College programs are often rigorous, requiring hours of study time and homework each day. Many college students run themselves ragged in an attempt to keep up. But it doesn’t have to be that way. There are a number of resources online that are specifically designed to help students complete required reading projects, essays, research papers, presentations, and other types of homework. Here are 35 sites that you can use throughout your college career.

Assigned Reading

• The Online Books Page – This website, from the University of Pennsylvania, is a great place to find free books online. There are more than 30,000 books on the Online Books Page that can be read or downloaded for free.
• Questia – Although it is best known for its research capabilities, Questia is also a good place to find free assigned reading materials. You can find more than 5,000 rare and classic books in Questia’s online library.
• BookSwim – If you can’t find the books you need for free, you can always rent them from BookSwim. Like NetFlix, this online book rental library service delivers books right to your house with free shipping both ways. You can rent textbooks, fiction, and nonfiction from BookSwim.
• Lit Sum – Lit Sum offers more free study and literature guides than any other website. Most guides include chapter summaries, quotes, character analysis, theme notes, and discussion topics.
• SparkNotes – SparkNotes is a great place to find free study guides, condensed colleges texts, literature summaries, and other resources that will help you explore the books you are required to read.

Calculators and Converters

• Calculator.com – You can calculate almost anything on Calculator.com. This site is made to work with your PC, PDA, cell phone, and other mobile devices.
• Math.com – The online calculators from Math.com are great for math homework. Math.com provides a number of different calculators, including basic math calculators, square root calculators, scientific calculators, equation calculators, and probability calculators.
• Ecalc – If you are looking for a free scientific calculator with lots of bells and whistles, Ecalc is your best bet.
• XE – XE, a popular currency site, provides a Universal Currency Converter that can convert more than 85 different currencies.
• OnlineConversion.com – You can convert just about anything on this website–OnlineConversion.com offers more than 50,000 conversion options.

Essays and Other Papers

• Citation Guides – These citation guides, offered free by Westfield State College, provide an overview APA style, MLA style, Chicago style, and CBE style citations. Each guide includes multiples examples.
• OttoBib – This free automatic bibliography maker transforms ISBNs into MLA, APA, or Chicago/Turabian formatted citations. After building your citations, OttoBib will give you a free, permanent URL that can be referenced at any time.
• Essay Punch – Essay Punch is an interactive online essay writing tool that doubles as a tutorial. The tool takes you through the process of essay writing with prompts and advice.
• The University Writing Center – The UCF University Writing Center provides a giant list of argument topics that can be used for research papers. Topics are available for a wide range of subjects.
• Free MIT Essay Workshop – This free essay workshop from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology is designed for experienced writers who want to explore advanced writing topics. The workshop includes an entire collection of study materials for self-learners.

Presentations

• OpenOffice – This free software suite is perfect for presentations. You can use OpenOffice to draw, write, create slides, and design multimedia presentations.
• Zoho Show – Zoho Show is a free online tool that will help you create, edit, and share presentations online. Zoho offers pre-built themes, graphics, and clip art.
• Empressr – This free media presentation tool can create presentations using photos, music, video, and audio. You can share your Empressr presentations online with whomever you choose.
• Prezentit – This web app makes it easy to prepare, edit, and share presentations online. Prezentit is great for collaborative projects.
• Infran View – Infran View is a free graphics editor and viewer. This easy-to-use freeware can create slide shows, act as a multimedia player, and much more.

Web Research

• Library of Congress – Thought to be the largest online library in the world, the Library of Congress is a great place to find historical documents, maps, photos, and more.
• Encyclopedia.com – This site offers access to 49 encyclopedias and 73 dictionaries and thesauruses. All of the resources on Encylopedia.com are accurate and verifiable.
• RefDesk – This award-winning online fact checker can be used to explore newspapers, encyclopedias, dictionaries, almanacs, and other reference materials. RefDesk also offers 260 search engines, demographic information, and a homework helper for college students.
• Google Scholar – This Google search engine makes it easy to search for scholarly literature, including books, articles, peer-reviewed papers, and abstracts.
• The New York Times – If you’re looking for older news stories, The New York Times website offers an excellent database. You can search for articles dating from 1851 to present day.

Writing

• A Short Guide to College Writing – This University of Chicago guide to writing is designed to help students make the transition from high school writing to college-level writing. The guide is short, but includes a lot of valuable information.
• The Purdue Online Writing Lab – The Purdue OWL offers 200 free writing sources for students.
• CCC Guide to Grammar and Writing – Sponsored by the Capital Community College Foundation, this interactive guide includes grammar overviews, quizzes, and answers to frequently asked questions.
• Grammar Girl – Grammar Girl Mignon Fogarty delivers “quick and dirty” grammar tips through a regular podcast. If you don’t want to listen to the podcast, you can read or search through transcripts of it online.
• AutoCrit – AutoCrit is designed for manuscripts, but it will work on almost any type of writing. This online tool searches writing for cliches, overused words, repeated phrases, dull sentences, and other common writing problems.

Miscellaneous Homework Resources

• ChaCha – ChaCha is a free, human-powered search engine for mobile phone users. You can text or call ChaCha with any question and receive an answer back within minutes.
• Quizlet – On Quizlet, you can browse and use flashcards made by other students. You can also create your own flashcards to print or use online.
• HackCollege – This popular blog provides fantastic life hacks and study tips for college students who want to learn how to work faster and more effectively.
• Gearfire – Gearfire is an award-winning student blog that provides regular tips for academic success.
• Intute – This consortium of seven universities evaluates material on the web to provide students with quality online resources. The Intute database contains only the most trusted and reliable research materials.

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