We are lucky to live in an era of technological development and digitalization. Before the computer was invented and made accessible, all generations of students had to spend hours in libraries reading to find the information they needed.
Modern students need to enter a few keywords to get more information than they could expect. However, scientific information is not always on the surface. It is hard to find anything worthy by simply typing keywords into Google. Students have to use special educational databases to retrieve the information they need.
Thus, many end up asking what databases they should use to find credible resources for their essays and researches. We forwarded this question to the writers at write my paper and they are ready to share their answers with you.
Here is the list of top online educational databases that are must-know for students and absolutely free to use.
ERIC
This online system is one of the largest bibliographic databases available online and for free. It has gathered over 107,000 full-sized non-journal documents dated 1993-2004 and has over 1.1 million citations from 1966.
Students can use ERIC materials without any hesitation concerning their credibility and reliability. The system is programmed to verify every new file to ensure the highest quality of the offered references.
MIT OpenCourseWare
One of the U.S. leading universities has made its college class materials database available for everyone online. It is absolutely free of charge for anyone interested. Independent learners from all over the world can learn from the materials provided on the MIT website.
The COVID situation has made this database update even more. All people interested in learning can find useful information on various subjects just by clicking "Find Courses" or navigating through the search function.
MERLOT
Multimedia Educational Resource for Learning and Online Teaching provides a supply of materials for both students and teachers of higher educational institutions. The database includes links to online learning materials of exceptional quality. Also, one can find annotations and peer-reviewed materials there, as well.
The database continues to be updated. Most recently, content creation tools and support materials were added.
Google Scholar
This database is one of the most well-known on the Internet. It is universal, so you can find content on every discipline you need. Also, it has millions of citations, annotations, different types of assignments, and more.
However, even though such tools as Google Scholar try to update their databases regularly, they are still not comprehensive enough. Moreover, lots of papers there are not available even for preview.
JSTOR
JSTOR database offers content for free and under subscription. Papers that are not exclusive or very fresh are provided for free. Thus, students can get access to full-text journal articles and ebooks on various disciplines under no limit.
However, if you are looking for something issued in 2019 and 2020, you may be requested to create an account and pay for a subscription. It definitely has its benefits to go through registration.
CORE
CORE is the world's largest open research aggregator. By using it, students can get access to research papers and workbooks issued by scholars and organizations throughout the world. The bonus is that this is all available for free.
However, it is worth noting that the preference is given to UK-based sources. Their percentage is much higher compared to research papers coming from other countries.
DOAJ
The Directory of Open Access Journals is a database that can boast with over 12,000 journals in open access. This scientific base refers to various areas of science, including Medicine, History, and Technology.
Of course, 12,000 sources are not enough to call this database comprehensive. However, it is often helpful in writing short essays and discussion boards as a part of university assignments.
WorldWideScience
This website works a bit differently compared to other databases. WorldWideScience is a global academic search engine that helps find other scientific databases based on your request. It is free to use.
This website is especially helpful to students working on international projects or studying about other countries. The search results can be automatically translated thanks to the in-built function.
EThOS
E-Theses Online Service hosts over 500,000 doctoral theses, most of which are available for free. If you are writing a paper where you need to use peer-reviewed sources, this site is the best to find such. Also, you can use it if you need to reference the most recent research on the topic. Since the service is UK-based, the number of British doctoral papers here prevails.
BASE
Bielefield Academic Search Engine is an educational database that offers access to over 140 million documents. 60% of these files are in open access. To hide those requiring payment, you can use a special filter.
The tool is an exemplary one when it comes to convenience and affordability. Whatever your major is, BASE has a document that will be a good reference for your paper.
