Ten online resources for writing papers

Nearly every student faces it—the pressure of writing a research paper.

If you are a student in an online degree program, you’ve no doubt had writer’s block or needed help finalizing a draft and didn’t know where to turn for help.

Capella University has compiled a list of 10 digital resources to ease the process of researching, writing, and quality checking your papers.

1. EasyBib

Eliminate the pain of creating a bibliography with this great tool. Create a citation in your desired style including MLA, APA and Chicago formats. Paste your source site link, check your details, and then download and paste in your paper.

2. Grammarly

Imagine not having to worry about dangling prepositions. This tool automatically checks your writing for grammatical errors and plagiarism risks. It will cost money after a 7-day free trial but it can be worth it. This service is very popular, used by teachers and students alike.

3. Google Docs

If you find yourself working with a group to create a paper, Google Docs is essential. This user-friendly, web-based office suite allows users to collaborate on a document together in a live environment without the risk of overwriting others’ work.

4. Evernote

Never lose your notes again. Evernote’s free service allows you to store all notes within online notebooks that can be saved locally or to the cloud and accessed from your computer, tablet, and smartphone. Notes are searchable, so you can easily find what you need quickly.

5. Instapaper

This browser plugin easily stores web pages for you to review later in one organized place, handy for when you are researching and want to save multiple sites for future reference. You can also save and share from your mobile device.

6. JSTOR

The ultimate database of scholarly journals, JSTOR helps you find research content through its digital archives.

7. Google Scholar

The Capella library provides a portal to this massive search engine for scholarly articles, papers, thesis, books, abstracts, and other resources.

8. Freedom

Having trouble focusing on your writing because of all the distracting content flowing through your browser? This affordable tool is an on-off switch to limit the amount of information you see while you work.

9. HighWire

Stanford University partnered with leading scholarly publishers, organizations, societies, and university presses to create an archive of more than 1,700 research documents. The worldwide journal databases covering numerous topics are accessible for free.

10. Your School Library

One of the best resources is often your school library. Visit your school’s online library to find helpful tips from your librarians for navigating the system.