Useful Websites (Web Search Assignment)

Major: English
1. https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/01/ Purdue OWL
a. This is the most useful website for anybody for anybody writing a research
paper using MLA format. It summarizes everything there is to know about
MLA, and it provides useful examples how to cite various resources as
well as format documents. It also has a number of pages dedicated to
various grammar topics, though I wouldnt use this website exclusively for
grammar, there are better options out there.
2. http://www.gutenberg.org Project Gutenberg
a. I like this website for downloading free e-books. Their entire catalogue of
e-books are titles whose copyrights have expired, and they offer various e-
books formats: EPUB, MOBI, HTML, PDF, etc. All the books Ive ever
downloaded from there have been correct. Also, the Gutenberg project is
a volunteer effort, and thats always nice.
3. http://www.mel.org Michigan E-Library
a. This is an e-library dedicated to many topics, including English. If you
attend a university that offers the service or have a subscription, this
website is very helpful. It provides links to other databases depending on
the topic you choose. The drawback, of course, is that its a paid service,
but if you are willing to pay, its great for research.
4. http://www.oed.com Oxford English Dictionary
a. There is probably no better English dictionary in the world. There are
definitions to every word you can think of as well as detailed etymologies.
Not much else to say about it, though, its a great dictionary.
5. http://www.writing.wisc.edu/Handbook/index.html The Writers Handbook
a. This website provides a Writers Handbook. Its basically what it sounds
like: a guide that gives tips on how to structure your writing, how to
improve your writing style, and how to use grammar properly. The
grammar section is small and primarily focused on punctuation, but its
helpful nonetheless.

Minor: Biology
1. https://www.khanacademy.org/science/biology Khan Academy
a. Khan Academy is more focused on high school biology and first-year
college biology, but its presentation and the information it offers is
wonderful. It provides videos on various topics such as cells, evolution,
genetics, etc. I used it to prepare for my IB exams in high school and
would definitely recommend it to others.
2. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed PubMed
a. PubMed is a database full of biological and medical information that is
similar to MEL. It allows you to search nearly any biological topic you can
think of, and it provides links to article abstracts, full text, etc. Some are
free, some require subscriptions, but overall this is a fantastic resource for
anybody researching topics in biology.
3. http://scholar.google.com Google Scholar
a. For me, this is my favorite place to start for any academic research. It is
nowhere near the best or most comprehensive search tool, nor is it the
most specific to various topics. It is useful in giving a general idea of what
research is available, and is a great way to find free articles as well as
those you must pay for. Even though this search engine isnt specific to
biology, it can still be used for it.
4. http://www.biologycorner.com Biology Corner
a. This website is dedicated to high school biology topics, but its unique in
that it offers worksheets and tutorials that both teachers and students can
use. It has a lot of activities for AP biology, so I imagine it could be a
useful resource to those students.
5. http://naturalsciences.sdsu.edu/links.html Biology Resources and Links
a. The greatest strength of this website is that its a repository for other web
links. It lists dozens of databases and magazines related to nearly every
biological discipline imaginable. This would be helpful to students looking
to review literature in many publications.