Bookmark These Research Websites Now
Conducting research for a paper or project is labor intensive and time consuming. Save time and frustration by bookmarking the websites below for easy reference and retrieval when the time comes to begin your research efforts. These websites are part search engine, part library collection and will help you quickly gather sources and detailed information about the subject you are researching. These research sites explore topics ranging the arts to biology to American history and everything in between.
1. Google Scholar
Google Scholar is a comprehensive research tool which allows students to search for scholarly texts such as books, abstracts, peer-reviewed paper and articles from academic publishers and professional organizations.
2. Microsoft Academic
Microsoft Academic is another comprehensive research tool featuring a search engine serving up content from over 120 million publications, including scientific papers, conferences and journals. Searches can be conducted by topic or fields of study.
3. iSEEK
iSeek is a scholastic search engine for where you can ask a question or enter in a topic. iSEEK pulls its information from trusted resources from universities, government and established non-commercial sites. Once you enter your question or topic, iSEEK returns results that can be drilled down even more by topic, subject, people, places, organizations and more.
4. Library of Congress
People don't usually think of The Library of Congress when thinking of research resources, but it is considered the largest library in the world with millions of books, recordings, photographs, newspapers, maps and manuscripts. The website offers research guides, digital collections and an online ask a librarian feature.
5. Internet Public Library
The Internet Public Library is a public, web-based library encompassing a variety of resources, organized by subject area. This online library catalog contains essays on a variety of subjects - European History, Genetic Engineering, Marketing & Religion to name a few. There are even essays on different types of essays - argumentative, personal narrative, persuasive, etc. The website offers additional collections like the POTUS collection on U.S. presidents, Stately Knowledge about U.S. States, plus as a bonus there is an A+ Research & Writing Guide detailing steps for constructing an organized research effort and papers.
6. Digital History
Digital History is a unique website devoted to U.S. History. The website breaks down its content into Eras, Topics, Resources and References. There are exhibitions, multimedia (historical music collections by era) and a section titled Voices, which contains historical writings and speeches. You can view an interview with Rosa Parks and the manuscript for the famous "I Have a Dream" speech from Martin Luther King, Jr.
7. Artcyclopedia
Artcyclopedia is a really unusual search engine devoted to artists and works of art. You can search by artist name, artworks by title or art museums. The site lists the most popular artists by month and allows you to browse artists by medium, subject and nationality. There is also a section devoted to art movements, i.e. Art Deco, Neoclassicism, Cubism, etc.
8. BioMedCentral
According to the BioMedCentral website, it has an evolving portfolio of some 300 peer-reviewed journals, sharing discoveries from research communities in science, technology, engineering and medicine. You can search by topic or view many of the science related journals by subject, i.e. biomedicine, earth sciences, psychology, etc. Each journal article will contain an abstract, background, main text, conclusion and references. Some article will contain methodology and results with diagrams and images and downloadable citations.
9. Infoplease
Infoplease is a reference and learning site, combining the contents of an encyclopedia, a dictionary, an atlas and several almanacs loaded with statistics, facts, and historical records. While it is an open access site, there are professional editors who manage and update the content. There are sections on World, U.S., Math & Science, People, History and Business. In addition to its popular country profiles, the website also features an Ask the Editor section.
10. Scholarpedia
Scholarpedia is an open access encyclopedia where the information is curated by communities of scholarly experts. Academic authors have to submit their articles for a scholarly peer review, and if accepted will be published on the site. Scholarpedia is definitely focused on more STEM related topics. There are in-depth articles devoted to applied mathematics, quantum physics, neuroscience and more.
11. Refseek
Refseek resembles a typical Google search except that the results returned are more academic in nature. According to Refseek, the search engine searches more than five billion documents, including web pages, books, encyclopedias, journals, and newspapers. While searches do return results containing ads at the top of the page, they are minimal and a quick scroll down offers numerous academic-worthy results. There is also a feature to search by documents, which will return PDF documents helpful for your research and source citations.
12. Wolfram Alpha
Wolfram Alpha is much more than a search engine, it is more like an answer engine. Wolfram Alpha uses algorithms, knowledge base and artificial intelligence technology to serve up detailed answers to questions and topics. Very popular among math students - it will show step-by-step solutions to math, chemistry and physics topics - the site is also useful to research a wide variety of topics related to science and technology, society and culture, and everyday life.
A Good Starting Point for Research
These sites offer a good starting point to begin your research process. For more research-related tips, see our post on citation and bibliography apps.
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