good websites for students to research

12 Useful Websites and Apps for College Students

Technology has made it easier than ever for students furthering their education to find information, answers to questions and helpful study guidance. From tools to help you study to productivity platforms, there are many useful websites for students to take advantage of during their time in school.

Are you looking for resources to make your studies easier, assignments better and student life more impactful? Take a look at our top list of useful websites for students .

• Academic assistance
• Research and writing
• Productivity and organization
• Career and internship

Learning platforms beyond the classroom

• Health and well-being

Academic assistance websites

Academic assistance websites connect students with academic resources to succeed in their education and assist with their studies.

Khan Academy

Khan Academy offers free, personalized courses for students in pre-K through college. Interactive online courses allow you to learn at your own pace, with practice exercises to test your knowledge and improve your comprehension. With early college courses such as algebra, art history and economics, you can use Khan Academy for extra study time or jump ahead on your courses during downtime.

Quizlet allows students to create their own flashcards, study sets and quizzes. Thanks to the AI, they also offer tools such as practice tests and expert Q&As to enhance your studies further. Quizlet is one of the most efficient and useful websites for students during study time when it comes to memorization needed for foreign language courses or collaborative study with a group.

Research and writing tools

Don’t be afraid of your next research paper. These useful research and writing websites for students help you create readable and grammatically sound essays.

Google Scholar

Google Scholar is a free, special search engine used to source scholarly articles, theses, books and conference papers. Even more helpful for writers, it helps you track citations for your papers. Google Scholar is a great way to block out unverified sources on the wild web and find credible sources to include in your course assignments.

Grammarly is an AI-powered writing assistant that proofreads your work for grammar and spelling errors. It also provides writing recommendations to enhance your language. Not only does it help you correct your writing, but it also teaches you why the correction helps the overall idea of your paper. Polished grammar and writing are critical for academic success and post-graduate communication. Grammarly provides browser plug-ins for use in Google Documents, email and message boards, so even your interpersonal communication is improved.

Productivity and organization tools

How do you stay organized and productive with a busy course schedule and social calendar? These useful productivity websites for students will help you do it all!

While Trello is technically a project management tool, it makes an excellent productivity enhancement to organize your class tasks and assignments with your social calendar, internship assignments and important dates. Trello enhances productivity by visualizing and prioritizing tasks, allowing you to see everything you need to do with due dates and to-do lists to help you complete them. You can also use it to collaborate on group projects.

Evernote allows students to improve their note-taking and keep course information organized. This tool is versatile for creating, organizing and syncing your notes across all your devices so you can study or share your class notes while waiting for a doctor’s appointment or riding the bus. You can also add images, PDFs, drawings and more to enhance your notes.

Career and internship platforms

These useful websites for students aren’t just for post-graduate life. Use these tools to find internships and connect with opportunities for real-world experience.

LinkedIn is the largest professional networking platform for social and career advancement. Here, you can create a professional profile, share your resume, connect with classmates, colleagues and other professionals and explore internship or career opportunities. LinkedIn offers free seminars and courses to help you advance your career and professional learning.

To find internships and gain real-world experience, use Indeed to explore thousands of job opportunities worldwide. You can upload your resume to allow employers to find you. Indeed offers the tools you need to read company reviews and explore salary information so you can make informed decisions for the next step in your career.

Employers are looking for knowledge that goes beyond the classroom, like emotional intelligence and problem-solving. These useful websites allow students to enhance their learning.

TED-Ed offers access to thousands of big ideas from students, educators and mentors who are shifting thinking and changing how we view the world. These quick, engaging “lessons” supplement classroom learning and encourage critical thinking about hot topics such as climate change, social and economic topics, scientific phenomena and even happiness.

Have you ever wanted to explore another language? Duolingo makes language lessons fun and memorable. Its gamified approach to language acquisition allows you to learn a new language with quick, bite-sized lessons that are free and accessible right from your phone.

Health and well-being resources

Just as important as learning new skills is physically and mentally caring for yourself. These useful health-focused websites give students an easy way to track their well-being .

As one of the most popular meditation and mindfulness apps, Headspace helps students manage the stress of juggling college life, classwork and personal life. Its content library offers mood-boosting meditations, sleep exercises and focus music to help you care for your most important organ – your brain.

MyFitnessPal

MyFitnessPal is a fitness and nutrition tracking app used to keep a score of your physical activity and nutrition. You can record your workouts and track macros directly in the app while also saving workouts and meals that you use frequently to save time and effort.

Did you know?

At Furman, we equip you with all you need to thrive in our welcoming community and succeed in the classroom. Learn more about our student resources below!

Have a favorite app or website? Share it with us!

Whether you found yourself here to help keep your college course notes organized or to find a tool to connect you with potential internships, these useful websites for students can help you achieve your goals both in the classroom and out. They can be useful well beyond your college career, too. As you explore academic and career prep tools, you’ll find that all the apps and websites contribute to your overall well-being and success throughout your years at university.

Are any of these useful websites already part of your daily routine? Share your favorites with us or suggest additional resources to help your fellow students.

The perspectives and thoughts shared in the Furman Blog belong solely to the author and may not align with the official stance or policies of Furman University. All referenced sources were accurate as of the date of publication.

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How to do in-text citations with multiple authors in apa format, how to do in-text citations in mla format: a quick guide for students.

Tips for Online Students , Tips for Students

The Ultimate Student Guide To Finding Credible Sources

Updated: January 24, 2023

Published: January 1, 2020

When it comes to writing a research paper, it’s crucial that you use credible sources to make sure that the information you are stating is actually true. Knowing the difference between credible sources and unreliable sources doesn’t always come so easily with endless information flooding the internet. Thankfully, there are some simple tips that you can use to ensure that you are always using credible sources for research.

What is a Research Paper?

A research paper is a piece of academic writing that uses original research on a specific topic. There are many different types of research papers, ranging from a high school term paper to a master’s thesis or doctoral dissertation.

Photo by  Wallace Chuck  from  Pexels

How to start a search for sources, 1. start simple.

If you’re wondering how to find sources for a research paper, the easiest and best way to start is simple! Just try browsing through some common search engines to see what you find.

2. Cross Wikipedia off

Wikipedia, although it’s a massive pool of information, should always be avoided when writing a research paper since it allows the public to edit information. Sites such as these often run the risk of lacking accuracy, and is not one of the most credible sources for research.

3. Yes to scholarly databases

Scholarly databases are your best friend when it comes to finding credible sources for research. Online scholarly databases that can be trusted and are known to provide useful information for students include LexisNexis and EBSCO.

4. Newspapers and magazines

Although sometimes biased, newspapers and magazines can also be a great place to find information about current events.

5. The library

While the library seems to be the most obvious place to find information, somehow it’s often forgotten when it comes to research in the modern age. Don’t forget how useful it can truly be!

Types of Credible Sources for Research

1. what are some credible websites.

Many online sources do not necessarily contain information that is correct or has been checked. That’s why it’s of utmost importance to make sure that you’re using the right websites for your research, with government and educational websites generally being the most reliable.

Credible sources for research include: science.gov, The World Factbook, US Census Bureau, UK Statistics, and Encyclopedia Britannica.

2. What are some credible journal articles?

When it comes to journal articles, determining how credible they are comes much easier than other sources. This is generally due to the fact that many of these websites will include valuable information such as how many times the article has been cited, and if its been peer reviewed.

Some great examples of reliable websites for journal articles include Google Scholar, Oxford Academic, Microsoft Academic, Cornell University Library, and SAGE Publishing.

If you are ever not sure how to find credible sources, then there’s the CRAAP test, which takes into account the Currency, Relevance, Authority, Accuracy and Purpose of the article. Take all of these factors into consideration before using a source and determining whether or not it’s credible enough. Even if it takes more time, you’ll be saving yourself tons of time in the long run by not using unreliable sources.

Photo by  Canva Studio  from  Pexels

3. what are some credible news sources.

When it comes to news articles, more caution must be taken since it’s hard to know which sources are truly reliable and unbiased. The CRAAP test is also useful in this type of article for research.

A few examples of credible news sources include The New York Times, Bloomberg, and The Washington Post.

The Credibility of a Source

As you search for your research information, you will surely come across the question of how to find credible sources for a research paper. Here are some criteria to focus on to ensure that you only use the most credible of sources.

1. What’s the depth of it?

Always look at the depth of an article, not just the written content. See how long the article is, and if it contains the necessary information such as an abstract, a reference list, and documented data.

2. Who is reading it?

When judging the credibility of an article, it’s important to always ask yourself who the target audience of the article is. Sometimes, sources have a specific goal in mind and it can create certain biases.

3. What’s the goal?

Just as you should do with the audience, also ask yourself what the article is trying to achieve. What is their ultimate goal and how are they persuading you of that?

4. Who wrote it?

Always ask yourself who wrote the article and how reputable they are in the specific field. Look at what other published works they have as well.

5. Can it be trusted?

Overall, it’s key to ask yourself how reputable the source is. What kind of website is it published on? Look at the big picture.

6. Is it relevant to now?

Look at the date of the article, or about the specific things they are mentioning in the article. If it’s from a few years ago, it’s probably not too relevant to your current research.

7. Can it be proven?

While an article may sound incredibly convincing, many people have a way with words and persuasion. Stop and ask yourself whether or not what they are claiming can actually be proven.

Photo by  bruce mars  from  Pexels

How to evaluate source credibility.

By using unreliable sources in your research, it can discredit your status, which is why it’s incredibly important to make sure that any information you are using is up-to-date and accurate.

Here’s how to find credible sources.

1. What is a credible source?

Generally, materials that have been published within the past 10 years are considered to be credible sources for research. Another important factor to consider is the author — if they are well known and respected in their specific fields, that’s also generally a sign that the article is credible. Educational and government-run websites (.gov, .edu) tend to also be a safe source to use, as well as academic databases. Google Scholar is also a no-fail source for reliable information.

2. What is a potentially unreliable source?

Anything that is out of date, meaning it’s been published more than 10 years ago should be avoided. Materials published on social media platforms such as Facebook or personal blogs don’t tend to be the most credible. Always make sure that an article contains proper citations and that the website you are using ends in .com or .org.

Free Resources For Learning

There are many free resources for research available known as open educational resources . They are licensed for free use, with the intention of teaching. They can be determined as credible sources for research if they have a Creative Common license, and if the author has proven to be an expert in their field. Always make sure that the content you are using contains no biases.

Sites For Scholarly Research

When performing scholarly research, it’s extra important to make sure that your sources are credible. Government-run research is considered credible, but beware of any political sites. University and educational websites also tend to be reliable, but still take everything you read with a grain of salt. Company websites also tend to be reliable, although their ultimate goal is usually to promote a product. Organizations which are .org websites can be professional and reliable, however, sometimes they also have their own interests.

Which Sites Can Be Relied On

The internet has no shortage of information out there. That’s why you’ll need these handy tips to determine which to use, and how to distinguish through the vast choices without feeling overwhelmed.

List of Credible Research Sources to Consider

1. government entities.

These websites tend to be reliable since they are highly regulated. Examples include the CIA World Factbook and the United States Justice Statistics.

2. Research Think Tanks

Examples of reliable research think tanks include Rand Corporation, Pew Research Center and The Milken Institute.

3. Academic Libraries and Databases

ProQuest, Scopus, and Jstor are great examples of academic libraries and databases that can be trusted.

4. Professional Standards Organizations

The American Bar Association and The American Psychological Association (APA) are highly credible sources when it comes to professional standards.

How to Write a Research Paper: Step-by-Step

Now that you’re an expert on finding credible sources for research, you’re ready to go! But how do you even start to write a research paper? Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered.

For starters, it’s important to get clear instructions from your professor on what they want. The next step is to start brainstorming ideas for a topic of research. Once you’ve decided and feel confident about it, you’re ready to create your outline and plan out the goal of your research paper.

Befriend your librarian and start to search for quality and credible sources through a variety of means. Make sure you understand your topic from top to bottom before you start writing.  As you write, be sure to always keep things factual, and that you finalize your thesis statement throughout your paper — not just at the end. That’s what’s going to guide your writing. Be sure to always keep format in mind, never forget to cite your sources, and to never skip those edits and final checks.

Now you are ready to write a high-quality, fact-driven research paper that’s sure to impress your professors.

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Top Research Websites, Search Engines, and a Research Choice Menu for K-12 Students

Students need to learn how to be skilled searchers.

“Television didn’t transform education. Neither will the internet. But it will be another tool for teachers to use in their effort to reach students in the classroom.” –  John Palfrey

To learn more about a topic or find the answer students will often Google it! Search engines don’t always show the most factual, relevant, or unbiased results first. Sometimes search engines can lead students to inappropriate websites. Below is a research choice menu for you to use and edit as you like that I use with my students! I have also listed useful research, news, and digital media websites to add to the research choice menu depending on what you are exploring. Students also need to learn how to be skilled searchers, which is why I also added places with free lesson plans and resources to teach students develop search skills.

Free Research Choice Menu Board

Click  the image below to make a copy of the choice menu board template. Edit as you like!

Activity Idea

One of the activities in my book,  Hacking Digital Learning Strategies: Ways to Launch EdTech Missions  is to get students to do a quick 2 minute search about the topic. Students write down any 3 ideas they find then build on that knowledge by trying to add 3 different ideas by other students. Then get students to rate each idea as a fact, opinion, or gossip. Encourage them to guess. Then give them another 2 to 5 minutes to do fact checks to see which ideas are facts and which might be biased or need more research. Students can add the facts to a  Linoit / Padlet  sticky note board for all to learn from or on a Bubbl.us cognitive map.

15 Recommended Search Engines and Research Websites

• Fact Monster  is a search engine that features Frank, the friendly monster, who helps with facts, homework, trivia, games, and quizzes.
• DOGO News  is a website and iOS/Android app for K to 12 students to find current events and research based articles. Each article gives an easy citation for students to copy and include as well as images and videos.
• The Kids Should See This  is probably the most engaging search results for students who will find viral gifs and videos about their topics.
• Science Journal for Kids  has a pdf with assessment questions, videos, and an area for further research by asking a scientist.
• The  Creative Commons Search Engine  and  WikiMedia Commons  are two wonderful search engines to find images, videos, and other multimedia free to use in projects or presentations as long as the author is attributed appropriately.
• Kiddle  is a safe visual search engine for kids.
• KidzSearch  is a Google filtered search which features KidzTube videos and educational games on the front page.
• Ducksters  is a search engine with different categories for a general subject search like history, science, geography, and more. NatGeoKids  is a website with games, trivia, and articles about animals and the world. My students love this website. We also like learning more about countries with the interactive world map.
• Science News for Students  provides vocabulary lists and readability scores for each article. This is for grades 6 to 12.
• Kid Rex  is another kid-friendly search engine with a simple colorful interface. Safe Search Kids  is powered by Google to deliver filtered search results.
• Kid’s Search  is a safe and fun way to search the Internet. Choosito  is a student search engine and digital library. Sign up for a free trial.
• The  Library of Congress  provides archived newspapers, patents, historical documents, and images for students to search and discover information about a topic.

cross posted at   teacherrebootcamp.com

Shelly Terrell is a Technology and Computer teacher, education consultant, and author of books including Hacking Digital Learning Strategies: 10 Ways to Launch EdTech Missions in Your Classroom. Read more at   teacherrebootcamp.com .

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Reference management. Clean and simple.

The top list of academic research databases

2. Web of Science

5. ieee xplore, 6. sciencedirect, 7. directory of open access journals (doaj), get the most out of your academic research database, frequently asked questions about academic research databases, related articles.

Whether you are writing a thesis , dissertation, or research paper it is a key task to survey prior literature and research findings. More likely than not, you will be looking for trusted resources, most likely peer-reviewed research articles.

Academic research databases make it easy to locate the literature you are looking for. We have compiled the top list of trusted academic resources to help you get started with your research:

Scopus is one of the two big commercial, bibliographic databases that cover scholarly literature from almost any discipline. Besides searching for research articles, Scopus also provides academic journal rankings, author profiles, and an h-index calculator .

• Coverage: 90.6 million core records
• References: N/A
• Discipline: Multidisciplinary
• Access options: Limited free preview, full access by institutional subscription only
• Provider: Elsevier

Web of Science also known as Web of Knowledge is the second big bibliographic database. Usually, academic institutions provide either access to Web of Science or Scopus on their campus network for free.

• Coverage: approx. 100 million items
• References: 1.4 billion
• Access options: institutional subscription only
• Provider: Clarivate (formerly Thomson Reuters)

PubMed is the number one resource for anyone looking for literature in medicine or biological sciences. PubMed stores abstracts and bibliographic details of more than 30 million papers and provides full text links to the publisher sites or links to the free PDF on PubMed Central (PMC) .

• Coverage: approx. 35 million items
• Discipline: Medicine and Biological Sciences
• Access options: free
• Provider: NIH

For education sciences, ERIC is the number one destination. ERIC stands for Education Resources Information Center, and is a database that specifically hosts education-related literature.

• Coverage: approx. 1.6 million items
• Discipline: Education
• Provider: U.S. Department of Education

IEEE Xplore is the leading academic database in the field of engineering and computer science. It's not only journal articles, but also conference papers, standards and books that can be search for.

• Coverage: approx. 6 million items
• Discipline: Engineering
• Provider: IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers)

ScienceDirect is the gateway to the millions of academic articles published by Elsevier, 1.4 million of which are open access. Journals and books can be searched via a single interface.

• Coverage: approx. 19.5 million items

The DOAJ is an open-access academic database that can be accessed and searched for free.

• Coverage: over 8 million records
• Provider: DOAJ

JSTOR is another great resource to find research papers. Any article published before 1924 in the United States is available for free and JSTOR also offers scholarships for independent researchers.

• Coverage: more than 12 million items
• Provider: ITHAKA

Start using a reference manager like Paperpile to save, organize, and cite your references. Paperpile integrates with PubMed and many popular databases, so you can save references and PDFs directly to your library using the Paperpile buttons:

Scopus is one of the two big commercial, bibliographic databases that cover scholarly literature from almost any discipline. Beside searching for research articles, Scopus also provides academic journal rankings, author profiles, and an h-index calculator .

PubMed is the number one resource for anyone looking for literature in medicine or biological sciences. PubMed stores abstracts and bibliographic details of more than 30 million papers and provides full text links to the publisher sites or links to the free PDF on PubMed Central (PMC)

• 15 Useful Research Sites Every Student Should be Using

As you learn to become a better student and strive to improve your work, the more important quality research will become. And by far the chief research tool you have in your arsenal is internet access. The internet is the largest collection of information that has ever existed in human history, and it regularly updates itself. With the right query, you can learn practically anything, or at least set yourself on the right track to do so. 

Don’t know where to start? Here are 15 great sites that can kickstart you to researching greatness:

1. ResearchGate

Social media can be great, but it’s generally not the greatest for the scholarly sort. That changes with ResearchGate , which is a network with researchers and students in mind. Millions of researchers have put their work on a site where anyone can read them, and there are search options available. It might not be a complete database, but you can be sure you will find some interesting scientific papers and potential connections on the site.

It’s a great site to randomly go through to see what you can find, and there are also questions you can search for as well. Try out a few different questions and queries in your field of study. Even if it seems too advanced for what you are doing right now, it will give you an idea of what is possible in your field.

2. WorldWideScience

WorldWideScience is an engine dedicated to finding scientific information. It might not be the sleekest or fastest site on this list, but it has all the fundamentals of a good research tool and you can filter down the results by quite a bit, saving yourself time when due dates loom.

If you need resources or stats, then look through WorldWideScience to see if they have something directly (or indirectly) related. If you are more focused on the humanities, then you may be best serviced by another site. It is available in multiple languages, and the site is maintained through the Office of Scientific and Technical Information (ultimately a part of the United States Department of Energy).

An online library of various journals, books, articles, and more, JSTOR is part of a non-profit organization that hopes to help students around the world get more access to the information they need to live up to their potential. You can create a search using the engine they have, then refine it to get the exact results you are looking for.

Naturally, JSTOR does not have every paper ever written, so you’ll want to make it one of several resources and engines that you use, but you will want to try it out and see if there is something about your field.

4. Scholarpedia

Want something like Wikipedia (more on that later), but nicer? Scholarpedia is an online resource that proclaims itself as a “peer-reviewed open-access encyclopedia”. It is a bit like Wikipedia in the sense that you may not want to cite it directly unless you feel confident that it will be accepted, but you can use it to get a better idea of your subject matter and you can use the cited sources as your own sources if they fit well. Instead of just anyone, writers of articles on Scholarpedia are generally experts in their fields, raising the bar for what is available.

You might want to get a cup of tea before exploring, though. The entries are more detailed and often more complex than what you will find on the rest of the internet. There will be equations and there will be terms you don’t recognize. And that’s all right because you can look up anything you need to.

5. Library of Congress

The Library of Congress is more than just another library that serves the United States Government. It is also one of the largest collections of helpful research in the United States and the world on top of that. There are plenty of journals, books, and articles in their collection that can help you, and just by exploring their site, you can learn more about how to conduct research and learn more about what might be best for your needs.

You can learn more about the Library of Congress by checking out its website. You can also visit in person, but you usually need to schedule a time and you cannot check anything out. Also, it would likely involve a great deal of travel. If the information is available online in some way, we recommend that you consider working with that.

The Library of Congress can be more than just a research tool as well, as it has virtual programs and options on the site. Explore and see if you can find new things you are curious about.

Another scholastic search tool that you can use to find out more about a topic, iSEEK is built for researchers of all types to learn more about their chosen field. Better than Google and some other engines in that it only pulls its results from trusted sources, iSEEK is perhaps the place you want to start when you know what you want and want to have as accurate data as possible.

And once you get some results, you can refine them as needed. Need to narrow it down by people or place? You can do that, and there are more options on top of that. This is another tool to experiment with ahead of time before you need it, so you can dive right in when you need to.

One last note is that this is one of the safest engines to use, featuring editor-reviewed content and options for safe searching. If you’re at a very public computer, then using iSEEK will give you nothing to fear. This and a few other features make it a great option for teachers to use to demonstrate to students how to better use a search engine and academic sources.

You might be wondering if there are any other academic search engines, and you can bet there are! RefSeek is another of the well-known search engine, and it searches a database of more than five billion documents to get you the sources and answers you seek. Despite this, it isn’t as intensive on the eyes and on your attention as other search engines, and focuses more on the potential scholarly sources and uses available. RefSeek does have a general results page, but one tab over you’ll find the “documents” page, which is what you’re there for.

With RefSeek you might not get as high-quality or focused results as some of the other results on this list, but you will get a longer list of options. You will also not have as many options in the menu to narrow down your results to what is relevant, but there are some text-based commands and options. We recommend seeking additional guidance on how to use it.

8. Google Books

Google Books is a huge index of books available from Google, almost something of a searchable library in itself. And if you’ve been to a research library recently, you know how much time can be wasted just trying to find relevant books. Google Books will cut down on some of that time for you.

Google Books can be a little hard to get used to (at least to its fullest) without some outside help so we recommend using some additional resources to help you understand exactly how to use it. At its base level, though, you can use it as another form of Google search, just a little more focused. 

Google Books is also very handy if you are looking for a book out of copyright or a passage thereof. In those cases, Google Books has the entire book uploaded, free for you to download. If it is not freely available, it will tell you where you can buy or borrow the book. It might not be the cheapest at times, but it is incredibly handy when working with more modern subjects. Combining Google Books and an engine that will search through journals and articles for you makes for a great combination!

9. Google Scholar

Google has plenty of resources that relate specifically to scholars, and they are mostly compiled and searchable in Google Scholar , which is much like the search engine but so much better if you are looking for a good source for your paper. Experiment a little with the search settings and you wouldn’t believe the interesting things you can find. Whether it’s court opinions or obscure scholarly papers on old literature, you’ll likely find something for your own paper on the engine. 

You might be thinking about doing a basic Google search about your topic to get some sources. Try using Google Scholar instead. You’ll get better results that will make your paper look much more well-researched and professional. There is even a specific search for case law, making it the perfect option for law students.

10. Wolfram Alpha

Wolfram Alpha is something of an interesting resource compared to the others because it is so much more than a search engine or tool. It is something of an information engine or a tool more focused on helping you find the answer you are looking for instead of a massive list of resources to sift through. Even its home page features links to all sorts of topics you could use help with, and any of them will feature help with problems you didn’t even know existed.

At times Wolfram Alpha might seem a bit too vague or hard to understand to use in your research, but it can do amazing work with other questions. Perhaps out of all the tools and resources on this list, Wolfram Alpha is the one that you should experiment with the most to see if it is a right fit with your information-gathering and research practices. After some time, you’ll know how to phrase questions better and what information to look for with it.

11. Science.gov

It might seem like a rather broad website, but Science.gov has a lot to offer people looking for facts, figures, and more information on the various sciences. The United States government does a lot of scientific research and work that might not otherwise reach a mainstream audience, but that doesn’t mean it is not accessible. It is authoritative in its collection of federal studies and science information, and it is also useful in providing some helpful information on how to learn more than what it provides. 

Its search feature might not be as flashy as some of the other options, but all the essentials are there. You can narrow it down by category, search for specific titles or authors, and pick out a range of dates for your search. 

12. MIT Research

MIT is well known as one of the top learning institutions in the country, and as such, there is a reason for thinking that anything they would put out to help with research would be great. This is a correct assumption. While there are some fields that MIT is not known for specializing in, there are still many distinguished academics that come from the field that are worth learning more about.

MIT Open Access Articles is effectively a database of resources that MIT makes available to the public. That is something valuable to scholars for many reasons. It might not boast the largest library of resources out of this list, but you know that what you will be looking at is worth looking at. If you want to know more about the cutting edge of your field or new ideas, MIT Research might be worth a look. 

13. Wikipedia 

To start with, you’ve certainly already heard that you should not use Wikipedia for your papers as a direct source. Wikipedia might not be reliable, and it changes too frequently. Yet that’s not why you’re on Wikipedia. As a student, you want to use Wikipedia as a springboard. You can’t use Wikipedia as a source, but you can likely use what Wikipedia uses as a source. Furthermore, what Wikipedia mentions are things that you should look up more closely yourself if you need more information on your topic. Think of it as something of a guide to get you going in the right direction.

Wikipedia also has the benefit of being available in multiple different languages and being regularly updated, at least for the popular topics. It is one of the biggest websites on the internet for a reason, and it is completely free. As long as you are using it in the right ways, there are only good things to say about it.

14. BioMedCentral

Another site that has limited usage to most people but is a fantastic resource for people in that field, BioMedCentral (BMC) is a site that focuses on open-access publishing, particularly when it comes to biology, medicine, and related subjects. They have a base of more than 300 peer-reviewed journals that you can use, and you can find that there is at least something that will help you in their collection.

BMC may be something you’ve already heard of if you’re in a related field, but we hope that this article is a reminder to you that the resource is there and is one of the best ones on the internet. It can change the course of your studies and keep you abreast of what is important in the field.

15. Your Local Library’s Site

Your library is not just for books. It is for information and media of all types, and that includes what you might be able to find online. Your library card might allow you to access scientific journals normally found beyond expensive paywalls or other blockades. You might be able to search databases of papers that can give you exactly what you need. Finally, you might be able to contact the reference desk of your library, which will be a huge help to any student of any level.

Furthermore, instead of scrubbing the stacks for a book that might help your paper, you will likely be able to make much faster searches with the right keywords and ideas of what you are looking for. Perhaps the book you need is checked out and you would need it otherwise. Perhaps you might want to find a book that is not at your local library but is in the interlibrary loan system. Some exploration is warranted, as every library and site is just a bit different.

It should be noted that not all local library sites are made equally, but at the very least you should take a look to see what is on offer. If you are currently enrolled in college (whether in person or remote), you likely have access to plenty of resources through your college library as well. 

Additional Sites and Tips

We couldn’t possibly list everything that might help you as a student in this article. To get the most out of the internet, we encourage you to keep the following in mind as well:

• If you are studying deeply in a specific field, it may benefit you to invest some time into finding the top sites for that field, whether they are related to a journal, publication, conference, or the like. You might be able to use such things as a source. You will most certainly find great connections to other people and sources that you will be able to use down the line.
• Bookmark and favorite pages liberally, using folders within the bookmarking system if you need to. You’ll be able to go back quickly to a page that way, and it’ll remind you of what sources and sites are most helpful.
• A site or resource that is great for one topic or field might not be so good for another. Always keep searching for new resources and ideas even if you are comfortable with what you have. How else are you going to grow as a student and scholar?
• Spend some time learning the proper notation for your field, or in all the major fields if possible. While some programs and apps can create a citation for you (if not perfectly), learning to do it yourself also makes it easier to read these citations. That lets you scan through the back of books or the end of papers more easily for further information.
• When all else fails, try the personal touch! Most professors and researchers would be happy to share their research with you and talk with you about what they are doing. Connecting with people in person can also open up opportunities for you in the future.
• If you don’t know where to start, just do a simple Google search on your topic of choice. It will at least tell you what people are talking about and tell you what Google thinks is related to your topic.
• While we’re on the topic of regular Google searches, learn all of the special commands and tools you can use to refine a Google Search. With such tools, you can get a specific date range, rule out specific words, and so much more. It’s one of the best possible investments of your time from a research perspective, and the knowledge is a gift that keeps on giving.
• Ask other people what they use. There is always something on the horizon and what works for colleges or classmates might work for you. Just use your judgment. 
• Even if you find one of the more specialized sites that only have peer-reviewed articles, that doesn’t mean you cannot be careful when you are reviewing your sources. Not every article remains relevant over time, and there might be conflicting information you should at least address before putting your scholarship into the world.

Whether you’re a high school student, in college, or working on that master’s degree, having the right resources at your fingertips is vital to your success as a student. While not all of the above sites might fit your current needs, we hope you make note of them and we hope that some of them will help you in your studies ahead. This is a marathon, not a sprint, so don’t get discouraged if everything doesn’t come to you at once. Keep at it, keep an open mind, and we wish you the best of luck with your future endeavors.

InternetAdvisor Team

We are passionate about aggregating large, accurate data sets and providing it all to our users in an easy-to-use format. Simply put, shopping is easier for the consumer when he/she knows all available options. We are not beholden to any single provider and therefore are dedicated to transparency and giving you unbiased information on all providers.

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12 Useful Research Websites for College Students

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.

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.

Photo Credit Head Image:  Dan Dimmock on Unsplash

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The Best Research and Reference Websites

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Research websites come in handy in all kinds of situations, whether you're looking for the average rainfall in the Amazon rainforest, researching Roman history, or just having fun learning to find information.

This list of the best research websites will help greatly, and most of them are updated daily with new information.

I like to pair these sites with free research organizational tools to keep track of everything I gather online.

Best Research Websites

• Library of Congress : LOC.gov lets you not only ask a librarian for help , but also search catalogs of libraries from all over the world. This is truly a huge resource that should be on your Top 10 best research sites list. Anything from Academia Sinica in Taiwan to Yale University in the U.S. is here and ready to be searched.
• ReferenceDesk.org : Dubbed "The Internet's Best Reference Source," this extremely useful web directory provides everything from business and finance information to federal government resources, scholarship details, links to newspapers and calendars, search engines, and more.
• Ask the Space Expert: NASA's source for space and science research help. Use the video links to listen to questions answered by experts. These are from 2013 through 2015.
• USA.gov : This is where you should start when looking for specific U.S. government information. Learn about the country in general or education, housing, disability services, jobs, taxes, laws, and more.
• Reference.com : Extremely simple to use with a basic layout, this reference website lets you browse by category or search by keywords to research everything from food and health to history, beauty, education, technology, vehicles, art, and more.
• Refdesk.com : Billing itself as the internet's fact-checker, this site includes in-depth research links to breaking news, editorials, Today in History, Word of the Day, and other references.
• Encyclopedia.com : The #1 online encyclopedia that lets you search over 200 reference books and encyclopedias at once. The Picks of the week is a neat section to examine each week.
• Encyclopedia Britannica : One of the world's oldest encyclopedias online; has featured posts and category listings. The company launched in the 18th century and has been publishing exclusively online since 2011.
• Purdue University Quick Reference : This site has tons of information that includes resources specific to Purdue University and surrounding areas in Indiana. It also includes an Ask a Librarian service.
• Prescriber's Digital Reference : A wonderful research tool when gathering detailed medical information. The drug name browser includes summaries (dosage, description, and more) for hundreds of drugs.
• iTools.com : Serves as a gateway for reference and research links. It uses other websites for its searches, like YouTube and Google.
• ResearchGate : Scientific knowledge from over 160 million publication pages; browse topics in categories like engineering, biology, climate change, medicine, math, and more.
• Baseball-Reference.com : Here's everything you ever wanted to know about baseball.
• FOLDOC : Free Online Dictionary of Computing is a detailed computing dictionary for researching the meaning behind computer-related tools, standards, jargon, languages, and more. The "random" button is a fun way to learn new concepts.

Depending on the type of research you're doing or how you need to reference the information, you may need quick access to books. There are lots of places to find free book downloads , textbooks , and educational movies .

Other Ways to Do Research

Search engines like Google are a great way to perform online research. You can locate books, articles, interviews, and lots more. Learn how to search better to get the most out of your research.

Another top source of expert information is your local librarian— search for libraries near you at WorldCat . Librarians are trained to find answers to obscure questions, they're friendly, and best of all, you can talk with them face to face. They often ask you questions you might not have considered, leading to even better results. You can get help from librarians online, too, through some of the sources above.

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ChatGPT for Teachers

Trauma-informed practices in schools, teacher well-being, cultivating diversity, equity, & inclusion, integrating technology in the classroom, social-emotional development, covid-19 resources, invest in resilience: summer toolkit, civics & resilience, all toolkits, degree programs, trauma-informed professional development, teacher licensure & certification, how to become - career information, classroom management, instructional design, lifestyle & self-care, online higher ed teaching, current events, five free websites for students to build research skills.

Finding free Web resources for building research skills is essential for teachers who are on a restricted budget. Teachers can use the Internet to access amazing research resources, thanks to the U.S. government. From finding lesson plans to scanning patent applications, teachers can uncover a wealth of information on history, art, science, language arts, math, health and social studies on the Web.

Here are five highlights of these free research resources:

1. Library of Congress

The U.S. Library of Congress has a page on its website that is tailor-made for teachers who can download classroom materials via primary sources from the library’s vast collection. Educators will discover lesson plans customized to fit the current Common Core State Standards for schools as well as other state and national standards for education. Two examples:

• A lesson plan titled “The Constitution: Drafting a More Perfect Union.”
• Presentation resources under the headline “Elections … The American Way.”

2. National Archives

The U.S. National Archives has lesson plans and free eBooks that feature content that is acceptable according to state and national standards. For example, one of the eBooks, “The Meaning and Making of Emancipation,” discusses the Emancipation Proclamation and its significance with American society. The eBook also has photo copies of primary sources via documents housed at the National Archives.

3. U.S. Department of Agriculture

The USDA offers educators a plethora of resources that are useful for creating research skills lessons. Most of the information on the site is geared at the history and application of agriculture in the U.S. There is also information on the Constitution and Declaration of Independence.

Educators interested in addressing health and nutrition with their students can find a section focused on food and nutrition resources. Also, publications detailing crop genetics resources and the Journal of the Extension are provided on the website.

4. Federal Resources for Educational Excellence

FREE is another governmental website that provides animations, primary documents, photos and videos that are excellent for educators to use as resources. Subjects include art, music, health, American history and math. The categories are easy to sort as each subject features subtopics along with a number that shows how many resources are offered on that subtopic. For example, under U.S. History, one of the subtopics is Movements. Items available for this subtopic include:

• Civil rights (43)
• Women’s history (38)
• Transportation (28)
• Immigration and migration (28)

5. National Writing Project

The National Writing Project focuses on improving students’ writing and literacy. There are several resources including professional development resource topics such as:

• Teacher research/inquiry
• Teaching reading
• Teaching writing
• Standards and assessment
• Being a writer

The site also accepts submissions from students, which is a great resource for promoting publication and exposure for students’ ideas. As the site is focused on encouraging reading and writing, educators can put their ideas related to research skills into action. Students have a place to go to present their works that stem from library research while being in a safe and constructive educational space online.

Educators can find a wide range of free research opportunities online, including websites that don’t require users to sign in or create an online profile. These sites are good places that students can visit to develop their own research skills.

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Sat / act prep online guides and tips, the best college search websites, reviewed (top 10).

College Admissions

Not sure where to begin your college research? There are tons of online resources to help students match up with the right schools. In this article, I'll outline ten of the best sites to conduct your college search and then explain how to get started researching colleges  using three of the best sites. Within each section, the sites are ordered from the absolute best to those that are still good but not #1.

Starting Out: The Best Data-Driven Sites to Begin Your College Search

If you've just begun researching colleges and need some help finding schools you might be interested in, check out these sites to help get you started.

College Board’s Big Future

This is a good place to find out about colleges if you’re just starting out in your search. It caters to students who might not know where to begin and guides you through the research process. There's a guide called  "College Search Step-by-Step" for students who are unsure of how to go about the search process.  It will ask specific questions about what you are looking for in a school and give you a "snapshot" of your preferences to help you decide where to apply.

On the main college search page,  you can find college matches based on different criteria that you’re interested in, or you can search for schools directly.  You can also compare schools, but the amount of data is less staggering than some other sites, so it may be easier to digest.

College InSight

If you’re a more scientifically minded person, this site will probably appeal to you. You have the option to start your search with  a specific college, a topic that interests you, or with building your own table of different variables   to compare schools  across any metric you choose. 

This site has a huge amount of data for each school that includes variables such as economic and racial diversity of the student body and extensive statistics on debt and financial aid.  This is a helpful resource for comparing colleges side by side based on hard data.  You can choose a “focus” school and a “comparison” school, and the site will list the data for each school in table format. It's a good way to get an objective viewpoint on what each school is like.

If you’re not as interested in looking at a bunch of data you may find this site to be overwhelming, but if you’re trying to find  an easy way to compare school stats without having to create a profile  this is the place to go.

This is just a screenshot of the top of the comparison charts - there are many more statistics that show up below this.

College Navigator

This site (put out by the National Center for Educational Statistics) doesn’t have the prettiest interface, but it’s useful for finding reliable data about any college in the country.  If you already know what school you want, you can search for it directly. You can also search by state or even area code. There are filters for degree level and type of college as well, so you can search for just public or private colleges or just 4-year colleges. 

Each college has a page that lists relevant data including information about cost and financial aid, admissions, programs offered, graduation rates, athletics, and other general statistics. 

The downside of this site is that the information can be overwhelming and difficult to digest because there is so much data. If you prefer something less dry and scientific you might want to look elsewhere, but if you’re just looking for the facts with no frills this is a good resource.

The Inside Scoop: Sites With the Best Student Feedback and College Matchmaking

This next section highlights sites that are best for when you already have an idea of which schools you're thinking about and are interested in comparing them and learning more about whether they're really a good fit.

This is a great site for comparing schools, calculating admissions chances, calculating financial aid, and just figuring out if a school is a good match for you in general.  You will be asked to create a profile, which then allows the site to figure out which schools might work best based on what matters most to you. There are also student reviews, so in addition to comparing hard data you will also be able to compare how people feel about the school. There’s even a feature that helps you plan campus visits!

This site has one of the best balances between comprehensive data and a user-friendly experience that tells you what you really want to know about colleges. It will even take you as far as your application! Each school that you put on your list of favorites has a link that takes you directly to the school's website where you can begin the application process.

On Chegg's college matchmaking site, you can create a profile and see which schools might be right for you. This site can be very helpful in your college search because it lets you keep a running list of schools that you’re interested in once you create a profile. 

Design-wise, it’s nice to look at, and  the statistics are presented in a very user-friendly, simple way that’s easy to understand.  You’ll also find grades based on student reviews for everything from campus dining to academics to the party scene, so you can get an inside look at what people really think about the school.

Based on these grades, the site has lists of schools that have the “best quality of life”, “best merit aid”, and many other categories that may help you narrow down your search.  There’s also a tool on each college page for you to enter your GPA and SAT/ACT scores and see your chances of admission.  One issue with student ratings is that they are very subjective and may not always reflect the truth about the school. Before you take these as fact, make sure you also check out the school’s main website and see what they have to say about themselves.

This site contains less hard data, but is relatively easy to use and makes the college search a little more fun (they even give grades for the attractiveness of the student body...very important in choosing your dream school).

This site gives you access to  tons of statistics as well as student reviews and letter grades for different aspects of student life  (this is actually where the college grades on Chegg, a site I recommend later, come from). You’ll also see lists of the best schools in different categories based on reviews.

If you’re looking for a comprehensive overview of what’s offered by colleges, this is a great resource. There are a lot of statistics to wade through, but you can also create a free profile and get matched up with colleges. This site is nice because  it can get really technical and specific,  but it also gives you the tools to search for schools without feeling too overwhelmed. You can keep a running list of schools that you’re interested in, and the site will help you notify representatives for these schools of your interest if you think any of them are especially good matches.

One aspect of Niche that I'm not so crazy about is the amount of  distracting promotions and ads for other related sites  that are involved. It makes things a bit more cluttered and confusing to navigate and kind of turned me off from using this site despite the fact that it presents a lot of great information. 

College Confidential

You might be familiar with College Confidential for its (sometimes less than trustworthy) discussion forums, but it also has a great college search feature.  You can fill out your preferences in over 20 different categories including location, majors, Greek life, party scene, and special services. Based on your answers and how important these factors are to you, you’ll get matched with schools that fit you best (out of a database of over 4,500 schools that includes schools outside of the US). 

You can also create a list of schools that you like by “pinning” your favorites.  To narrow down your search even further, you can compare your top choices in different areas to see how they measure up against each other. You can save and share your lists if you want as well!

I’d recommend this as a starting point if you're not sure which schools you’re interested in - it will help you figure out what’s most important to you and give you some initial ideas. It's super easy to pin and compare schools, although the information pages are a little confusing and not as nice to look at as the school matching interface. If you click on a school, you are linked out to another site called "College View" for the statistics, which makes things a bit harder to navigate compared to other sites where all information is internal.

Get it? Go to Uni? It sounds like the Brits are responsible for this one, which made me suspicious, but this site is pretty cool. It has a modern design and includes tons of reviews in written and video format from students at the colleges. Based on student feedback, schools are rated on a scale of 1-10 for a bunch of different factors including campus safety, political activity, arts culture, Greek life, intellectual life, and more. 

Each college page has financial aid and admissions statistics, a built in map of the surrounding area, and statistics on student life such as the number of campus organizations and Greek houses. You can also make a list of schools and compare them across different metrics like tuition and selectivity.  

It does seem like they’re still working on adding more statistics about academics, so this site is a bit light on data in some areas.  Still, it’s fun to use and will give you a different perspective than other sites with its multimedia format; there are lots of pictures of schools from students in addition to the video reviews. 

Taking Action: The Best Sites to Learn About Paying for and Applying to College

Once you have a pretty solid list of which colleges you want to apply to, you can use these sites to help you navigate college applications and paying for school.

This site is oriented towards helping students search for scholarships , but it will also help you find colleges that may interest you. You can set up an account for free that will allow you to locate colleges and scholarships that fit your specific needs. There are helpful blog articles on the site as well that have advice on scholarships and colleges.

You can also search for student loans on Fastweb - you just have to answer a few questions and you’ll get a list of all your loan choices.  This site is a nice user-friendly means of finding scholarships and loans that will help you to avoid getting too overwhelmed with your options. 

It’s also a good site to keep in mind going forward, since it has resources for career planning and finding internship opportunities as well. If you're practically-minded and are serious about finding scholarships, you should definitely try this site out. You may want to use another platform for the college search process because Fastweb doesn't have as much information or tools for finding colleges as it does for finding scholarships and loans. 

This site is good for learning about application timelines and getting yourself organized for college as well as searching for schools that meet your criteria. There are articles with helpful tips about choosing colleges, applying to college, and getting financial aid and scholarships. You'll get fast stats about colleges and suggestions about other schools that you may like based on your searches.

This isn’t my favorite site in terms of its presentation of college statistics.  However, it does provide advice in other areas that is more specific than other sites and may help answer questions you have about the application process and how to actually follow through on your college decision.

How to Start Your College Search

Your mind is probably reeling from all of these options, so to make it easier, below is how we recommend you get started. The three sites described in this section are the best ones for beginning your college search, and I'll explain exactly how to use them.

Step 1: Develop a Preliminarly List of Schools With Cappex

As we mentioned above, Cappex is an excellent site for helping you figure out which types of schools you're interested in and which fit you well. Below are the steps to get the most out of Cappex.

1. Create a profile - you'll answer a lot of questions about your college preferences including location, size, selectivity, and religious affiliation as well as questions about your GPA and scores. This gives the site an idea of what colleges may fit with your needs. You also have the opportunity to enter in schools that interest you if you already have options in mind. 

2. Play around with your Dashboard: this is where you'll see all the colleges that might fit your preferences. You'll be asked to select a region and a major so that the results are more tailored to you (don't worry - you can choose undecided if you aren't sure what you want to major in yet). You'll see a slider of different schools that looks like this:

If you hover over any of the schools, you'll get an at-a-glance stats panel that shows you whether the school is public or private, its tuition rates, and the number of students. The first row of schools is for colleges that you may be interested in, and the second row is for colleges that are interested in you based on your level of high school achievement. 

3. Click on the link inside the stats panel for any school that catches your interest. Once you get to the next page, you'll have a ton of information at your fingertips. One helpful feature that you probably want to check first is "Your Fit", which is the fourth button down on the left side panel. This gives you an easy way to tell if the college matches up well with the preferences you indicated in your profile.

4. Explore the college a little more. Think about other things that are important to you and whether they fit well with what the college offers. You'll notice that in each college profile you can comb through a huge database of information by clicking on the options on the left. Categories include everything from campus life to student reviews to application deadlines. Before you get too confused from all the information, try making a list of what you think will make you happy at college and target your browsing to the areas that matter most to you. 

5. If you're feeling really good about a school, you can add it to the running list of colleges that is a part of your Cappex profile. Just click the "yes" button at the top of the screen where it asks if you're interested in the school. This will also notify the school that you are interested. If you fill out your profile completely, Cappex will also give you your chances of admission to a college if you click on "yes & calculate my chances". Here's what your college list will look like:

Notice that you can rank colleges by how much you like them, and if you update your profile you'll see your chances of admission as well. The list also makes it easy to compare colleges. If you click on the "compare" tab you can compare colleges side by side in admissions, tuition, diversity, and campus life (this could be a good way to give your parents the hard facts about why you prefer one school over another that they think is better). 

6. After you're satisfied with your list, you can apply to schools by clicking on the "apply to college" link beneath every list entry. This will send you directly to the admissions site for the school and make it easy for you to get your application started. 

Step 2: Refine Your College List Using Chegg

Once you've made a preliminary list of colleges with Cappex, we recommend next using Chegg to refine your list and see if there are any schools you missed. Below are the steps for getting the most out of Chegg.

1. Login through Facebook or sign up manually for a profile. Make sure you fill out as much information as you can in your profile so that your college matches will be as accurate as possible. 

2. Click on the "Colleges" tab at the top of the screen, and you'll get to a page where you can search for schools by name or sort schools by your preferences. You can also look at lists of schools that are provided for you on the site based on student ratings for different things like "best food" or "most beautiful campus".

You should also look at your "Matches", which are colleges selected for you based on the preferences you indicated in your profile. Just switch to the matches tab by clicking on it at the top of the screen:

3. Once you see a college that looks promising, go to the page for the school and start exploring the statistics and ratings. You can even look at your chances of admission based on your GPA and scores. Again, I would recommend writing down some factors that are important to you for a college before you dive into the stats so that you have a more focused approach. I think a good thing about this site is that it doesn't go too heavy on the nitty gritty statistics. It boils it down to the basic things you probably want to know and also gives you perspective from real students. 

4. Add any college you think sounds good to your list of schools. Once you add a college to your list, you will have the option to fill out information that will allow colleges you are interested in to contact you.

You can then compare up to five schools side by side based on scores, admission requirements, tuition, and other basic facts. This should help you narrow your search down significantly. 

5. Take a look at other features of the site - you can also use Chegg to find scholarships and internships! 

Step 3: Search for Scholarships Using Fastweb

Fastweb is  the best way to find scholarships, which is a super important part of the college application process. You can also find colleges on Fastweb, but it's not as streamlined as the other options. We recommend using Fastweb after you've used Cappex and Chegg to get a list of colleges you're interested in applying to.

1. Fill out a free profile, providing as many details as possible about your interests and strengths as possible. This will help you get matched to scholarships that are appropriate for your specific talents. 

2. Click on "see my matches" in your profile to take a look at all the scholarships that are available to you:

You can sort scholarships by deadline, amount, and provider. This is an awesome resource - instead of traversing the internet, you can see all of your potential scholarships right here. 

3. If you click on the link for a scholarship and think you're interested, you can use the dropdown menu on the right to mark it as one that you "might apply" or "will apply" to;  this will add it to your list under one of those tabs. This will make it easy for you to keep track of which scholarships interest you and which ones you promised yourself you would apply for (because we all know how easy it is to say you're going to apply and how hard it is to actually follow through). 

4. You can also use this site to search for colleges (switch to the "colleges" tab at the top of the screen) and create a list of schools you're interested in. The list will look similar to the scholarship matches page:

As I mentioned, the college search features on this site aren't quite as comprehensive as the others because there's no way to compare schools and there aren't as many student reviews or user-friendly statistics. You CAN use it to make a list, but I'd say Fastweb is mostly for scholarships. 

5. If you want, start looking into your student loan options! This is a really daunting process that is made easier by the Student Lending Center feature under the Student Loans section of Fastweb.

You can also get help with navigating the financial aid process under the Financial Aid tab and finding internships under the Career Planning tab. Basically, for anything involving the practical concerns associated with college, Fastweb is the best place to go.  

The college search is a challenging, sometimes confusing process, especially when you're not sure where to start. I've given you the top ten sites I would recommend for finding colleges that fit your needs and a more detailed guide to the three sites that I think will be the most useful. Here are my overall rankings for the best sites to use in your college search:

1. Cappex 2. Chegg 3. Fastweb 4. Niche 5. College Confidential 6. Peterson's  7. College Board's Big Future 8. College InSight 9. Unigo 10. College Navigator

All of these sites will help you out in one way or another to narrow down your search, but I believe the top three have the best combination of user friendly format, solid information, and fun interactive features that are also very helpful to students. Remember to focus solely on what is most important to you in your search. You may have never heard of a school, but that doesn't mean it won't be a perfect fit. Be honest with yourself and you'll end up making a great choice!

What's Next?

Aiming high in your college search? Read this article on how to get into the top schools in the nation.  

If you're worried about your chances of getting into college period, check out this list of the easiest schools to get into.

Building a killer college application is hard work. Find out the how to create a versatile application and what not to do in your college essay.

The Common Application makes it easy to apply to a bunch of different schools but only fill out one application! Find out which schools accept the Common App.

Want to improve your SAT score by 160 points or your ACT score by 4 points?  We've written a guide for each test about the top 5 strategies you must be using to have a shot at improving your score. Download it for free now:

Samantha is a blog content writer for PrepScholar. Her goal is to help students adopt a less stressful view of standardized testing and other academic challenges through her articles. Samantha is also passionate about art and graduated with honors from Dartmouth College as a Studio Art major in 2014. In high school, she earned a 2400 on the SAT, 5's on all seven of her AP tests, and was named a National Merit Scholar.

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32 Questions to Ask on a College Visit

Students should feel free to ask questions during an information session or on tour.

Questions to Ask on a College Visit

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Prospective students should conduct at least basic research to facilitate questions to ask during the information session or on tour, experts say.

Key Takeaways

• Before a campus visit, students should do basic research on the school.
• Students and their families have various opportunities to ask questions.
• No question is dumb.

College visits, whether in person or virtual, can help give prospective students a better feel of campus life.

Contrary to popular belief, however, students don’t need to have that “a-ha” moment when they eventually find the campus where they belong, says Thyra Briggs, vice president for admission and financial aid at Harvey Mudd College in California.

“I just don't think that happens for most students,” she says. “I don't want students to walk away from a visit where that didn't happen thinking, ‘Oh, this is not the place for me.’ This is a long-term relationship. It's not necessarily love at first sight. … In this age of instant gratification, I think it's an important thing to give a school a chance to affect you in a different way.”

For an in-person visit, families should prepare ahead of time by checking the weather and dressing comfortably as tours are mostly held outside.

"Leave plenty of time at an individual campus and allow yourself to enjoy the experience, be present in the moment and (don't) feel rushed because that could also skew your perception of things," says Bryan Gross, vice president for enrollment management at Hartwick College in New York.

It’s also important, experts say, to conduct at least basic research on the institution – even if it’s just looking at their social media accounts – to help facilitate questions to ask during the information session or on tour.

"We know that for some of you, this may be the first time you are going through this," Briggs says. "For others, it's a different student (going through the process) than the student you had who's older. So there’s no bad questions. ... I would hope that any college would welcome any question a student would ask.”

Here are 32 example questions, collected from college admissions and enrollment professions, that students don't always think to ask on college visits. These questions – edited for length or clarity – were provided by Briggs, Gross and Brian Lindeman, assistant vice president of admissions and financial aid at Macalester College  in Minnesota.

Questions About Admissions

• Does this school consider demonstrated interest?
• Is there an opportunity for prospective students to sit in on a class to experience a real lecture?
• Are there options to receive a lunch or dinner pass at the dining hall to try the food?

Questions About Academics

• Where do students typically study?
• How does advising work?
• What are the academic strengths of this school?
• What opportunities are there for study abroad and exchange programs?
• If available, are these global programs directly run by this school – where faculty members travel with students – or are these study abroad programs outsourced to a third-party company?
• Are these study abroad experiences built into the tuition or are there additional fees to participate?

Questions About Financial Aid

• What is this school's average financial aid package?
• What is the average net cost when students enroll?
• What is the current level of funding with endowed scholarships – how much are donors contributing to scholarships?
• Do you offer merit aid ? If so, what are you looking for in a candidate?

Questions About Campus Housing and Community

• What are the housing options?
• What are the fee structures for these different options?
• Are students required to live on campus ?
• How does your campus define diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging?

Questions to Ask Your Tour Guide to Gauge Campus Life

• What surprised you about this school? What's something you didn't expect?
• What keeps you coming back to this school each year?
• Have we seen your favorite place on campus?
• What event on campus gets the biggest turnout every year?
• If you were struggling with an issue, would you know who to turn to? Who would that be?

Questions About Work and Research Opportunities

• What are the opportunities for undergraduate research on campus?
• How do those research opportunities give students valuable hands-on experiences that enhance their resumes?
• What are some specific ways this school helps students gain hands-on experience through internships ?

Questions About Student and Career Outcomes

• What is the retention rate from freshman to sophomore year?
• What is the five-year graduation rate?
• What is the job-attainment rate of graduates within six months of graduating?
• What percent of students are going on to graduate school ?
• What percent of students are intentionally taking time off post-graduation compared to those who are not able to find jobs?
• What size is the alumni network?
• How are alumni actively engaging with recent graduates to help connect them specifically to opportunities in their fields?

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Are We Talking Too Much About Mental Health?

Recent studies cast doubt on whether large-scale mental health interventions are making young people better. Some even suggest they can have a negative effect.

By Ellen Barry

In recent years, mental health has become a central subject in childhood and adolescence. Teenagers narrate their psychiatric diagnosis and treatment on TikTok and Instagram. School systems, alarmed by rising levels of distress and self-harm, are introducing preventive coursework in emotional self-regulation and mindfulness.

Now, some researchers warn that we are in danger of overdoing it. Mental health awareness campaigns, they argue, help some young people identify disorders that badly need treatment — but they have a negative effect on others, leading them to over-interpret their symptoms and see themselves as more troubled than they are.

The researchers point to unexpected results in trials of school-based mental health interventions in the United Kingdom and Australia: Students who underwent training in the basics of mindfulness , cognitive behavioral therapy and dialectical behavior therapy did not emerge healthier than peers who did not participate, and some were worse off, at least for a while.

And new research from the United States shows that among young people, “self-labeling” as having depression or anxiety is associated with poor coping skills, like avoidance or rumination.

In a paper published last year , two research psychologists at the University of Oxford, Lucy Foulkes and Jack Andrews, coined the term “prevalence inflation” — driven by the reporting of mild or transient symptoms as mental health disorders — and suggested that awareness campaigns were contributing to it.

“It’s creating this message that teenagers are vulnerable, they’re likely to have problems, and the solution is to outsource them to a professional,” said Dr. Foulkes, a Prudence Trust Research Fellow in Oxford’s department of experimental psychology, who has written two books on mental health and adolescence.

Until high-quality research has clarified these unexpected negative effects, they argue, school systems should proceed cautiously with large-scale mental health interventions.

“It’s not that we need to go back to square one, but it’s that we need to press pause and reroute potentially,” Dr. Foulkes said. “It’s possible that something very well-intended has overshot a bit and needs to be brought back in.”

This remains a minority view among specialists in adolescent mental health, who mostly agree that the far more urgent problem is lack of access to treatment.

About 60 percent of young Americans with severe depression receive no treatment, according to Mental Health America, a nonprofit research group. In crisis, desperate families fall back on emergency rooms, where teens often remain for days before a psychiatric bed opens up. There is good reason to embrace a preventive approach, teaching schoolchildren basic skills that might forestall crises later, experts say.

Dr. Foulkes said she understood that her argument runs counter to that consensus, and when she began to present it, she braced for a backlash. To her surprise, she said, many educators reached out to express quiet agreement.

“There’s definitely a fear about being the one to say it,” she said.

A deflating result

In the summer of 2022, the results of a landmark study on mindfulness training in British classrooms landed — like a lead balloon.

The trial, My Resilience in Adolescence, or MYRIAD, was ambitious, meticulous and expansive, following about 28,000 teenagers over eight years. It had been launched in a glow of optimism that the practice would pay off, improving the students’ mental health outcomes in later years.

Half of the teenagers were trained by their teachers to direct their attention to the present moment — breathing, physical sensations or everyday activities — in 10 lessons of 30 to 50 minutes apiece.

The results were disappointing . The authors reported “no support for our hypothesis” that mindfulness training would improve students’ mental health. In fact, students at highest risk for mental health problems did somewhat worse after receiving the training, the authors concluded.

But by the end of the eight-year project, “mindfulness is already embedded in a lot of schools, and there are already organizations making money from selling this program to schools,” said Dr. Foulkes, who had assisted on the study as a postdoctoral research associate. “And it’s very difficult to get the scientific message out there.”

Why, one might ask, would a mental health program do harm?

Researchers in the study speculated that the training programs “bring awareness to upsetting thoughts,” encouraging students to sit with darker feelings, but without providing solutions, especially for societal problems like racism or poverty. They also found that the students didn’t enjoy the sessions and didn’t practice at home.

Another explanation is that mindfulness training could encourage “co-rumination,” the kind of long, unresolved group discussion that churns up problems without finding solutions.

As the MYRIAD results were being analyzed, Dr. Andrews led an evaluation of Climate Schools, an Australian intervention based on the principles of cognitive behavioral therapy, in which students observed cartoon characters navigating mental health concerns and then answered questions about practices to improve mental health.

Here, too, he found negative effects. Students who had taken the course reported higher levels of depression and anxiety symptoms six months and 12 months later.

Co-rumination appears to be higher in girls, who tend to come into the program more distressed, as well as more attuned to their friends, he said. “It might be,” he said, “that they kind of get together and make things a little bit worse for each other.”

Dr. Andrews, a Wellcome Trust research fellow, has since joined an effort to improve Climate Schools by addressing negative effects. And he has concluded that schools should slow down until “we know the evidence base a bit more.” Sometimes, he said, “doing nothing is better than doing something.”

The awareness paradox

One problem with mental health awareness, some research suggests, is that it may not help to put a label to your symptoms.

Isaac Ahuvia, a doctoral candidate at Stony Brook University, recently tested this in a study of 1,423 college students . Twenty-two percent “self-labeled” as having depression, telling researchers “I am depressed” or “I have depression,” but 39 percent met the diagnostic criteria for depression.

He found that the students who self-labeled felt that they had less control over depression and were more likely to catastrophize and less likely to respond to distress by putting their difficulties in perspective, compared with peers who had similar depression symptoms.

Jessica L. Schleider, a co-author of the self-labeling study, said this was no surprise. People who self-label “appear to be viewing depression as a biological inevitability,” she said. “People who don’t view emotions as malleable, view them as set and stuck and uncontrollable, tend to cope less well because they don’t see a point to trying.”

But Dr. Schleider, an associate professor of medical social sciences at Northwestern University and the director of the university’s Lab for Scalable Mental Health, pushed back on the prevalence inflation hypothesis. She disagreed with the claim that students are overdiagnosing themselves, noting that Mr. Ahuvia’s findings suggest otherwise.

Awareness campaigns are bound to have multiple effects, helping some students and not others. And ultimately, she argued, the priority for public health should be reaching young people in the most distress.

“The urgency of the mental health crisis is so clear,” she said. “In the partnerships that I have, the emphasis is on the kids truly struggling right now who have nothing — we need to help them — more so than a possible risk for a subset of kids who aren’t really struggling.”

Maybe, she said, we need to look beyond the “universal, school-assembly-style approach,” to targeted, light-touch interventions, which research has shown can be effective at decreasing anxiety and conduct disorders, especially in younger children.

“There is a risk of throwing the baby out with the bathwater,” Dr. Schleider said. “The response can’t be ‘Forget all of it.’ It should be ‘What about this intervention was unhelpful?’”

Other researchers echoed her concern, pointing to studies that show that on average, students benefit from social and emotional learning courses.

One of the largest, a 2023 meta-analysis of 252 classroom programs in 53 countries, found that students who participated performed better academically, displayed better social skills and had lower levels of emotional distress or behavioral problems. In that context, negative effects in a handful of trials appear modest, the researchers said.

“We clearly have not figured out how to do them yet, but I can’t imagine any population-based intervention that the field got right the first time,” said Dr. Andrew J. Gerber, the president and medical director of Silver Hill Hospital and a practicing child and adolescent psychiatrist.

“Really, if you think about almost everything we do in schools, we don’t have great evidence for it working,” he added. “That doesn’t mean we don’t do it. It just means that we’re constantly thinking about ways to improve it.”

‘We want everyone to have it’

These debates are taking place a long way away from classrooms, where mental health curriculums are increasingly commonplace.

Allyson Kangisser, a counselor at Woodsdale Elementary School in Wheeling, W.Va., said the focus in her school is on basic coping skills. In the early grades, students are asked, “What things can you do to take care of yourself when you’re having big feelings?”

Starting in third grade, they take on more complex material, such as watching cartoon characters to distinguish transient stress from chronic conditions like depression. “We’re not trying to have them diagnose themselves,” Ms. Kangisser said. “We are saying, what do you feel — this one? Or this one?”

At the school’s sixth annual mental health fair last month, Woodsdale students walked through a giant inflatable brain, its lobes neatly labeled. They did yoga stretches and talked about regulating their emotions. Ms. Kangisser said the event is valuable precisely because it is universal, so troubled children are not singled out.

“The mental health fair, everybody does it,” she said. “It’s not ‘You need it, and you don’t.’ We want everyone to have it, because you just never know.”

By the time the students reach college, they will have absorbed enormous amounts of information about mental health — from school, but also from social media and from one another.

Dr. Jessica Gold, chief wellness officer for the University of Tennessee system, said the college students she sees are recognizably different — more comfortable speaking about their emotions and more willing to be vulnerable. They also overuse diagnostic terms and have the self-assurance to question a psychiatrist’s judgment.

“It’s sort of a double-edged sword,” she said. “We want people to talk about this more, but we don’t want that to lead to overdiagnosis or incorrect diagnosis or overtreatment. We want it to lead to normalizing of having feelings.”

Lucy Kim, a Yale senior who has lobbied for better mental health support on campus, described the prevalence inflation hypothesis as “disheartening, dismissive and potentially dangerous,” providing another way to discount the experiences of young people.

“As a college student, I see a generation of young people around me impacted by a depth and breadth of loneliness, exhaustion and disillusionment suggestive of a malaise that goes deeper than the general vicissitudes of life,” said Ms. Kim, 23.

Overdiagnosis does happen, she said, and so does glorification of mental health disorders. But stigma and barriers to treatment remain the bigger problem. “I can confidently say I have never heard anyone respond to disclosures of depression with ‘That’s so cool, I wish I had that, too,’” she said.

Ellen Barry is a reporter covering mental health for The Times. More about Ellen Barry

Managing Anxiety and Stress

Stay balanced in the face of stress and anxiety with our collection of tools and advice..

How are you, really? This self-guided check-in will help you take stock of your emotional well-being — and learn how to make changes .

These simple and proven strategies will help you manage stress , support your mental health and find meaning in the new year.

First, bring calm and clarity into your life with these 10 tips . Next, identify what you are dealing with: Is it worry, anxiety or stress ?

Persistent depressive disorder is underdiagnosed, and many who suffer from it have never heard of it. Here is what to know .

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Four from MIT named 2024 Knight-Hennessy Scholars

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MIT senior Owen Dugan, graduate student Vittorio Colicci ’22, predoctoral research fellow Carine You ’22, and recent alumna Carina Letong Hong ’22 are recipients of this year’s Knight-Hennessy Scholarships. The competitive fellowship, now in its seventh year, funds up to three years of graduate studies in any field at Stanford University. To date, 22 MIT students and alumni have been awarded Knight-Hennessy Scholarships.

“We are excited for these students to continue their education at Stanford with the generous support of the Knight Hennessy Scholarship,” says Kim Benard, associate dean of distinguished fellowships in Career Advising and Professional Development. “They have all demonstrated extraordinary dedication, intellect, and leadership, and this opportunity will allow them to further hone their skills to make real-world change.”

Vittorio Colicci ’22

Vittorio Colicci, from Trumbull, Connecticut, graduated from MIT in May 2022 with a BS in aerospace engineering and physics. He will receive his master’s degree in planetary sciences this spring. At Stanford, Colicci will pursue a PhD in earth and planetary sciences at the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability. He hopes to investigate how surface processes on Earth and Mars have evolved through time alongside changes in habitability. Colicci has worked largely on spacecraft engineering projects, developing a monodisperse silica ceramic for electrospray thrusters and fabricating high-energy diffraction gratings for space telescopes. As a Presidential Graduate Fellow at MIT, he examined the influence of root geometry on soil cohesion for early terrestrial plants using 3D-printed reconstructions. Outside of research, Colicci served as co-director of TEDxMIT and propulsion lead for the MIT Rocket Team. He is also passionate about STEM engagement and outreach, having taught educational workshops in Zambia and India.

Owen Dugan, from Sleepy Hollow, New York, is a senior majoring in physics. As a Knight-Hennessy Scholar, he will pursue a PhD in computer science at the Stanford School of Engineering. Dugan aspires to combine artificial intelligence and physics, developing AI that enables breakthroughs in physics and using physics techniques to design more capable and safe AI systems. He has collaborated with researchers from Harvard University, the University of Chicago, and DeepMind, and has presented his first-author research at venues including the International Conference on Machine Learning, the MIT Mechanistic Interpretability Conference, and the American Physical Society March Meeting. Among other awards, Dugan is a Hertz Finalist, a U.S. Presidential Scholar, an MIT Outstanding Undergraduate Research Awardee, a Research Science Institute Scholar, and a Neo Scholar. He is also a co-founder of VeriLens, a funded startup enabling trust on the internet by cryptographically verifying digital media.

Carina Letong Hong ’22

Carina Letong Hong, from Canton, China, is currently pursuing a JD/PhD in mathematics at Stanford. A first-generation college student, Hong graduated from MIT in May 2022 with a double major in mathematics and physics and was inducted into Sigma Pi Sigma, the physics honor society. She then earned a neuroscience master’s degree with dissertation distinctions from the University of Oxford, where she conducted artificial intelligence and machine learning research at Sainsbury Wellcome Center’s Gatsby Unit. At Stanford Law School, Hong provides legal aid to low-income workers and uses economic analysis to push for law enforcement reform. She has published numerous papers in peer-reviewed journals, served as an expert referee for journals and conferences, and spoken at summits in the United States, Germany, France, the U.K., and China. She was the recipient of the AMS-MAA-SIAM Morgan Prize for Outstanding Research, the highest honor for an undergraduate in mathematics in North America; the AWM Alice T. Schafer Prize for Mathematical Excellence, given annually to an undergraduate woman in the United States; the Maryam Mirzakhani Fellowship; and a Rhodes Scholarship.

Carine You ’22

Carine You, from San Diego, California, graduated from MIT in May 2022 with bachelor’s degrees in electrical engineering and computer science and in mathematics. Since graduating, You has worked as a predoctoral research assistant with Professor Amy Finkelstein in the MIT Department of Economics, where she has studied the quality of Medicare nursing home care and the targeting of medical screening technologies. This fall, You will embark on a PhD in economic analysis and policy at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. She wishes to address pressing issues in environmental and health-care markets, with a particular focus on economic efficiency and equity. You previously developed audio signal processing algorithms at Bose, refined mechanistic models to inform respiratory monitoring at the MIT Research Laboratory of Electronics, and analyzed corruption in developmental projects in India at the World Bank. Through Middle East Entrepreneurs of Tomorrow, she taught computer science to Israeli and Palestinian students in Jerusalem and spearheaded an online pilot expansion for the organization. At MIT, she was named a Burchard Scholar.

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4 Alternative Search Engines for Better Research Results

Madison McCollum

May 13, 2024

Google is kind of awful. 

I mean, don’t get me wrong, I use Google for everything, but it is a mess, especially when I consider the God-Tier search engine it used to be in my teens. When I was young, we trusted google to deliver the best results and even learned tricks to narrow down searches effectively. Now, Google has become a minefield of advertisements, optimized (affiliate) content, and SEO tactics that push genuine websites, businesses, and services further down the results page. 

Getting on the first page of Google now often means you’ve mastered the art of ‘website optimization,’ which means you essentially know how to craft your site with the right words and links to please Google’s ever-hungry algorithms. 

Research even shows that Google, and other search engines, are getting worse at delivering quality results. While I don’t have the answer to how we fix this, I do have some hope for those who rely on Google for research—students, scientists, or even the average-curious-George often have to sift through countless pages of content to find reputable information. 

Thankfully, there are several alternative search engines that can make the research process easier:

Refseek.com  

This academic resource search is great for students, researchers, or people wanting to research specific topics. It aims to make academic information easily accessible by tossing out sponsored links and commercial results. 

Base-search.net [Bielefeld Academic Search Engine]  

This search engine pulls from more than 11,000 content providers, 60% of which are open access (free). It’s ran by Bielefeld University Library, who all have been checked and approved by qualified personnel of the library staff. 

link.springer.com/  

You can access more than 10 million scientific documents. From books to articles to research journals on various subjects. There are even open source text books on 10+ subjects: like Earth and Environmental Sciences and Statistics!

Science.gov  

Run by CENDI, a volunteer-powered organization, this search engine aims to increase the impact of federally funded science and technology research. Science.gov helps connect researchers to millions of research articles and is partnered with 12 Federal Agency Members.

Plus, a bonus:

Swisscows.com/en  .

Most search engines take a little bit of your information with them. Maybe it’s just your location or IP address, maybe it’s your search results themselves— having information on you (as general as it may be) helps keep the lights on. 

Swisscow’s services are based in Switzerland, which has some of the most strict privacy policies in the world, and provides fully encrypted searches. It doesn’t keep any personal data, IP addresses, or search queries, and has a built-in filter for pornography and violence that can’t be overridden, making it a safer choice for kids.   

These alternatives can help streamline your research process and offer a break from the cluttered search results on Google, so give them a try the next time you're looking for something special!

May 19, 2021

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50 Best Finance Dissertation Topics For Research Students

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Finance Dissertation Made Easier!

Embarking on your dissertation adventure? Look no further! Choosing the right finance dissertation topics is like laying the foundation for your research journey in Finance, and we're here to light up your path. In this blog, we're diving deep into why dissertation topics in finance matter so much. We've got some golden writing tips to share with you! We're also unveiling the secret recipe for structuring a stellar finance dissertation and exploring intriguing topics across various finance sub-fields. Whether you're captivated by cryptocurrency, risk management strategies, or exploring the wonders of Internet banking, microfinance, retail and commercial banking - our buffet of Finance dissertation topics will surely set your research spirit on fire!

What is a Finance Dissertation?

Finance dissertations are academic papers that delve into specific finance topics chosen by students, covering areas such as stock markets, banking, risk management, and healthcare finance. These dissertations require extensive research to create a compelling report and contribute to the student's confidence and satisfaction in the field of Finance. Now, let's understand why these dissertations are so important and why choosing the right Finance dissertation topics is crucial!

Why Are Finance Dissertation Topics Important?

Choosing the dissertation topics for Finance students is essential as it will influence the course of your research. It determines the direction and scope of your study. You must make sure that the Finance dissertation topics you choose are relevant to your field of interest, or you may end up finding it more challenging to write. Here are a few reasons why finance thesis topics are important:

1. Relevance

Opting for relevant finance thesis topics ensures that your research contributes to the existing body of knowledge and addresses contemporary issues in the field of Finance. Choosing a dissertation topic in Finance that is relevant to the industry can make a meaningful impact and advance understanding in your chosen area.

2. Personal Interest

Selecting Finance dissertation topics that align with your interests and career goals is vital. When genuinely passionate about your research area, you are more likely to stay motivated during the dissertation process. Your interest will drive you to explore the subject thoroughly and produce high-quality work.

3. Future Opportunities

Well-chosen Finance dissertation topics can open doors to various future opportunities. It can enhance your employability by showcasing your expertise in a specific finance area. It may lead to potential research collaborations and invitations to conferences in your field of interest.

4. Academic Supervision

Your choice of topics for dissertation in Finance also influences the availability of academic supervisors with expertise in your chosen area. Selecting a well-defined research area increases the likelihood of finding a supervisor to guide you effectively throughout the dissertation. Their knowledge and guidance will greatly contribute to the success of your research.

Writing Tips for Finance Dissertation

A lot of planning, formatting, and structuring goes into writing a dissertation. It starts with deciding on topics for a dissertation in Finance and conducting tons of research, deciding on methods, and so on. However, you can navigate the process more effectively with proper planning and organisation. Below are some tips to assist you along the way, and here is a blog on the 10 tips on writing a dissertation that can give you more information, should you need it!

1. Select a Manageable Topic

Choosing Finance research topics within the given timeframe and resources is important. Select a research area that interests you and aligns with your career goals. It will help you stay inspired throughout the dissertation process.

2. Conduct a Thorough Literature Review

A comprehensive literature review forms the backbone of your research. After choosing the Finance dissertation topics, dive deep into academic papers, books, and industry reports, gaining a solid understanding of your chosen area to identify research gaps and establish the significance of your study.

3. Define Clear Research Objectives

Clearly define your dissertation's research questions and objectives. It will provide a clear direction for your research and guide your data collection, analysis, and overall structure. Ensure your objectives are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART).

4. Collect and Analyse Data

Depending on your research methodology and your Finance dissertation topics, collect and analyze relevant data to support your findings. It may involve conducting surveys, interviews, experiments, and analyzing existing datasets. Choose appropriate statistical techniques and qualitative methods to derive meaningful insights from your data.

5. Structure and Organization

Pay attention to the structure and organization of your dissertation. Follow a logical progression of chapters and sections, ensuring that each chapter contributes to the overall coherence of your study. Use headings, subheadings, and clear signposts to guide the reader through your work.

6. Proofread and Edit

Once you have completed the writing process, take the time to proofread and edit your dissertation carefully. Check for clarity, coherence, and proper grammar. Ensure that your arguments are well-supported, and eliminate any inconsistencies or repetitions. Pay attention to formatting, citation styles, and consistency in referencing throughout your dissertation.

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Finance Dissertation Topics

Now that you know what a finance dissertation is and why they are important, it's time to have a look at some of the best Finance dissertation topics. For your convenience, we have segregated these topics into categories, including cryptocurrency, risk management, internet banking, and so many more. So, let's dive right in and explore the best Finance dissertation topics:

Dissertation topics in Finance related to Cryptocurrency

1. The Impact of Regulatory Frameworks on the Volatility and Liquidity of Cryptocurrencies.

2. Exploring the Factors Influencing Cryptocurrency Adoption: A Comparative Study.

3. Assessing the Efficiency and Market Integration of Cryptocurrency Exchanges.

4. An Analysis of the Relationship between Cryptocurrency Prices and Macroeconomic Factors.

5. The Role of Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) in Financing Startups: Opportunities and Challenges.

Dissertation topics in Finance related to Risk Management

1. The Effectiveness of Different Risk Management Strategies in Mitigating Financial Risks in Banking Institutions.

2. The Role of Derivatives in Hedging Financial Risks: A Comparative Study.

3. Analyzing the Impact of Risk Management Practices on Firm Performance: A Case Study of a Specific Industry.

4. The Use of Stress Testing in Evaluating Systemic Risk: Lessons from the Global Financial Crisis.

5. Assessing the Relationship between Corporate Governance and Risk Management in Financial Institutions.

Dissertation topics in Finance related to Internet Banking

1. Customer Adoption of Internet Banking: An Empirical Study on Factors Influencing Usage.

Enhancing Security in Internet Banking: Exploring Biometric Authentication Technologies.

2. The Impact of Mobile Banking Applications on Customer Engagement and Satisfaction.

3. Evaluating the Efficiency and Effectiveness of Internet Banking Services in Emerging Markets.

4. The Role of Social Media in Shaping Customer Perception and Adoption of Internet Banking.

Dissertation topics in Finance related to Microfinance

1. The Impact of Microfinance on Poverty Alleviation: A Comparative Study of Different Models.

2. Exploring the Role of Microfinance in Empowering Women Entrepreneurs.

3. Assessing the Financial Sustainability of Microfinance Institutions in Developing Countries.

4. The Effectiveness of Microfinance in Promoting Rural Development: Evidence from a Specific Region.

5. Analyzing the Relationship between Microfinance and Entrepreneurial Success: A Longitudinal Study.

Dissertation topics in Finance related to Retail and Commercial Banking

1. The Impact of Digital Transformation on Retail and Commercial Banking: A Case Study of a Specific Bank.

2. Customer Satisfaction and Loyalty in Retail Banking: An Analysis of Service Quality Dimensions.

3. Analyzing the Relationship between Bank Branch Expansion and Financial Performance.

4. The Role of Fintech Startups in Disrupting Retail and Commercial Banking: Opportunities and Challenges.

5. Assessing the Impact of Mergers and Acquisitions on the Performance of Retail and Commercial Banks.

Dissertation topics in Finance related to Alternative Investment

1. The Performance and Risk Characteristics of Hedge Funds: A Comparative Analysis.

2. Exploring the Role of Private Equity in Financing and Growing Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises.

3. Analyzing the Relationship between Real Estate Investments and Portfolio Diversification.

4. The Potential of Impact Investing: Evaluating the Social and Financial Returns.

5. Assessing the Risk-Return Tradeoff in Cryptocurrency Investments: A Comparative Study.

Dissertation topics in Finance related to International Affairs

1. The Impact of Exchange Rate Volatility on International Trade: A Case Study of a Specific Industry.

2. Analyzing the Effectiveness of Capital Controls in Managing Financial Crises: Comparative Study of Different Countries.

3. The Role of International Financial Institutions in Promoting Economic Development in Developing Countries.

4. Evaluating the Implications of Trade Wars on Global Financial Markets.

5. Assessing the Role of Central Banks in Managing Financial Stability in a Globalized Economy.

Dissertation topics in Finance related to Sustainable Finance

1. The impact of sustainable investing on financial performance.

2. The role of green bonds in financing climate change mitigation and adaptation.

3. The development of carbon markets.

4. The use of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors in investment decision-making.

5. The challenges and opportunities of sustainable Finance in emerging markets.

Dissertation topics in Finance related to Investment Banking

1. The valuation of distressed assets.

2. The pricing of derivatives.

3. The risk management of financial institutions.

4. The regulation of investment banks.

5. The impact of technology on the investment banking industry.

Dissertation topics in Finance related to Actuarial Science

1. The development of new actuarial models for pricing insurance products.

2. The use of big data in actuarial analysis.

3. The impact of climate change on insurance risk.

4. The design of pension plans that are sustainable in the long term.

5. The use of actuarial science to manage risk in other industries, such as healthcare and Finance.

Tips To Find Good Finance Dissertation Topics 

Embarking on a financial dissertation journey requires careful consideration of various factors. Your choice of topic in finance research topics is pivotal, as it sets the stage for the entire research process. Finding a good financial dissertation topic is essential to blend your interests with the current trends in the financial landscape. We suggest the following tips that can help you pick the perfect dissertation topic:

1. Identify your interests and strengths 

2. Check for current relevance

3. Feedback from your superiors

4. Finalise the research methods

5. Gather the data

6. Work on the outline of your dissertation

7. Make a draft and proofread it

In this blog, we have discussed the importance of finance thesis topics and provided valuable writing tips and tips for finding the right topic, too. We have also presented a list of topics within various subfields of Finance. With this, we hope you have great ideas for finance dissertations. Good luck with your finance research journey!

Frequently Asked Questions

How do i research for my dissertation project topics in finance, what is the best topic for dissertation topics for mba finance, what is the hardest finance topic, how do i choose the right topic for my dissertation in finance, where can i find a dissertation topic in finance.

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