The digital age of the 21st century has seen many technology changes but for an average student, the most important change is most likely the huge variety of online sources for studying which now exist. When it comes to writing a college essay, students who are studying now have a huge advantage over those who were studying even in the past few decades, when the internet was not as wide as it was, and there were fewer online opportunities. The 21st century has given us plenty of opportunities to learn about writing from online sources, and also has given us a lot more ways to conduct research than we previously had.
Engivd.com
This site is a series of web videos on how to understand and use native English. It covers a huge variety of topics, including specific business English, tips on grammar, and how to understand native speakers when they do not speak entirely like the textbooks and tapes which you have been using.
The site itself is a huge one – there are videos on every conceivable topic, so it is a resource which will give people who want to write an essay as well as people who want to practice speaking and listening something to work with. The videos which are specifically about grammar will be particularly useful for people who are writing, as they will learn valuable lessons.
However, I did think that some of the videos were unnecessary, such as the one on the Royal Family, of all things, but perhaps they could be valuable practice for people working on their listening skills.
Owl.english.purdue.edu
This is a whole site dedicated to writing skills and writing essays. The different pages are all to do with writing, with pages for specific grade work, pages for people who speak English as the second language, pages to do with professional writing, and pages to do with personal writing for educational purposes. It even has a specific section for parents to browse through so that they can know how best to help their children when it comes to writing.
The main part of the Purdue site, and most likely the section which is used the most, is the section on formatting – this is three sections on the three most widely-used citation styles of MLA, APA, and Chicago. Each one completely breaks down every single aspect of the citation style, from referencing, to headlines, to page setup.
While the site as a whole is extremely informative, it could use some information about the lesser-used citation styles. Since it is such a useful site, it would probably give them all the same treatment it has given to the other ones and would be an invaluable resource.
Libguides.usc.edu
The University of South California library allows for all kinds of research into how to do research, how to properly write a paper, and other things, as well as being the portal to a huge online university library.
It is a little difficult to truly navigate, but everything that someone might conceivably need for their essay is available in one place, accessible from the main page. It might be said that this resource is best for people who are native speakers.
Affordablepapers.com
This website is a professional essay writing service with relatively cheap prices (starting at 9 USD / page) which high school and college students can easily afford for their academic needs. Plagiarism-free approach, highly qualified essay writers, timely delivery and high quality is not the whole list of benefits you will get when you contact this affordable custom writing company.
Thesaurus.com
A thesaurus is a useful tool for anybody to have when writing, and an online thesaurus promises much more access to words, as well as availability wherever there are a computer and internet access. This is a huge boon to anybody who is writing, as it allows them to avoid the trap of using a word too often.
Writersonlineworkshops.com
Writers’ online workshops is a host of workshops which are aimed at every aspect of writing and the writing process. While the workshops are very thorough and helpful in every way, one problem they have is that they are aimed at professional writing, with only a small number of workshops aimed at essay writing.
Grammarly.com
This exists purely to check grammar, and is a very useful tool for doing so. Writers upload chunks of text directly into the site, and have the site show them which parts need their grammar changed.
Final notes
Even though there is a multitude of sites available to use for research and overall formatting, many students prefer to go ahead and order their essays from sites such as essayzoo.org. The sites and resources they have available to help them are much more extensive than what people had even a few decades ago, and they include such things as thesauri, grammar checkers, various online writing workshops and much more. The sites looked at in this article are only the tip of the iceberg for anybody else who would care to look.
