50 Web Resources for Online Students

by Karen Schweitzer

From communication tools and web apps to reference sites and online libraries, the web offers everything students need to achieve academic success.

Communication

• Campusbug – Campusbug is a social learning network that will help you keep in touch with students around the world.
• Pidgin – This free chat client is the perfect way to IM all of your friends and fellow students from one place–no matter which chat network they use.
• Skype – Although new services are cropping up everywhere, Skype is still one of the best places to make free calls over the Internet.
• Studeous – This free service is aimed at teachers, but it’s also a great way for students to stay in touch and manage classwork online.
• Twitter – Twittering is one of the best ways to communicate with your fellow students and get quick updates on projects.

Education Information

• Accreditation Database – This U.S. Department of Education database lists accredited schools and programs.
• College Answer – College Answer offers advice to students who want to apply to college and find a way to finance their education.
• College Board – This non-profit association provides an endless amount of information for students, including tips on choosing a major, finding a school, and locating college scholarships.
• College.gov – An official government portal, College.gov is dedicated to providing resources that will help students plan, prepare, and pay for college.
• Online College – The Online College Blog offers a great post about understanding the way online colleges work.

Homework Helpers

• Flashcard Exchange – Flashcard Exchange is the world’s largest flashcard library. You can create, borrow, download, and print as many free flashcards as you want.
• Free Homework Help – Students can post questions and get answers on this free homework help community.
• Lazybase – This site is perfect for anyone who is interested in creating (or sharing) a free online database.
• Mindpicnic – Mindpicnic offers free online learning opportunities as well as a forum for students to help one another and discuss classwork.
• Gearfire – This blog, written for students by students, is dedicated to providing tips for academic success.

Online Libraries

• Internet Public Library – The IPL is one of the largest libraries on the web. You can check out books, magazines, newspapers, reference materials, and much more.
• Library of Congress – On this site, you can gain online access to some of the print, audio, and digital collections housed by the Library of Congress.
• Library Spot – This site is a free virtual library resource that points users to the best library and reference materials on the web.
• Project Gutenberg – If you’re looking for free books you can read online, there is no better place than Project Gutenberg.
• The Free Library – This online library from Farlex Inc offers nearly 5 million articles and books.

Organizers

• Backpack – This site is geared towards businesses, but it can help anyone get organized. You can create to-do lists, files, announcements, and a group calendar.
• College Ruled – College Ruled makes it easy to stay organized. You can create class schedules and discuss assignments and other matters with fellow students on the site’s class message boards.
• EssentialPIM – Although there is a charge for certain versions of this personal information manager, EssentialPIM does offer a free version that will help you keep track of your calendar, notes, and to-do list.
• Jott – This free web app will help you connect to the web with your phone. You can Twitter, send yourself reminders, and access your Facebook page.
• mySchoolog – This free online application can help you organize almost anything in your school life–available in multiple languages.

Question and Answer Websites

• Ask – Students can type a question and get the answer through one of Ask’s many search engines.
• Answers.com – You can get answers from the Answers.com community or from reputable references sources when you ask a question on this site.
• ChaCha – Ask a question about anything and get the answer for free. Questions can be answered online or over the phone.
• Carmun – This site offers a special board to ask who, what, when, where questions. Carmun also features a nice bib tool and other handy features.
• Wis.dm – Although this site can best be described as a social scene, it is also a good place to get answers to any type of question imaginable.

Reference Sites

• Encyclopedia.com – This information portal has nearly 50 encyclopedias and more than 70 dictionaries and thesauruses.
• Infoplease – Infoplease is a popular reference source with an excellent search engine.
• Merriam-Webster Online – One of the best dictionaries in the world is also available online.
• RefDesk – This site is probably the best all-in-one reference site on the web. RefDesk offers every type of reference material imaginable and then some.
• Virtual Reference Shelf – This site offers a collection of web references compiled by the Library of Congress.

Search Engines

• Clusty – Clusty is a cluster search engine that searches and combines results from the web into clusters of related topics.
• Dog Pile – Dog Pile is a metasearch engine that puts all of the leading search engines (Google, Yahoo!, Live Search, Ask, etc.) in one nifty search box.
• Factbites – This site is a search engine/encyclopedia hybrid that offers actual sentences (no mangled phrases) in the results so that you can easily find what you’re looking for.
• Google Books – You can search the full text of books with this Google beta site.
• Google Scholar – Google Scholar is a unique search engine that focuses on scholarly literature.

Software and Web Apps

• Google Docs – Google Docs is a free web based word processor and spreadsheet maker.
• Open Office – Open Office is a free productivity suite that can do everything Microsoft Office can do.
• ThinkFold – This site is a good place to create outlines and share them with other people.
• WriteWith – This web-based software application makes it easy to participate in a writing project with someone else online. You can write, edit, chat, and see changes as they are made.
• Zoho – Zoho offers an entire suite of free web apps that can be used to create documents, spreadsheets, presentations, and much more.

Writing Papers

• BibMe – This easy-to-use bibliography maker will create your works cited page for you.
• Brainy Quote – This site is a good place to search for famous quotes. You can search by author, type of author, and topic.
• Essay Forum – The Essay Forum offers free help with academic essay writing, editing, proofreading, and research.
• Online Writing Lab – Purdue University’s Online Writing Lab is one of the best places on the web to find free writing resources.
• SparkNotes Ultimate Style – This SparkNotes reference provides quick answers to common grammar questions.

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