Santiago Mallea
Chief of Content At Gradehacker
Updated on June 2023.
An essay is as good as its sources.
Yes, having a solid and accurate scholarly source to back up your arguments is key to delivering a 10/10 paper. The biggest problem is that, most of the time, finding these types of sources can be hard and tedious.
Here at Gradehacker, we are the non-traditional student’s #1 resource. We help tons of people like you with their essays and classes and know firsthand how tiresome searching for the best peer-reviewed source can be.
That’s why we share our list of the best educational platforms and websites you should consider when looking for scholarly articles.
Can't Find The Best Sources For Your Essay?
We always deliver 100% original essays because we know that using academic sources is essential for the quality of your paper.
Can't Find The Best Sources For Your Essay?
We always deliver 100% original essays because we know that using academic sources is essential for the quality of your paper.
Google Scholar and Google Books
Best website to find scholarly sources about:
- Any field of study
Instead of going to Google, start your research in Google Scholar. This search engine exclusively searches:
- Academic papers
- Books
- Abstracts
- Journal articles from academic publishers
Just type in the topic you are writing about; it will show you pages of related scholarly content.
While you may not be able to access all of these (some might be part of a paid platform), the options you’ll find here will be much better than the ones you would find in a regular Google search.
Similarly, Google Books focuses on scholarly books about your desired subject. Here you’ll find well-known titles, old texts, book reviews, and specific chapters of the book you are looking for.
If you need a specific textbook, search for it in Google Books, but if you don’t have any luck, you can try some of the best websites to find free college textbooks.
Best website to find scholarly sources about:
- Statistics
- Science
Research Gate is an online platform where scientists and researchers submit their work and share their discoveries with each other. Here you can find over 100 million publications, such as academic studies with precise statistics that could add context to your paper.
You can access most of their publications for free and download them as PDFs.
Regarding private articles, you can read their abstract or request access to their authors. But a super helpful feature ResearchGate has below each publication is that you can find a list of authors that also cited that article, with the direct quotation they took from it!
So, as long as this other author uses a word-for-word citation from the article you don’t have access to, you can take that citation for your paper and properly list it in your references with correct formatting.
However, don’t quote it word-for-word if it’s not a direct quote. You’d be plagiarizing another author, and that’s the worst mistake you could ever make. To avoid failing because of it, we have the top plagiarism checkers and our guide on how to avoid unintentional plagiarism.
Best website to find scholarly sources about:
- Healthcare
- Science
NCBI is a division of the U.S. National Library of Medicine, one of the most popular sources to find biomedical and genomic information.
Industry professionals widely accept it, as its primary focus is providing biomedical and genomic information to researchers, educators, and the public through their online databases and tools.
Their website is very simple and easy to use, you just need to type in the topic you are looking for, and it will show you a list of related documents.
Here you can find all types of academic journals on a wide range of topics for free and can be downloaded in PDF format or HTML formats. They have an advanced browser that allows users to filter and personalize the search results by language, date, type of journal, etc.
NCBI also has index citations for sources that display how many times a document was cited and by whom. This is a great tool to see the credibility of sources you are using, as it gives an idea of how much this document has been used in other papers.
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Best website to find scholarly sources about:
- Mathematics
- Science and Technology
- Society and Culture
Wolfram Alpha is a “computational intelligence” technology that gives expert-level answers through algorithms, artificial intelligence, and an external knowledge base.
Instead of searching by topic, you need to ask a specific question for its AI to analyze it and then give you a clear and concise answer.
While we don’t recommend quoting Wolfram Alpha’s answer, as it has no peer review value, what you can do to cite their information is to look for their reference list at the bottom and see where they took each piece of information.
You can also use it to solve complex math problems in the field of arithmetic, algebra, calculus, and differential equations.
Best website to find scholarly sources about:
- Education
The Education Resources Information Center (ERIC) is an easy-to-use bibliographic and full-text education research and information database. The U.S. Department of Education designed it and hosts more than 1.3 million online journals related to education.
ERIC is your place to go, from books to college-level research papers, if you are looking for articles about education and its related issues.
Best website to find scholarly sources about:
- Nonfiction
- Sci-tech
- Fiction
- Scientific articles
- Magazine
If you ever find a journal or book that has the information you are looking for but can’t find it for free, we highly recommend trying to find it on Library Genesis.
This is an online library database where you can find all types of novels, articles, magazines, and more. You can try searching the journal title if you have something in mind, but if you don’t, you can go to their “topics” section, click on the subject you are writing about, and search for an article with the needed info.
Library Genesis is a great resource because most of its content is free and can be downloaded in various formats like PDF, EPUB, MOBI, and HTML.
But if its interface is not the most user-friendly for you, we made a tutorial on how you can use Library Genesis.
Best website to find scholarly sources about:
- History
- Social Sciences
- Arts
- Business & Economics
- Law
- Medicine & Allied Health
- Science & Mathematics
JSTOR is an online research library that provides access to over 12 million academic journals, books, and primary source documents. It provides articles from more than 2,000 publishers, including all the major academic journals.
Students and researchers widely use it for its reliability and depth of content since it has over 2,500 full-text e-books from over 60 subjects.
With its advanced search options and filters, you can easily find the best sources related to your research topic.
This website is easy to use and understand, and it also has guides and support for students to make things even easier.
However, the biggest downside is that most of its documents are private and can only be accessed by paying. Our pro tip is to look for the best scholarly sources here and then search it on any of the other websites we’ve listed above.
Best website to find scholarly sources about:
- American History
- U.S. Politics & Government
- Military History & Science
- Geography
- Philosophy
The Library of Congress is the largest library in the world and an invaluable resource.
It houses over 162 million items in multiple languages and formats, such as books, manuscripts, photographs, maps, audio recordings, and more.
It’s free and open to the public, making it a great place to find scholarly sources about American history, politics, and government. It is especially useful for researching topics related to military history.
The library’s catalog will help you quickly find the best results. You can also use its Digital Collections page and have access to databases and all digital learning resources on the platform. Offers.
The Importance of Using Scholarly Sources
Scholarly resources, such as academic journals, books, and research papers, are essential for academic research and writing. They provide reliable information on a wide range of topics backed up by research methods and peer-reviewed journal articles.
Using scholarly sources in research and writing ensures that the information presented is accurate, up-to-date, and trustworthy.
Library Resources
But before we finish, there is a quick tip you should have: Don’t forget to check your college’s library database!
One huge mistake many college students don’t realize they are making is forgetting that the first place they can look for primary sources is in their school’s academic library.
Library resources can be a great starting point.
Yes, there will be other useful scholarly sources on other websites and platforms, but academic books and journals you find in any school’s digital content libraries can be just as valuable.
So, before you go to Google, remember you can trust your college library database first.
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Having Doubts on How we Can Help You?
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Find The Scholarly Source You Are Looking For
It’s time to say goodbye to all those hours you spent searching for that life-saving journal with all the information you needed for your essay. From now on, you’ll jump straight ahead to any of these websites and find that info quickly.
Remember always to check your school’s library first and to include each of these sources in your reference list once you finish.
We hope this list has helped you.
But if you need more help with your academic writing, you can count on Gradehacker to have your back. We assist many non-traditional students like you with their essays and accelerate their degrees, and we’ll be happy to help you too!
And if you are looking for more tips on how to improve your writing skills, check out our related articles:
Santiago Mallea
Santiago Mallea is a curious and creative journalist who first helped many college students as a Gradehacker consultant in subjects like literature, communications, ethics, and business. Now, as a Content Creator in our blog, YouTube channel, and TikTok, he assists non-traditional students improve their college experience by sharing the best tips. You can find him on LinkedIn.
