Where to Start?!

With research being a huge portion of one of our courses, we have been trying to find multiple sites that could be helpful and beneficial to our final product, a research paper. It’s always a little daunting to get on the Internet and figure out where to start in order to find data or scholarly articles, and then decipher which information you will need.

So instead of staring at the computer screen and getting frustrated because you don’t know some good websites to check out, Emily, David, Brook and I decided to create a list of five online tools that can be a starting point or guide for your research information.

1. Many Eyes (http://manyeyes.alphaworks.ibm.com/manyeyes/) is a data visualization site that not only gives you the ability to create your own charts and graphs, but has already stored some information and statistics that you can search for within the site.
2. Issuu (http://issuu.com) is a online magazine site which allows you to not only find other articles that correlate with your research, but also let’s you publish your own information into a magazine format.
3. Academic Earth (http://academicearth.org) is an educational network that holds a collection of scholarly articles, videos and other information that could be used for your research. It is taken from a myriad of universities throughout the nation.
4. Google Alerts (http://www.google.com/alerts) is a site that constantly updates you on the newest information that was made available online. Through signing up and telling the site exactly what information you are looking for, it will constantly send updates that have those key words or information within the article, video, title and more.
5. Simple Bib (http://simplebib.com.apa1.php) is a site that creates citations. It makes it easier to understand how to put together your reference pages according to the different formats.

These online tools are pretty useful for those that need a little more direction in the overwhelming Internet information world.  Hope it is helpful!