K-12 Top 12 Research Websites for Student Papers

K-12 Student Research Websites at Home and in the Classroom

Parents, are you looking for websites your child can use to write a research paper, term paper or essay? Teachers, do your students need primary sources? Take a look at the many free educational resources described here.

There is more to research than looking up the biography of George Washington on Google or Wikipedia. Don't get me wrong. I don't know if I could survive without Google. And Wikipedia can be helpful for a general overview of a topic. It can still be hit-and-miss to find quality resources on Google. And teachers do not consider Wikipedia to be an authoritative source, because anyone can add an entry or change it.

Here's a list of my K-12 top 12. These are research tools I've used as a teacher and parent with my kids, in the classroom and at home. And parents, this is definitely for you too. Of course... you know your child's term paper or research paper is YOUR research project too!

You can find many other research tools listed on my site, LearningReviews.com > Learning Tools > Online References. You'll find lots of other interactive websites there to help students learn.

Beyond Wikipedia and Google

There are many excellent kid-friendly resources on the Internet to help your K-12 student research and write a great paper.

#1 KidsClick!

Search tool for kids written by librarians

Have you had this experience? Your 4th grader has to write a paper on what the different branches of government do. You find lots of information online, but you have to translate it for your child because she doesn't understand what she's reading.

KidsClick! can be a big help. Think of it as the children's and teen's sections of your public library. Librarians have put together research sources that are kid-friendly. The search results include the reading level so your child can select ones he/she can more easily read.

You'll also see that the KidsClick! main page has subjects arranged as they would be in a library. At the bottom of the page, you'll find a link to see the page as it would look through a librarian's eyes. All of the subjects and sub-headings turn into the Dewey Decimal number system as you would see it on the library shelves. My students had an "Aha!" moment when all those numbers finally made sense.

#2 Awesome Library

Another librarian-compiled search and browsing tool

Awesome Libary is another student-friendly search engine. As the name implies, this site is also maintained by librarians. This award-winning search engine advertises that they have more than 35,000 resources available, the top five percent in education.

In addition to the search feature, there are dozens of categories to browse through for kids, teens, parents, teachers, librarians and college students.

#3 MrDonn.org

Social Studies and Humanities for K-8 students

Another site I have frequently used for research with my elementary age students is MrDonn.org. If your 3rd grader needs to write about the customs, food and culture of Iroquois Indians, for example, this is THE place to find it! Mr. Donn has information on most social studies topics in grades K-8 and the site has won numerous awards.

While the site lacks a search tool, information is easy to access using the major subject headings. There's also a section on Language Arts with guidance for writing reports and essays.

#4 Library of Congress

Research resources for students in grades K-12

Wow! If you're doing research for a paper on some aspect of American history or government, PLEASE look at the Library of Congress website. For social studies research, it's hard to beat the sheer volume of sources available on the LOC.

They have more than 138 million artifacts, people! LOC's information includes digital documents, photographs and webcasts, many of them primary sources. Much of this material can be reproduced for educational purposes, but be sure to read the Rights and Restrictions Information.

The reading level of the material is suitable for kids in grades 6-12, but younger students can make use of the archived photos and documents. They came in very handy for my daughter's presentation on Susan B. Anthony and the women's suffrage movement.

#5 CIA World Factbook

Brief facts on all of the countries in the world

If what you need is fast, accurate facts about a country, take a look at the CIA World Factbook. Here you'll find brief facts about all of the countries of the world. The information provided is at the country level only. There is no information at the state or provincial level of a country.

Now for the facts, which the CIA updates frequently: each country's flag and map; an introduction which may include a brief history; geographic features, climate and resources; demographic information about the population and ethnic groups; government and political structure; and details on the economy, communication, transportation and military; along with any transnational issues. And they fit all of that on one web page per country -- amazing!

#6 Fact Monster

Encylopedia, dictionary, thesaurus, almanac and more

Fact Monster, from Pearson Education's Information Please, is an award-winning often-reviewed site for kids. It offers some good tools for doing research on a variety of topics. These tools include an encylopedia, dictionary, thesaurus and almanac.

You can find info on the world, the U.S., people, science, math and money. Fact Monster's resources include a Homework Center with more excellent info and study guides.

Fact Monster has some other excellent research paper tools. The Citing Fact Monster page provides helpful guidance about citing resources from their website. Another helpful page is their Plagiarism page. It explains what can be considered plagiarism, with examples, and what is considered common knowledge. The page also has links to their Homework Center pages on writing papers, footnotes and endnotes, and writing a bibliography. Love that!

#7 RedZee Search Engine

Family-safe search with a twist

RedZee is based on the premise that a picture is worth a thousand words -- or at least an image of a website. That red and white zebra will show you a fanned array of websites when you hit the search button. The site image is displayed, with the text underneath.

To scan through the results you use your mouse to drag the fan from website to website. Be careful about using the back arrow on your browser, though! RedZee keeps track of the search results and the sites you've visited on tabs at the top of the screen. To go back to the results after visiting a website, click on the Results tab. If you use your browser back arrow instead, RedZee will think you want to start a new search.

You've got to try this out, for the gee-whiz factor, if nothing else.

#8 Word Central

Merriam-Webster's Dictionary and Thesaurus for kids

We make frequent use of the thesaurus, dictionary and rhyming dictionary at Word Central. This Merriam-Webster site is designed specifically for the K-12 crowd. The dictionary has a speaker icon that lets you hear the word pronounced correctly. All of the components give you links to the other ones when you look up a word so your kid has plenty of options to find the right word for his paper.

By the way, I love that rhyming dictionary. Kids writing poetry or songs will love it too! There are also lots of word games on the site.

#9 OneLook

Dictionary and Reverse Dictionary search

Another dictionary we frequently use is OneLook. Nothing fancy, just a great work horse of a dictionary search engine.

You plug in the word. OneLook displays quick definitions, as well as the results of dozens of online dictionaries. A nice feature is the reverse dictionary. You type a short definition, such as "barrel maker". The reverse dictionary search returns possible words to fit the definition, ranked in order of the closest match.

#10 How to Do Research

Kentucky Virtual Library offers you a plan

There's a step-by-step run through of the process of writing a research report at How to Do Research, at the Kentucky Virtual Library (KYVL). This is a great tool for parents, students and teachers of grades K-8.

KYVL takes you through planning, searching for information, techniques for taking notes, sifting through the information, selecting the format for and creating the report. Although the online research is centered on Kentucky Virtual Library resources, this entire process is easily adapted to the use of any resources.

#11 NoodleQuest

Research help

Another more sophisticated research tool is available. Sometimes, one of the hardest parts of a research paper is helping your student find a topic, narrow it down and find appropriate resources. NoodleQuest from NoodleTools was designed to help.

You answer a set of check-the-box questions, then NoodleQuest uses your answers to recommend the best websites to find the type of information you need. For instance, you may need historical primary sources that include biographical information, speeches, images and statistical data. You let NoodleQuest know how experienced the student is at using the Internet. Then it returns a list of possible sources to help the student research the topic (or even find a topic). Love it! Love it! Love it!

#12 MLA Citation Generator

Simple tool for creating bibliography citations

OK, let's admit it. The bibliography is the ugly underbelly of research writing. It's grunt work. But there's a simple online tool for making this task easier. Just go to Palomar Community College's MLA Citation Generator. Modern Language Association (MLA) format is the type of citation commonly used in K-12 classrooms.

You pick the type of source (book, magazine, web page, etc.), then a form asks for the vital information. You submit it, and voila! You copy and paste the citation into your bibliography.