How online sources can help you with your research papers

Research papers are fun for some students and not so much for others. If you’re the type of person that loves to find out more about a subject and read details about events and organize the information, those skills will really help you. But if you aren’t crazy about research methodologies, don’t worry – plain old internet searching is a legitimate way to do your research, and can be very good for anyone to do. Online sources are a valuable source of finding material for your paper. Keep reading for some tips to doing your research online.

How to Do Online Research Properly

You probably know that anyone can post anything on the internet. Just because someone says that kiwi fruits are purple doesn’t mean they are. You have to know what you’re looking for and then are able to discern the accurate sources from the speculations and just plain wrong sources. In order to do this, you first need to figure out what to research.

Start by taking a piece of paper and writing your subject or topic for this paper in the middle and circle it. Then take a few minutes and draw lines coming out of the center circle to connect ideas. When you think of a related word or concept, write it down, circle it and connect it to the center circle with a line. Keep doing this until your page is full and you’ll have a page of research topics ready for when you do your actual research.

Now that you have that, here are some tips for when you go searching:

  • Try using established, official websites such as organizations that operate in the field, university labs, and others
  • Look at your local library’s website; they’ll often have ebooks and other online journal resources from reputable authors
  • On a site such as wikipedia, you can find the sources of the main article and go straight to those websites or books for your research
  • Find a company in the field related to your topic and look at their employee bios, current and past projects, and other information that might be useful

Researching online can be challenging at times, but also very rewarding. If you know what you’re doing and can sort through the sources, it’s well worth your time to use the internet.