5 Resources for Graduate Research

Graduate Research Resources

• WorldCat
• EndNote
• Pathways to Science
• he National Science Foundation
• The Library of Congress

Going to graduate school means advancing in your field and making new professional connections. There's no doubt that it also means doing your fair share of research. Whatever your field of study, you can use these five resources to seek out information and find research funding.

WorldCat

WorldCat is an incredible search tool that allows students to find books, DVDs and CDs in libraries near them. Available through most university libraries, the site's article search tool also allows researchers to find and read articles in a variety of disciplines. If your university's library is connected with WorldCat, you may be able to use the Ask a Librarian feature to get help with research questions, too. For graduate students, WorldCat provides an awesome way to find out-of-print and obscure texts at surrounding libraries. Of course, some of the libraries that have listed catalogs on the site allow remote checkout of materials.

EndNote

Designed to make research mobile, EndNote is a unique service from Thomson Reuters that allows you to gather bibliographic entries and share them seamlessly across your devices. The app not only allows you to create and share a bibliography but also allows you to search online databases and access some articles. Truly built for every field, EndNote allows citations in more than 6,000 different styles and allows for collaboration, too. As a grad student, you can also benefit from the app's journal matching tool, which suggests journals that might be a good fit to publish your research.

Pathways to Science

Hosted by the Institute for Broadening Participation (IBP), the Pathways to Science website includes a page dedicated to graduate student resources. If you're in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields, you'll find access to short-term research and travel opportunities. The site also provides tools to study graduate programs and to find fellowships as you progress through your studies. Among the site's greatest assets are its archived webinars, which cover a wide variety of topics from funding your education to writing a personal statement. If you're looking for a summer research opportunity or want to know more about hot careers in your field, the Pathways to Science site has that, too.

The National Science Foundation (NSF)

Dedicated to advancing science, the NSF provides an array of information for graduate students. Research opportunities, grants and fellowships are covered in full, and the site is regularly updated to include new opportunities. You'll also find grant-writing resources and guides that help you break down grant requirements and craft strong proposals. While you might think of the hard sciences when you think of the NSF, the website provides a host of resources for students in the social sciences, as well. Thanks to the diversity of opportunities that it represents, it's a resource that you can use throughout your graduate education. Of course, the site also includes current research findings in a variety of fields.

The Library of Congress

The Library of Congress is an amazing resource for students living in the Washington D.C. area. Of course, many of the library's research resources are also available online. The online database is easy to access and offers researchers the option to either browse by category or complete a keyword search. In addition to providing access to major research catalogs online, the Library of Congress site also lets researchers access trial databases. If you're conducting research in a relatively new field, these trial databases can provide information that you might not find listed in other catalogs.

Research will be one of the most formative experiences during your graduate education. Conducting research can be overwhelming, but having a variety of resources at your disposal will help you get a handle on every phase of the process.