Student Research Paper Toolkit

Don’t get caught without resources for your paper at the last minute! I have encountered this several times with students who recently told their grownups that they had a paper due very soon and needed to find resources at their local library since they didn’t do it at school. Their adults were less than thrilled.

Luckily, Mid-Continent Public Library has you covered! Log into your Library account with your Library card (or Student Access Pass) and your PIN. Trust me: you can ace this research paper—whether you’ve been proactive or waited until a few days before the due date! You probably need two books and two online resources to use for references and citations, right? Check out the Library’s online catalog, and search for your topic to see what books we have on the shelves.

Here is a link to all of MCPL’s online student research resources, but I’ll give you a quick run-down of a few you might find helpful:

• Writing Biographies and Book Reports
  • American National Biography has nearly 20,000 different biographies of famous people from American History. This site is also regularly updated so you can have the most current information. 
  • Bloom’s Literature features 50 of the top authors’ biographies and an additional 2,220+ authors. 
• Writing About Current News, World Topics, and Debatable Topics 
  • Explora for Teens offers up topics and information on world news, government, health, and more. 
  • Opposing Viewpoints provides a look at some trending arguments that you could use for debate or discussion—from affordable housing to gun control, poverty to wage disputes.
• Writing a History or Foreign Language Paper
  • CultureGrams is such a great tool. I’m not just saying this, I promise! It has articles, recipes, photos, and correct citations that you can use to talk about any state in the U.S. and nearly every country. It’s really a great resource for international explorations. 
  • Daily Life through History is another really fantastic tool. It goes through every era of history with detailed articles and images and provides you with perfect teacher-approved citations. 
• Writer’s Toolkit
  • Writer’s Reference Center – If you want an A+ on your paper, this resource will help amp you up. From grammar to punctuation tips, this is one resource to keep in your back pocket (right along with spell-check).  
  • WriteTutor from Tutor.com – You can ask questions or have your paper reviewed. Live tutors are available to help you in English or Spanish between noon and midnight, seven days a week. 

All of these resources—and many more—are available online with your Library card. So, get started and access all the resources you need to write an A+ research paper! 

Andrew E.
Red Bridge Branch