Academic Writing Skills 3

Introduction to Research
• 1. WIKIPEDIA
Poor References
One of the Internet's most prominent resources, Wikipedia can be a great stepping stone to reach original sources and pool knowledge from authorities. The site still is not the best choice when it
comes to citations, however.
• 2. OPPAPERS.COM
Now a part of StudyMode.com, Oppapers.com is categorized in the report as a "paper mill," and with "Free Term Papers" as the first term in the site description, it's easy to see why. Basically, it's a
subscription service that provides access to more than 900,000 model essays and existing papers.
• 3. SLIDESHARE.NET
SlideShare is a popular social service that is only as good as the author of the presentation you look at, but for students who would rather check out information in PowerPoint form, it can be a decent
bridge to finding better original sources.
• 4. COURSEHERO.COM
Course Hero is a study assistance site with documents intended for homework help and guidance. It's good for practice problems and notes, but again, this isn't something you would want someone
citing like a biography or scientific paper. 
• 5. SCRIBD.COM
Scribd is a mixed bag, much like SlideShare, but it is also a treasure trove of documents and original works with easy-to-identify authorship and publishing info. This is about the closest thing on the list
to an actual library.
• 6. ANSWERS.YAHOO.COM
Yahoo's "Answers" site lies somewhere between Google search results and postings on Quora. Source identities and facts are often dubious at best. You should think of it as the equivalent of walking
into the middle of Grand Central Station and yelling a question out in to a packed room. You'll get what you pay for here.

7. ANSWERS.COM
Answers.com is another social Q&A site. If you have no idea where to start when research a foreign topic, this place can perhaps get you starting in the right direction, but it's no substitute for hitting
the books.
• 8. MEDLIBRARY.ORG
Quality-wise, this is probably the best resource to appear on the list this year, since the medication information on Medlibrary.org comes straight from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. It's a
highly specialized resource, though. For instance, you certainly won't find much English literature thesis help in its archives.
• 9. BIGNERDS.COM
Another free essay database, BigNerds.com contains a wide variety of subjects, but you won't find anything citation worthy. In fact, the sources are bound to be as good or worse than the students
sitting in the desks during any given class. Luckily, this one only accounted for 2% of the research studied.
• 10. PAPERCAMP.COM
Another "paper mill," according to Turnitin's classification. PaperCamp.com is a site with thousands of essays and term papers. You be the judge.
• 

• Turnitin, 2012)
 Step 1:
• Finding Books, Music, Video and Audio
Materials
• Use the library