TOP PICKS | 20 TOOLS

Research and Citation Tools for Students

Students are always needing to effectively gather, study, and cite sources for their essays and projects. As teachers know, the internet has made this process both more fruitful and more complicated. The Wild West of the web requires students to think more critically about sources and more effectively organize all the different kinds of things they find -- both digital and physical. These picks will show students how to go beyond Google to find credible, usable scholarly resources, and then to unpack and use these sources to fuel awesome essays and projects. To this end, on this list you'll find top-rated tools for not just collecting sources but annotating and citing them.

Top Picks

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PebbleGo

Easily accessible, kid-friendly database for the littlest researchers

Bottom line: Delightful, safe introduction to the world of research, databases, and reporting, with interesting content and stellar supports.

Grades: K–3 Price: Free to try, Paid Free trial available. Prices vary ($1,299 per year to $2,399 per year) depending on how many databases teachers want to access. District pricing also available.

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NowComment

Rich collaboration and discussion site engages students and teachers

Bottom line: It's a versatile discussion platform for teaching, peer reviewing, and fostering active reading, and offers much more than traditional word processors.

Grades: K–12 Price: Free

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PebbleGo Next

Safe nonfiction database develops students' research skills

Bottom line: Student-centric research site gives kids a just-right amount of information to build foundational research skills.

Grades: 3–6 Price: Free to try, Paid School-wide licenses come at four different levels. Since PebbleGo Next is an add-on product for the developer's main product, PebbleGo, the silver license ($1,799 per year for unlimited use) would be required.

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Citelighter

Substantial all-in-one tool scaffolds the research and writing process

Bottom line: This smart, intuitive system supports students in every step of the writing process.

Grades: 3–12 Price: Free, Paid Citelighter Pro allows citations from PDF files and Google Docs, among other features. It's available with different monthly and yearly pricing options.

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Smithsonian Open Access

Stellar museum-based resources available for exploration and use

Bottom line: This high-quality collection of museum resources -- ranging from artifacts to full-blown exhibits -- provides unlimited exploration for students, reliable primary sources for teachers.

Grades: 3–12 Price: Free

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Digital Public Library of America

Organized digital library features piles of useful primary resources

Bottom line: DPLA is at the top of the list of high-grade, online primary source collections if teachers make effective use of what's on offer.

Grades: 5–12 Price: Free

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Gooru

Personalized tool fosters exploration, teacher-led meaningful learning

Bottom line: A great portal for supplementing classroom instruction; supports independent and personalized learning.

Grades: 5–12 Price: Free

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ZoteroBib

Fewer clicks and less clutter equal a new go-to site for citing sources

Bottom line: An intuitive site that takes the stress out of citing sources, but students will still need instruction to tweak auto-generated citations.

Grades: 5–12 Price: Free

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findingDulcinea

Aging search tool has curated resources and links to credible sites

Bottom line: It can help kids quickly find credible websites for study and schoolwork, but those resources will be a bit out-of-date.

Grades: 6–10 Price: Free

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SweetSearch

Search engine with filtered results leaves room for critical thinking

Bottom line: SweetSearch supplies valid, reputable websites that can help kids learn about a variety of topics.

Grades: 6–10 Price: Free

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Britannica School

More interactive support and instruction than Wikipedia -- for a price

Bottom line: Over 140,000 credible and up-to-date articles are presented with social media savvy; the research here is engaging and accessible.

Grades: 6–12 Price: Free to try, Paid $525 for up to 700 students; $0.75 for each additional student. Discounts are available for district and consortium purchases. Schools in some locales may already have state-wide access.

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Hypothes.is

Browser extension adds layer of annotation and discussion to the web

Bottom line: Free, user-friendly tool opens up the web to in-context annotation and discussion.

Grades: 6–12 Price: Free

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NoodleTools

Expansive research tool uniquely melds learning and productivity

Bottom line: While the complex, old-school design isn't ideal, NoodleTools gives students specific assistance where they need it the most -- with citations, paraphrasing, elaboration, and organization.

Grades: 6–12 Price: Free to try 30-day free trial. Individual accounts are $15/year, but these lack collaboration features. Contact for school and district plans with full feature set.

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Diigo

Social bookmarking encourages discovery, collaboration, and sharing

Bottom line: With a Diigo educator account, teachers and students have a safe space to organize, customize, and share Web content while learning about a variety of subjects.

Grades: 7–12 Price: Free, Paid Users can mark and highlight 1,000 items a year with a free Diigo subscription; two paid versions, which cost from $20-$40 a year, provide unlimited bookmarking, screen capture, and highlighting capabilities. The educator account, which is also free, lets teachers bookmark and save 20 cached pages a month (users are allowed to save multiple versions of the same page at different times to track changes) and provides unlimited highlighting capabilities

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EasyBib

Helpful citation and writing resource for instant bibliographies

Bottom line: EasyBib works great for citing sources and generating bibliographies, but other tools such as a grammar checker are limited.

Grades: 7–12 Price: Free, Paid The free version includes ads. An EasyBib Plus subscription costs $9.95 per month.

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PowerNotes

Simple, efficient research tool lacks features for group projects

Bottom line: When paired with strategic teacher guidance, the simple user interface and effective research-gathering capabilities make this a useful but incomplete option.

Grades: 7–12 Price: Free, Paid PowerNotes is free for one project at a time. For $4.99 per month or $49.99 per year, users can create unlimited projects. Contact the developer for information on institutional pricing.

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Weava

Chrome extension helps organize web-based research

Bottom line: For Chrome users and mostly digital classrooms, this is a fairly intuitive tool that'll help students wrangle their research.

Grades: 7–12 Price: Free to try Free version has unlimited highlights but 100MB of storage, 5 highlight colors, and 1 collection with 3 sub-collections. Paid version ($5.99 per month or $49.99 per year) has 2GB of storage, unlimited collections, 10 highlight colors, and extra features like more file exports, image clipping, and better support. This paid version is free if users can get five other people to sign up.

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Scrible

Browser extension helpful for annotation and research organization

Bottom line: A solid -- with room to grow -- annotation and research tool; serious users will need to pay for premium.

Grades: 8–12 Price: Free, Paid Free EDU accounts include 500 MB of storage, one library, and classroom groups and libraries. An EDU Pro account is $35 per year and adds 1 GB of storage, 10 libraries, and more annotation, styling, and citation options.

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