effort to help students fight the never-ending battle between procrastination and productivity.

The website won’t provide students with academic information and it doesn’t count as a credible source. What it does offer are numerous articles written by academics on subjects pertaining to productivity, such as how to review journal articles, arguments for why rewriting the first draft of your paper is important, how to find the best reference materials and so on. Academic Productivity is on a mission to do just what its name suggests.

5. Google Scholar

Google Scholar is an academic search engine that’s great for locating full-text scholarly works on a wide variety of subjects. While similar to Jstor and Project Muse in that it provides students access to academic texts, Google Scholar is even better because it’s free for everyone to use; it doesn’t require access to a university’s online library system as is the case with Jstor and Project Muse. It’s also constantly being updated, so you never know what great research material you might find while searching. In addition to Google Scholar, there are also other free sites for finding academic sources such as Academicwebpages and Project Gutenberg.

6. Ottobib

This site provides students with a quick and easy method for citing books for their paper’s bibliographies. By simply selecting the format of your paper (MLA, APA, etc.) and entering the book’s ISBN, Ottobib will produce a bibliography entry for that particular book. If you’re easily befuddled when it comes to citing sources, then this site should definitely become a bookmark in your Web browser.