10 websites all college students should bookmark

In order to succeed in college, you’re gonna need a little help from the internet.

College can be scary and overwhelming, and it’s hard to know where to get a little help with your academic tasks. Knowing which websites can help you with various aspects of college life, especially when it comes to assignments, can make all the difference.

We’ve collected 10 websites that will help you along the way in your studies — in fact, you might already be using a few. They’re all great resources that can assist you with essay writing, organization, and troubleshooting math and science problems.

1. Canvas or Blackboard

Canvas and Blackboard are the leading learning management systems. Depending on your campus and your individual classes, one of these websites (or a website like it) will be where your professors post announcements, the syllabus, and your grades. It’s also where you will submit assignments.

2. Your school’s library website

We can’t emphasize this enough — your school’s library website will list all the resources that your school subscribes to and how to access them. Before hitting GoogleScholar when starting on a research paper, check out your library website because there is probably a guide on how to start research on different topics. There will also be the contact info for research librarians, don’t hesitate to set up a meeting with one of them because they will know about resources that may be hard for you to find on your own.

3. Facebook

Lots of student organizations use Facebook to communicate and it’s a great place to find out about events on campus that you might not otherwise know about. Many student organizations use Facebook Groups to communicate with members and following event organization pPages can keep you in the loop about events happening on campus.

4. Desmos

Desmos is an online graphing calculator that’s way easier to use than a physical graphing calculator.

Demos is a free online graphing calculator.
Credit: screenshot: desmos

5. Wolfram Alpha

Wolfram Alpha is an answer engine that’s way better than Yahoo Answers. Search your question and chances are Wolfram Alpha will have a step-by-step solution. Wolfram Alpha is a lifesaver for math and science classes, but can also answer your humanities and life questions. Pop this guy into the search bar “∫ln(4x^3) + 6x δx” and you’ll get an answer!

Chegg is a website with all kinds of student services, from textbook and e-book rentals to flashcards. The most helpful part of Chegg is CheggStudy, which has textbook solutions and expert Q&A. Textbook solutions are the step-by-step answers to questions found in textbooks. If you post a question on Chegg, an expert will post a step-by-step solution to it. You can also search and see all the questions previously asked and answered through the expert Q&A function. CheggStudy costs $14.95 per month, but chances are someone you know pays for it or has a login, so ask around.

If you’re studying math, CheggStudy is helpful because it has both solutions to textbook problems and expert Q&A to draw answers from. It’s likely that — whatever you’re studying — your question is from a textbook or someone else has already asked it or something similar, so Chegg is a great problem solving tool.

CheggStudy is a lifesaver.
Credit: screenshot: chegg

7. Google Calendar

Google Calendar is a great way to organize your busy schedule. Through Google Calendar you can keep track of your classes, deadlines, and extracurriculars.

8. Jstor

Jstor is an online research database that your school may subscribe to. Jstor has access to 12 million academic journal articles, primary sources, and books. Check your school’s library website to see which research databases it subscribes to.

Jstor is a great resource for writing research papers.
Credit: screenshot: jstor

9. Ebsco

Ebsco is another online research database that your school may subscribe to. It’s a good first stop on your research journey for any paper. Your school’s library website will tell you if you have access to Ebsco.

10. Word Hippo

No list of websites for college students is complete without a thesaurus. Word Hippo is an elite thesaurus that will help you make sure your essays aren’t too repetitive.

Use WordHippo to avoid repeating yourself in your papers.
Credit: screenshot: word hippo