The world we live in today relies heavily on the powers of technology and the internet. Almost every process and transaction has now been digitalized — and education is no exception.
Students today have a wealth of information and resources at their fingertips. From online applications that help them with complex arithmetic to courses that make learning a second language much easier — students can find just about anything online.
Below is a student’s online academic survival kit to help you navigate the online academic world easier and allow you to perform better during your online classes.
Paraphrasing tools
Are you having trouble finding the right words to say in your report? It can be a confusing and time-consuming process to come up with the right combination of words to express a certain message.
You don’t want your work to look exactly the same as the original text; however, you also don’t want to change the meaning behind the words.
A paraphrasing tool can make this task much easier for students. Resources like Quillbot and Dupli Checker can rephrase texts without altering the message of the original writer. It’s fast, simple, and oftentimes free.
Furthermore, it ensures that your work doesn’t get pinged for plagiarism. Students can also learn new words and unique phrases from paraphrasing tools that they would otherwise not have heard of. This can eventually help students write better content in the future.
Thesaurus
Want to make your academic writing more interesting and engaging to read? A thesaurus can help you avoid repetitive words, which are often the reason for a piece of writing to sound monotonous. While it’s perfectly fine to use a physical thesaurus to get the job done, an online thesaurus would be much more effective.
For instance, if you’re using a website like Thesaurus.com, you simply have to type in the original word in the search box.
The application will then bring you to a results page where a list of appropriate synonyms is carefully categorized according to what they mean. However, you should be careful about the words that you choose to use.
Some synonyms don’t carry the same meaning or nuances as the original word. Thus, it might end up changing the meaning of your entire composition.
Academic libraries
While Google is truly an amazing tool for research, it isn’t the best place to find academic articles for essays. This is where academic libraries like Microsoft Academic, WorldWideScience, Google Scholar, and Science.gov come in.
Academic libraries have a wealth of resources for academic research. From online journals to digitalized copies of books — academic journals are the best place to find references for essays, thesis studies, and other academic writing.
While most of these libraries are free for students to access, some articles may require you to pay a small fee for access. Improve the quality of your work with online academic libraries!
E-Books and audiobooks
If you’re tired of flipping through page after page of a book just for a single chapter, ebooks and audiobooks are the solutions to that problem.
Ebooks and audiobooks have interactive tables of content that let you jump right to the chapter that you’re looking for. They also normally have a search feature that lets you type in a keyword and it’ll automatically transfer you to the pages that contain those keywords.
Ebooks and audiobooks also have built-in dictionaries that allow you to search particularly difficult-to-understand words with a single press of a button.
Did we mention that ebooks and audiobooks are cheaper than physical books?
Because the ebooks and audiobooks don’t require printing it doesn’t use up as many resources. This makes it possible for publishers to charge less for a certain book.
Freelancing sites
It’s typically hard for a student to balance their academic life with any sort of traditional job. Luckily, freelancing gigs allow students to make money during their free time.
Websites like UpWork, Fiverr, and Freelancer.com allow you to connect with clients from all over the world who are looking for service providers. You can do anything from article writing and art commissions to managing someone’s social media accounts.
Online courses
Is there a talent that you want to master or a skill that you want to learn?
Taking online courses from websites like Coursera, Udemy, and Skillshare is a great way to develop your skills as a student. Let’s face it — not all schools teach us how we can make the most out of our talents and capabilities. Online courses make it easier for us to find ways to use our skills more effectively.
Furthermore, a lot of these online courses are free or only require a very small fee to access.
Social media
Communication has become much easier thanks to social media. We don’t have to wait hours or even days to hear from people across the world or in a different state from us. Nowadays, we can receive replies within seconds making transactions much easier and faster to complete.
For students, this means collaborating with classmates for a project is much easier. You don’t have to bike across town to visit your friend’s house to do your homework.
Nowadays, platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn, Zoom, and FaceTime allow you to communicate and collaborate with people over a secure digital platform.
You can add anyone into the meeting, from parents to teachers, and make information gathering much simpler to achieve.
Online surveys
Need statistics for your research study?
Tools like SurveyMonkey and GoogleForms let you gather information from a large number of people without having to do the heavy lifting.
Simply create your survey, send your link to your participants, and wait for them to give you their answers. You’d still need to interpret the results; however, online survey platforms do all the calculations for you automatically.
The bottom line
The online world is rich with information and untapped resources for students across the globe. Take your academic work to the next level by making the most out of these tools. Use them to improve your work and develop your skills.
