100 Online Research Tools For Students (2022) – For Every Topic
The best online research tools for students in this list contains:
- Alternative Search engines
- Advanced search queries tips
- Links to posts which contain LISTS of resources
- Links to sites which contain all kinds of primary sources (video, audio, images, etc).
- Academic research tools and Techniques to find more about your topic.
The list’s been updated as of July 2022 but if you’ve got a suggestion or question, please leave a comment in the end.
We’ll start with the basics (for those without a topic). Skip it if you already have yours.
Contents
Finding Your Topic
Pick a Topic

RefDesk | Free and family friendly web site reviewing high quality internet resources. |
RefSeek | Like google but only showing results for academic sources. Time saving! |
Related Topics

The bottom page of google will show you “related topics” when you search for a keyword. | |
Bing | You can also use other search engines like Bing or Yahoo to check “related searches”. |
Narrow Down Your Topic

RSS | Use RSS feeds to find the latest articles on your topic. |
Vulcano | You can use any search engine: Google, Yahoo, Bing, Badoo then narrow down results by date, type, sub topic and so on. This site contains all the basic tricks. |
Wikipedia | After you found an article on your topic, check the links, sources and TOC to get narrow down topics as shown below. |
Trending Topics

Google Trends | Check the latest news, data and trends people are searching for. |
Controversial Topics

Idebate | Get a quick summary of all the main points “For” and “Against ” a topic |
ProCon | Get the Pros & Cons for a wide variety of subjects. |
BackGround For Your Topic

SweetSearch | Search engine for students. Use it to get USEFUL and RELIABLE search results only. |
Wikipedia | Go to an article related to your topic, then check for resources and links embedded in the article. |
Britannica | The second best encyclopedia after wikipedia. Follow the same tips. |
High Quality Results
Chosen By Experts

Libguides | Find Guides made and picked out by experts on the topic. |
Infotopia | Another search engine that will narrow down results to those that are relevant for your topic and picked out from academic sources. |
Ask The Experts

Quora | You can find good quality answers from quora. Just make sure to check profiles to see who seems to be qualified to do so. High quality links are also common. |
Ask a librarian | If you’re in college you can ask your librarian. If you’re not, you can try send an email. |
Primary Sources

Library of Congress | Find Official maps, photos, videos, stats, documents, maps, audios and so on. |
Archives.gov | Find official documents, sources and archives. |
Smithsonian Library | Get images and all kinds of other materials taken out of online exhibitions which are published by libraries, societies and musems around the world. |
Peer Reviewed Journals

Google Scholar | A search engine for academic published material like journals and research papers. |
Directory of Open Access Journals | An alternative to google scholar. Only journals with free access are shown. |
By Discipline
Goverment Info
USA.gov | Official Data right out of the US Government’s database. |
Foreign Governments | Northwestern’s list of official gov sites. |
UK Government | Information and services from the UK’s government website |
In depth Info About Countries & Territories
CIA World FactBook | The CIA’s site has a cool list of ALL countries with all the stats and facts you need. |
(UNPO) Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization. | This site will take of those occupied nations, minorities, indigenous people and independent states and territories that might not be on other lists. |
Science & Engineering
Scopus | You need a subscription here but you’ll find books, journals and conference proceedings that may not be on other search engines. |
Google Scholar | Research papers, articles, patents and journals for all scientific disciplines. |
National Science Digital Library | The above may be too technical for some so you can use this search engine to find articles and results based on your education level. |
Health
MedlinePlus | All health topics can be found here and the results are accessible to most people. |
Mayo Clinic | Likewise, all health topics explained here are way easier to understand than wikipedia. |
Kids Health | You want to use this if you just want basic information about the body. |
Legal Docs, Agencies and Legal News
FindLaw | A search engine for any law-related topic: cases, news, questions and so on. |
Legal Information Institute | Use the search bar to get info about any law topic. Results will include primary sources and academic articles. There’s also a list to access a given topic. |
State Legislative Websites Directory | A list of all states legislatures and territories’ sites. |
Creative and Performing Arts
Resources | Rhode’s Island university’s list of arts and humanities resources. |
Art History on the Web | Resources Organized by timelines of art history. |
JURN | Contains thousands of links to selected to free journals in the arts & humanities. |
By Timeline
Last Hour
Click on the search bar to get the option to narrow down results to the last hour. | |
Google Trends | Once you type a query and get the results you can pick those within the last hour. |
Today
Google News | Google news always give you the results for today. You can also refine your search any category and location. |
NewsNow | Today’s news and headlines trending in the UK (world-wide news included). |
FreeDomForum | Cool gallery of today’s headlines of newspapers across the country (~800 newspapers). |
Recent
Use the advanced search feature to set a time frame for results. Ex: 2002-2010. | |
Yahoo News | You will find more results if you ALSO use Yahoo Search’s option to set a time frame. |
Recent & Detailed
BBC Special Reports | Very in-depth reports of current world news. |
New York Times Topics | Use the NY times left sidebar to access articles and news of the topics listed. |
PolitiFact | Cool news site which includes lots of facts & statements made by politicians in the government. |
Long Term Studies & Reports
ProPublica | In Depth-news and report investigation. |
Center for Public Integrity | Reports of iissues “to reveal abuses of power, corruption and dereliction of duty by powerful public and private institutions…” |
Center for Investigative Reporting | Shocking revealing news including scandals and corruption stories. |
Period (Era, Decade, Century)
History World | Choose a year and a topic and get a cool timeline with all the information and images avialable in that period. |
Wikipedia List of Timelines | Wikipedia’s very own list of timelines for any topic. Ex: human activity timelines, film industry timeline, The universe Timeline, etc. |
Historical
American Memory | Primary source of MORE documents and images. You can narrow down results by topic, period, type and location. |
ipl2 | Use the search bar to find thousands of essays for a given topic. |
Digital History | Cool resource list of quality sites that contain primary sources, historical documents, multimedia files and guides. |
Ancient
Ancient History Sourcebook | List of online resources of ancient-texts, images, audios and more. There’s a search bar and menus to narrow down to your topic. |
ipl2 | Get the ancient history results through the search bar. |
Facts
People
Biography.com | Access bios, videos and articles. You can search by name, profession or any other keyword. |
Who2 | Another search engine for bios. Results include links related to what they did and profiles of related people. |
Dictionary of Canadian Biography | Bios for the most famous Canadians in history. |
Place
CIA World Factbook | Facts and issues of every country. |
Country Studies | Documents of historical, social, economy, political and national security information of countries. |
Stately Knowledge | Facts of every state in the US. |
Corporations & Companies
NYPL: Searching for Company Information | A guide to find a company’s information. |
Quick Answers
Ask.com | A search engine designed to take questions as queries. Thus it’s easier to get straight to the point for most straightforward definitions and simple questions. |
Britannica Encyclopedia | A wikipedia-like site which has simpler but expert reviewed answers to topics. |
Opinion and Perspectives
Takes on Current Issues
Yahoo News | Most results are written by anchors, columnists, cartoonists, basically people with a goiod background for a given issue. |
Headline Spot | Get the headlines of every state’s newspapers as well as the headlines from international newspapers. |
Public Opinion Polls | Get Public Opinion results of several import key issues across the country or within a region. |
News As Seen From Other Parts of the World
World Press | News and Issues as seen from each country about their own country or the world. |
Newspaperindex | A collection of online newspapers of every country. |
ABYZ News Links | News sites, broadcasting sites, newspaper sites , magazine sitesnews and press agencies of every country. |
Pespectives on trending, social and political issues
ProCons | Pro/con on current social issues written by experts. Links to related articles. |
Public Agenda | An overview by the public of current social issues with pros and cons. |
UN News Centre | Get News & issues as seen by the UN from each region and country |
Compare news treatment
Newseum | Front pages of U.S. newspapers to compare |
PressReader | Get news & reports from +100 countries and in +60 languages. |
Specific Types
Maps
Google Maps | Find your own street with photos of each house next to it. Works for any part of the world. |
Yahoo Maps | Alternative to Google Maps. Use it to get a different view of the same location. |
National Geographic Maps | All kinds of very detailed maps for academic and travel purposes. |
American Fact Finder Maps | Get statistical and census data through maps. |
PhotoGraphs and Visual Images
Google Image | Know how to properly use advanced settings to filter results by size, resolution & more. |
Yahoo Images | Same as google. |
Flickr | Use the search bar to find photos for your topic then filter your results. |
Fine Art
Artcyclopedia | Search artists, subjects, locations. You can filter results to images, articles, books, museums,etc. Or Just browse around the site for your topic. |
Video Sources
Google Video Search | Works just like regular google. Filter results through the advanced search tool. |
Aol Video | Alternative to youtube. Filter results by categories and subcategories. |
Internet Archive | Search engine for films, documentaries, news, series and all kinds of videos for academic purposes. |
Radio
Public Radio Fan | Radio shows & podcasts around the world. |
Music
To learn the history of a song search “Song title + Origin” . |
Sounds
FindSounds | Find sound effects and mix samples. You can filter results format, resolution, sample rate and size. |
Speeches
American Rhetoric | Get audio records of speeches, lectures, debates, events, interviews in text, audio and video formats. No search bar but a nicely organized list. |
History and Politics Out Loud | Browse full audio with transcripts of historical events, figures, songs and more. |
American Memory | Get sound recordings of historical events( Ex: speeches). |
Quotations
Bartleby.com | Classic passages, phrases and proverbs. |
Quotations Page | Find quotations by categories, authors, purpose and subject. |
Quoteland | Find a quote through the search bar or through the categories shown in the menus. |
Statistical Data
World Statistics | Find data and statistics around the world. |
Dictionary & The Saurus
Merriam-Webster Dictionary and Thesaurus | Get definitions, synonyms and audio-pronunciation |
WordCentral | Slightly different version of Merriam-Webster. More specific and shorter explanations for a meaning. |
Encyclopedias
Wikipedia | The problem with wikipedia is that ANYONE can edit the articles. Although they are 100% accurate MOST of the time, this isn’t the case for all articles though since some editors may be biased towards a topic. |
Britannica Encyclopedia | Unlike wikipedia, this is a bit more reliable since only experts are allowed to edit articles. |
Almanac Data
Information Please Almanac | Find quick and short summaries for any topic: A U.S State, a biography. Usually fact and statistics are returned. |
Books & Other Printed Works
WorldCat | Search engine for books, reviews, journals, documents. You can check if they’re available at your local library too. |
Google Scholar | Scholarly articles and journals. Find more info by looking at citations. Advanced search lets you filter results by author, title, date and subject area. |
Google Books | Type a keyword and get book results. The engine can also find excerpts of books containing your query (it can look inside books). |
Special Requirements
Notifications of New Results Sent to You
Google Alert | Subscribe to a topic and get notifications of new results everyday. |
Alternative Sites for Alerts | List of the most popular alternatives to google alerts. |
Results of COuntry By Origin
Type “site+ : + . ‘initial of country’s name’ ” to get results from a certain country. Ex: “bears site: .ca” looks for websites about bears in canada. |
Search Engines From Other Countries
Search Engine Colossus | Cool list of ALL Most popular search engines & website directories of every country. |
Sources by File Type
Google’s advanced search option allows you to select file type (.pdf, .ps, .doc, .xls, .ppt, .rtf) | |
Yahoo | Click on File Format and choose a file type (.html, .pdf, .doc, .xls, .ppt, .xml, .txt) |
Are you a…
Elementary Student
KidTopia | Very Cool looking search engine for kids. You can narrow down the topic by clicking one of the category buttons Ex: “Biology”. |
Kids Search | Kid friendly results with educational content included. |
ipl2 for Kids | Kid friendly search engine for essays. |
Kiddle | Safe search engine for kids. Kid friendly design too. |
Newbie
*The point of using other search engines is to get different results for a given topic. Search engines are not created equal and one isn’t really better than the other. Just more popular
Bing, Yandex, DuckDuckGo | Great alternatives to Google. |
Yahoo | Second-go to search engine after google. |
Expert
Google’s Advanced Search | I suggest you read this tutorial to unlock the power of advanced search. |
Exalead | Unlike Google, you can narrow down search results by category, |
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