Finally getting to move into your own space and out of your parents’ house can be an exciting time for many college students. Of course, with moving out comes a whole host of expenses too. Luckily, there are some ways you can cut down on the costs and still get a room that reflects your style and makes living so close with someone else a little easier. Here are some DIY projects to try out for your dorm room that range from super simple to those requiring some tech know-how.

Privacy and Security

Try out these DIY projects to keep your dorm room safe and ensure you have a little privacy when you need to study or sleep.

1. Dorm room study nook: Learn how to build a special place to do all your studying from this link.
2. RFID protected valuables: Lock down your valuable items when you leave the room by using your tech expertise to build this RFID system.
3. Laptop security camera: If your laptop has a camera or you have a web cam lying around you, can use it to create a security system for your room with these instructions.
4. Laser security system: Get super sci-fi security in your room with this project to build laser security.
5. RFID door lock: Make sure your room doesn’t get broken into with this RFID lock idea.
6. DIY wall: If you want to divide up your space a little more, consider building a makeshift wall. This link will show you how.
7. Dorm room curtain: If you can’t have a wall in your room, you can make do with some curtains– a much easier-to-install solution.
8. Privacy screen: Get your privacy when you need it and put it away when you don’t with this privacy screen.

Sewing Projects

If you’ve got a sewing machine on hand you’ll be able to whip up these great additions to your dorm room.

9. Bean bag chair: Learn how to make your own bean bag chair for relaxing and reading with this link.
10. Bandana Pillow : Give your room a western feel with a small pillow made from a bandana.
11. Old Clothes Pillows: Don’t send your favorite old raggedy t-shirt to the dump just yet, it could find new life in this pillow project.
12. Make your own curtains: If your dorm room allows you to hang up curtains you can learn to make them from these instructions.
13. Felt Flower Pillows: Give your bed pillows a girly touch with this pattern for decorative pillows.
14. Personalized Quilt: Sew together old clothes, fabric scraps or whatever else you’d like to remind you of home with this DIY idea.
15. Duvet Cover: You don’t have to spend a fortune on a duvet with help from this DIY duvet.
16. Chair Cushion: Give your desk chair a little extra padding by making the cushion shown here.
17. Oversized Pillows: Turn your floor into a seating area with these helpful, big pillows.
18. Bedside Caddy: Keep remotes, pencils, highlighters and books on hand with this bed caddy.

Wall Decor

Spice up the bland walls in your dorm room with these helpful ideas.

19. Wall Decals: Add some non-permanent design to your wall with these customizable decals.
20. Wire Photo Wall: Show off your photos in style with this simple project.
21. Silhouettes: Give your room a personal touch by making silhouettes of you and your roomie.
22. Recycled Wall Art: Turn waste into art with a few pointers from this project.
23. Butterfly Mobile: Create a feminine DIY mobile with the ideas found through this link.
24. Construction Paper Wall: Turn a bland wall into a colorful collage with some inexpensive construction paper.
25. Vintage Record Frames: Learn how to make frames out of old records with this DIY project.
26. Wallpaper with fabric: Give your walls a new look with some fabric using the instructions found here.

Other Decor

Decorate tables, desks and the rest of your room with these projects.

27. Filmstrip Pencil Cup: Show off your photos in a whole new way using this project.
28. Vinyl Record Bowl: You can create a creative and attractive place to put your stuff with this idea.
29. Cardboard Hipster Frames: Build your own frames by following the instructions here.
30. Container Gardening: Learn how to have your own garden in a small space using these tips.
31. Teeny Garden: If you’ve only got room for one plant, this guide will show you how to make the most of the space you have.
32. Plant Stand: Build a cool looking and cheap plant stand with these plants.
33. Painted Clock: Give your clock a little bit of pizzazz with help from these project.
34. Photo thumbtacks: No need for boring old thumbtacks when you can make these special, customized ones instead.
35. Cut Out Felt Rug: Bring the wild into your room with this faux animal hide rug.
36. Bookends: Here you’ll find projects for a number of DIY themed bookends.

Organization and Storage

Staying organized and finding space for all your stuff in a dorm room is key, so try out these helpful projects to get you there.

37. Corner shelf: Add some storage to your room with this project.
38. Magnets: Hang up all kinds of things on your fridge with these cute magnets.
39. Fabric Storage Containers: Turn your old ugly storage containers into a unified group with this project.
40. Desk Magazine Holder: Create a space to store your magazines or papers with this DIY idea.
41. Ribbon Board: Build a great place to hang up all of your pictures with this ribbon board.
42. Whiteboard: Make your own whiteboard that you and your roomie can communicate on with this link.
43. Hanging Closet Organizer: Maximize your closet space with help from this organizational project.
44. Jewelry Tree: Keep your necklaces and earrings from becoming tangled and lost with this great idea.
45. Cosmetics Carryall: If you need a place to keep your makeup, why not sew one yourself? You’ll find a pattern here.
46. Custom Magazine Storage: Spice up your magazine storage with tips found on this site.
47. Charging Station: Keep all of your cords in one place with this easy to build charging station.
48. Denim Organizer: If you don’t like denim you could always use another kind of fabric to create this organizer.
49. Jewelry Plate: Put jewelry, keys, change or whatever you like on this DIY storage solution.

Entertainment

These DIY ideas will have you having loads of fun in your dorm in no time.

50. HD Projector: Make your room the envy of the dorm with this project.
51. iPod and iPhone Speakers: If you don’t have the money to splurge on the real deal you can make your own here.
52. Stream Video to your PS3, Xbox 360, or Wii: Watch all the movies and TV you want with this trick.
53. DIY Wireless Music Remote: Impress your friends with your technical abilities with this project.
54. Make a Shoebox Boombox: Shoeboxes aren’t just a good place to store things, they also can make a great stereo as you’ll see here.
55. Speaker Bench: Need seating and a place to put your speakers? This project will help you do both.
56. Salad Bowl Speakers: These speakers are both functional and extremely attractive.
57. CD Storage: Bulk up your CD storage space with this simple project.
58. Felt Checkers Board: Give you and your roomies something to do when you’re not studying with this DIY game.

Party Time

Make your dorm room the place to be with these projects.

59. Beer Launching Fridge: While most dorms would frown on this, what they don’t know won’t hurt them and could be a lot of fun for you.
60. iPhone Controlled USB Missile Launcher: You’ll want to make sure you don’t put any eyes out while you’re playing with this DIY toy.
61. Emergency Party Button: Make your room the central location for any emergency parties with this project.
62. Make LEDs Flash to Music: Give your room that club vibe with this acoustically synched lights.
63. Wine Rack: Store wine, alcohol or just water in this convenient system.
64. Make your own beer pong table: If you’ve got the room you can take on this fun gaming project.
65. Mailing Tube Wine Rack: Use this project to store booze, shoes or anything else you’d like.

Lighting

Dorm rooms usually come complete with some pretty depressing lighting. Kick yours up a notch with these easy and fun DIY ideas.

66. Repaint an old lamp: This project will show you how to take an ugly old lamp and make it into a great new one for your room.
67. Lucite Chandelier: Give your room some glamour with this project.
68. Silverware Chandelier: You can get silverware at Ikea or a thrift store for cheap and make this project.
69. Branch Chandelier: Bring the natural world in with this lighting solution.
70. Paper Cloud Lantern: This DIY lamp will help soften the light in your room and brighten up the space.
71. Custom Lampshade: If your lampshade is boring, use some ribbon and fabric to give it personality.
72. Make Custom RGB Mood Lights: Whether you want to set the mood or just like to party, this project will help you create cooler lighting for your room.
73. Lava lamp: Can’t afford the real deal? Here you can learn how to make your own lava lamp.
74. CD Stack Lamp: Use your old CDs to build this functional and stylish lamp.

For the Bed

You’ll need to get some rest eventually if you want to do well in class, so check out these ideas to create the perfect place to rest.

75. Build a loft: Give you and your roomie more room by lofting your beds.
76. Bed Canopy: Create a more romantic and pretty bed with this simple project.
77. Fleece Blanket: If you need an extra blanket, learn how you can make one yourself from this link.
78. DIY Headboard: With this project you can give your dorm bed a stylish boost.
79. Cardboard Canopy: You don’t have to buy this expensive canopy– make it instead.
80. Embellished sheets: Personalize your sheets with help from Martha Stewart.
81. Hangover Helper Eyeshade: Shade your eyes from the glare of the morning sun with this helpful eyeshade.
82. Slipcovered Headboard: Make a simple slipcover for your headboard with this project.
83. Blue Shirt Pillows: Reuse your old shirts and turn them into a useful pillow with instructions found here.

Comfort

Keep your room a cozy, warm retreat with these simple projects.

84. Draft Snake: Keep out cold winter air with this easy to make draft snake.
85. Fleece Robe: Make your trips to the bathroom stylish and warm by making this cute fleece robe.
86. Air Conditioner: Dorm room too hot? Build this air conditioner to cool it off.
87. Lavender Pillows: Keep your room smelling nice with these lavender scented pillows.
88. Hanger Sachets: Got a pile of stinky laundry in your room? These sachets can help.
89. Polarvide Snuggie: Never freeze while you study again, simply make this snuggie to keep you warm.
90. Patchwork Armchair: Turn any old chair into a more stylish one with this project.

Miscellaneous

If your room still needs some work, consider trying out these DIY projects as well.

91. Make Your Own Dorm-Friendly First Aid Kit: Make sure you’re prepared for everything with this DIY first aid kit.
92. Personalize a Trash Can For Your Dorm: Give your garbage a more stylish home by taking on this project.
93. Etched Glasses: This might sound complicated but it’s relatively easy to etch your own personalized pencil holder.
94. T-Shirt Bulletin Board: Reuse your old t-shirts for a fully customized bulletin board.
95. DIY Laundry Bag: Lug your laundry around in a bag that reflects your style with this project.
96. Mini-Fridge Makeover: If you’ve got an ugly old mini-fridge learn how to give it a facelift here.
97. Laptop Cozy: Check out this link to learn how to create a cute home for your laptop.
98. Coasters: Keep your furniture from getting wet with these handmade coasters.
99. Monitor Stand: Embrace ergonomics by creating this DIY stand for your monitor.
100. Pencil Cup: What’s better than a pencil cup? A pencil cup made of pencils! Learn how to make it here.

No matter what you write, whether it’s for a college class on creative writing or for a novel you’ve finally found time to get around to, having some tools to make the process a little easier is always a welcome prospect. This list brings together a wealth of just those kind of resources, all found online and all free to use, so you can concentrate on being creative and producing the best writing you can.

Organization

Lay out tasks, research and important info using these tools.

1. Google Calendar: Hook up your Gmail to this calendar to keep your tasks in one easily accessible place.
2. Remember the Milk: With this tool you can keep your tasks online or get an application you can keep on your desktop or phone to have your tasks anywhere.
3. Essential PIM: Manage all of your important personal information using this great organizational tool.
4. Evernote: If you need a way to jot down your thoughts or things you need to get done, this application can be the solution.
5. Tellico: Here you’ll find an online collection manager, perfect for keeping track of your research or the writing you’ve done thus far.
6. PingMe: If you really stink at remembering what you have to do, this site will send you email or text reminders.
7. Toodledo: This helpful to-do list system will ensure you never forget what you need to do again.
8. ClientScribe: Using this application you can track contacts, personal notes, emails and much more.
9. Project Stat.us: Let friends and publishers see where you’re at with a particular writing project using this application. Knowing you’re accountable to others watching could help you keep on task.
10. GTDTiddlyWiki: This simple tool can help you organize your information and your tasks and can be brought with you anywhere on a flash drive.
11. Vizual Einstein: Those writing books or papers with a large amount of research involved would be well-served by this program designed to help you organize it all.
12. NetVibes: Instead of logging into all of your online accounts separately, why not use this home page to log in to all of them at once?

Brainstorming

Get your ideas out of your head and into visual form with these helpful mind-mapping tools.

13. Mindomo: Jot down your story ideas on this application and you’ll be able to see visually where you need to help them to go.
14. Bubbl.us: This free mind-mapping software will let you get your thoughts out and share them with others for feedback.
15. Mapul: If you’re looking for a more organic mindmap, then this application is your perfect match, with tree-like graphics to help you track your ideas.
16. Wisemapping: With this free tool you’ll be able to help yourself plot out stories and develop your thoughts more completely.
17. Wridea: This tool will help you to manage all of your great story ideas so you can expand on them or reference them later.
18. FreeMind: Create a database of all your greatest writing ideas using this free software.
19. ThinkGraph: Try out this application to quickly and easily draw out your mind map the way you want it.
20. View Your Mind: This application is a great way to make your thoughts clearer, easy to annotate and simple to reference later on.
21. Drill Down: With this simple guideline you can easily follow and complete the different aspects of any writing project.
22. XMind: Use this mind-mapping tool to easily store, share and modify your ideas.

Inspiration

Suffering from a lack of inspiration? A lapse in creativity? Use these tools to get back on track.

23. The Imagination Prompt Generator: Get helpful prompts to get your creative juices flowing from this site.
24. The Story Starter: Can’t find a place to start your story? Try this site for inspiration.
25. WritingFix: The Daily Prompt Generator: Whether you’re writing a story or just in your own personal journal this site can help you get started right.
26. Creative Writing Prompts: If you’re having a creatively drained day try out one or many of these writing prompts.
27. Portrait of Words: Writing Challenge Photo Prompts: This site asks you to look at photos as a way to prompt your creativity, something you could carry over on your own as well.
28. Writing.com: Here you can find all kinds of help for getting creative and getting your writing out there.
29. EyeWire Creativity Cards: If you’re facing a writing block, print out these cards and use them as inspiration to help you beat it.
30. Creative Aerobics: Go through these exercises to help get your brain in shape to write better and faster.

Writing

If you need a better or just different word processor, try out these free options.

31. yWriter5: This software is designed with writers in mind, so it is loaded with features to make your novel writing easier.
32. StoryBook: Check out this tool to get help organizing your writing project.
33. Lyx: Here you’ll find a great application that will force you to focus on structure and keep your writing professional and high quality.
34. Google Docs: If you need a program that will let you take your writing anywhere, this is one of the best online word processors.
35. Jott: If you’re out and about and you come up with a great idea, this application will let you simply speak it into the phone and send it to yourself for later.
36. Zoho Writer: Use this free online word processor to write your work and share it with others.
37. iNetWord: Sign up for a free account with this site for an online word processor with loads of great features.
38. picoWrite: This lightweight word processor is the ideal place to jot down all of your best work.
39. AjaxWrite: Designed to look like Word, this program is easy-to-use and can go anywhere.
40. gOffice: On this site you’ll find web-based applications to write and share your work with anyone.

Publishing

Once you’ve finished your work, consider these tools during the publishing process.

41. Sonar: Track where and when you’ve submitted your work to publishers with this application.
42. SAMM: This tool works similarly, letting you keep tabs on what you’ve sent out and heard back.
43. Self-Pub.net: On this site you will find a wide range of resources that can help you learn how to publish your work on your own.
44. Fast Pencil: While not everything on this site is free, you will find a range of helpful layout and writing tools to help you out.
45. Cafe Press: Here you’ll find a range of options for publishing your book online and having it printed. While printing isn’t free, it’s a pretty good bargain.
46. WeBook: Write, share and publish your work on this community site.
47. XLibris: Actually printing a book isn’t free, but there is a whole lot of other resources on this site that are.
48. HTML Book Maker: Use this tool to create an ebook you can print or share with others.
49. Blurb: Check out this site for some great free bookmaking software. What you choose to do with it after that is up to you.

Freelancing

Those who simply want to work as freelancers or want to earn some extra cash will find these applications especially helpful.

50. Emurse: Use this great online site to create, store and share your resume so you can get jobs.
51. Slim Timer: Track your tasks to make sure you’re getting paid for the time you’re putting in with this app.
52. Zoho Invoice: Send your clients bills with this incredibly easy-to-use software.
53. FreshBooks: With this site you’ll be able to track what you’re owed, send invoices and manage your work finances.
54. Plaxo: Keep the addresses of all your past clients in this tool so you can contact them again if you’re looking for work.
55. Tabber: This site makes it easy to track businesses, clients and friends through social networking.
56. SimplyBill: Try out this online software for billing and account management anyone can figure out.
57. Basecamp: Keep track of your projects and let clients know where you’re at with this great tool.
58. Elance: This site is an excellent place to go if you’re looking for freelance work.
59. Side Job Track: If writing freelance is merely your side job, this tool can help you manage it with ease.
60. InstaCalc: Do the math for just about anything you’d need on the job using this application.

Communication

Keep in touch with publishers, friends, sources and collaborators with these tools.

61. Wordpress: Start your own blog with this free site and let everyone know what you’re working on.
62. Blogger: If you don’t like Wordpress, Blogger also offers a range of free blogging services.
63. eFax: Don’t have a fax machine? No problem. This site lets you send an email right to a fax.
64. Highrise: Keep your contacts and information organized and easily accessible with this great online site.
65. Meebo: Combine all of your instant messaging services into one with this tool.
66. K7: This application lets you get faxes and voicemails no matter where you are.
67. GotoMeeting: Get a free trial of this application to talk with clients through web conferencing.
68. FaxZERO: Here you’ll find a tool that lets you send a fax to anyone, anywhere for free.
69. eBuddy: If you use more than one instant messaging system, pare it down to one with this application.
70. LogMeIn: Using this site you’ll be able to access your home computer, and your writing, from anywhere.

Collaboration

Sometimes working together can be better and these applications make that a cinch.

71. Stixy: If you need feedback early in the writing process this brainstorming collaboration tool is ideal.
72. WriteWith: This site makes it simple to work on writing projects with a collaborator or editor.
73. Campfire: Work with just about anyone on this site that offers document sharing, chat and more.
74. Loose Stitch: Create and share online documents, get feedback and work together using this writing focused site.
75. TeamSpinner: With this this site you can create a project and add as many team members as you want to work on it.
76. Thinkature: Try out this app for some real-time collaboration on your writing projects.
77. Writeboard: This site lets you create a sharable and editable online whiteboard.
78. Portrayl: On this site you can share and showcase all of your writing work, even letting others contribute and help.
79. Novlet: If you want to get truly collaborative, use this site to write together about whatever you’d like.

Marketing and Networking

Promote yourself and your writing with these resources.

80. Twitter: Twitter can be a great place to share your thoughts as well as promote your new work.
81. Facebook: Create a professional page on Facebook and let friends and others become fans of your work.
82. LinkedIn: Make it easy for potential clients to find you by creating a professional profile on this networking site.
83. Professional on the Web: Use this site to create and share your personal portfolio of work.
84. Edit Red: Publish your writing to this site and get reader feedback, fans and more.
85. NetRead: This site is full of great resources and information on marketing your work.
86. Mail Chimp: Send out emails to promote your work using this online tool.
87. Business Paper: Try out this application to get a cheap and easy way to make your own business cards and professional materials.
88. PBWiki: Create your own personal wiki about you and your work using this site.
89. Mailman: Manage a mailing list about your writing using this free software.

Miscellaneous Tools

These tools will help you get paid, have fun, run a business and more.

90. Word Count Plus: Use this Firefox extension to easily keep track of your word count.
91. Pandora: If you need a little inspiration or just some help keeping from being distracted, this free music streaming site can help.
92. Work.com: No clue how to run a business or protect your intellectual property? This site can help.
93. KTouch: Learn to type faster and more accurately on this site.
94. Joomla: If you know little to nothing about building a website, you can get the help you need through this resource.
95. PayPal: Make sure you get paid for your work by using this online payment system.
96. Dictionary.com: This site will help you to make sure you’re spelling and using words correctly.
97. Urban Dictionary: Don’t look tragically unhip by not knowing what the latest slang means. Instead, look it up in this dictionary.
98. StoryMash: This site offers a fun chance to play with other writers and build your own stories about whatever you want.
99. Character Questionnaire: Try out this tool to create fun and original characters which you can use or discard at your will.
100. AutoCrit Editing Wizard: If you want a helpful first edit, why not let this program do the work?

While burying yourself in the stacks at the library is one way to get some serious research done, with today’s technology you can do quite a bit of useful searching before you ever set foot inside a library. Undergraduates and grad students alike will appreciate the usefulness of these search engines that allow them to find books, journal articles and even primary source material for whatever kind of research they’re working on and that return only serious, academic results so time isn’t wasted on unprofessional resources.

General

Start off your research with one of these more general academic search engines.

1. Intute: Use this website’s search tools to find the best and most reliable sites to start your research.
2. Academic Info: Search or browse through this site for listings of the best academic websites out there.
3. iSeek: Designed for teachers, students and scholars, this search engine only returns relevant and reliable results.
4. RefSeek: This academic search engine will help you find useful reference material from predominately .edu, .org and .gov sites.
5. VirtualLRC: The Virtual Learning Resources Center is a good place to start looking for material that can help you in your studies.
6. Academic Index: Find information that can set the stage for your future research using this helpful search tool.
7. BUBL Link: If you like your resources organized by the Dewey Decimal System, this site is perfect for your online research.
8. Digital Library of the Commons: This site organizes all the best free information on the web including articles, books, images and even dissertations in one easily searchable place.

Meta Search

Want to search it all at once? Try these tools that let you search multiple sites at once, saving you the time of doing so on your own.

9. Dogpile: Search Google, Yahoo, Bing and more at once with this great search engine.
10. MetaCrawlerWeb: By searching several search sites at once you’ll save time and get better results when you use this tool.
11. mamma: Find news, images, video or web results from the top search sites on the web here.
12. Myriad Search: This site lets you customize your search of multiple search engines.
13. HotBot: Choose which search tool you’d like to use when searching through the information found here.
14. SurfWax: This customizable search engine lets you search through Wikipedia, RSS feeds, news and more.
15. Clusty: This site searches through several other search engines and organizes the results into clustered and more easily manageable groups.
16. Copernic Agent: Try out this tool to search through a variety of engines on the web, sort out your desktop or find a piece of news you know is out there.

Databases and Archives

Databases and archives can be a great place to find primary and secondary sources for your work, so use these online search tools to dive into them headfirst.

17. Library of Congress: This huge library has a large number of fully-searchable archives containing books, source documents, photos and more.
18. Archives Hub: Using this site you’ll get access to the archives of major UK universities and colleges.
19. Archival Research Catalog: Browse through the holdings of the US National Archives or use their helpful search tool to find just what you’re looking for.
20. arXiv: Find articles on physics, math, computer science, biology and finance using this amazing and expansive archival database.
21. Celestial Registered Archives: This site is a search engine for archives themselves, letting you search through and find collections that might meet your needs.
22. Archivenet: Try out this Dutch site for access to archival materials found in the Netherlands and around Europe.
23. NASA Historical Archive: Find relevant information on NASA’s space missions, history, and more on this site.
24. National Agricultural Library: If your research involves agriculture, you may want to see what this government search engine and archive has to offer.
25. The Smithsonian Institution Research Information System: The Smithsonian is one of the largest museums in the world, and you can find out more about what they have in their holdings using this helpful search engine.
26. UNESCO Archives Portal: This site is an excellent resource for finding out what archives are out there, how to find them, and how you can get access to them for research.
27. The British Library Archives: As one of the largest libraries in the world, these archives hold an impressive amount of information that you can search through here.

Books and Journals

You don’t always have to head to the library to do research in books and journals. Try these great search engines from home to see what’s out there.

28. WorldCat: If in the course of your research you’ve found a book you need and your local library doesn’t have it, what do you do? That’s where this search engine is incredibly useful, letting you find out the next closest library where you can access the material.
29. Google Books: While not all the books on here are represented in full-text, it’s still a great search tool for finding books that could serve you well in your research and getting a sneak peek at what they hold inside.
30. Scirus: This search engine will return only high-quality scientific information from journals, so you know you’re not wasting your time with unusable sources.
31. HighBeam Research: This tool lets you search through over 6,000 publications in one place.
32. Vadlo: Look through loads of biomedical and life sciences articles on this site.
33. Open Library: If you need books and you need them now, see what this free and public domain library has to offer.
34. Online Journals Search Engine: Find just about every journal out there that’s available online, both free and pay, with this search engine.
35. Google Scholar: While regular Google can be a helpful tool, sometimes you just need scholarly results, and that’s just what this tool does, paring down results to the most reliable and academic sources.
36. Bioline International: Through this site you can search through free and open access medical journals.
37. SpringerLink: While searching through this site is free, you may need to pay to see the full text of some articles.
38. Directory of Open Access Journals: If you don’t have the budget to pay for articles, try out this search engine. It’ll show you where the best free online journals related to your subject area can be found.

Science

These academic search engines focus on returning high-quality scientific results.

39. SciNet Science Search: Find the best science and technology related resources through this search engine.
40. SciSeek: This site is home to an excellent search engine and directory for just about every niche area of science.
41. Chem BioFinder: Look up chemicals, their properties and their reactions through this registration-required search engine.
42. BiologyBrowser: On this site you’ll be able to find curated resources that are relevant to biology-related work.
43. Athenus: This search engine will help you find news and information related to science and engineering.
44. Scicentral: On this site you’ll not only find a helpful search engine, but a directory of the best science news sources on the web.
45. Strategian: Find quality information on science, math, medicine and more through this search engine.
46. INIS Web Services: Those doing research on the nuclear sciences will find a great database and search tool here.
47. Science.gov: See what scientific resources the government has to offer by using this great search engine.
48. CERN Document Server: Check out this site to search through over a million scientific documents.

Math and Technology

Those working in mathematics or computer science will find these search engines to be a big help.

49. Math Links Library: Search through a great collection of math links on this site.
50. Math Guide: This German site offers math resources to search or browse.
51. ZMATH Online Database: Try out this European site to access 2.8 million articles and references on scholarly mathematical research.
52. MathWeb Search: Instead of searching for text, why not search for a formula using this search tool?
53. TechSearch: Find great technology-related resources using this search engine.
54. Current Index to Statistics: If your project involves needing some stats, use this search engine to find the latest.
55. Inspec: Search through Inspec to find over 11 million bibliographic abstracts related to work in science and technology.
56. CiteSeer: On this site you’ll find the Scientific Research Digital Library, which is entirely searchable using this tool.
57. The Collection of Computer Science Bibliographies: Find a great number of computer science related reference materials through this search engine.
58. Citebase: This experimental site will let you search through abstracts to find information that best suits your needs.

Social Science

Find great information on sociology, psychology, anthropology and more using these search sites.

59. Behavioral Brain Science Archive: Find articles related to psychology and brain science in the extensive searchable archive located on this site.
60. Social Science Research Network: Join this research network to get easy access to the best and latest articles released on the social sciences.
61. PsycLine: This search engine lets you quickly find and access articles from psychology and social science journals on the web.
62. Social Science Citation Index: While not free, this site is a valuable resource, letting you quickly search through citations to find what you need.
63. Ethnologue: Search through thousands of citations on language research as well as information on every one of the world’s known languages here.
64. SocioSite: Based out of the University of Amsterdam, this site lets you search by journal, subject, institution, language and more.
65. The SocioWeb: If sociological resources are what you need, this site has got you covered with an easy-to-use search engine.
66. WikiArc: This custom search engine makes it simple to find archaeology resources.
67. Encyclopedia of Psychology: Look up basic information about psychological terms and history on this site.
68. Anthropology Review Database: Use this search engine to find information referenced in the Anthropology Review.
69. Anthropological Index Online: This searchable index is maintained by the Royal Anthropological Institute and the British Museum and hosts and number of great and useful resources.

History

Try out one of these search engines to find excellent resources for the study of history.

70. David Rumsey Map Collection: This site is home to an archived and searchable historical map collection that has a lot to offer a wide range of historians.
71. GENESIS: Take a closer look at women’s history through the search results delivered by this site.
72. Footnote: Search through original documents and archives uploaded by users on this social history site.
73. Internet Modern History Sourcebook: You can either search or browse through this site that collects the best resources on the web for researching modern history.
74. History Guide: Use this German search engine to get results for the best history sites on the web.
75. History Buff: On this site, you’ll be able to search through a great collection of primary source material, all free to use.
76. Digital History: You could search through this site, but you’ll probably want to take your time browsing as it’s full of primary documents, multimedia and more.
77. Ancient History Sourcebook: Search this site to find the best resources to use for any ancient history project.
78. History and Politics Out Loud: Give this site a try to find a wealth of audio recordings from famous speeches.
79. History Engine: Search through the articles on this site, or add your own, to start researching historical topics.

Business and Economics

Through these search engines you can bring up journal articles, business information and market details.

80. BPubs: Use this search engine to find the kind of business publications and articles you need for your research.
81. Virtual Library of Labour History: Study the history of the working world a little more closely with the resources provided by this search tool.
82. EconLit: Delve into a library of economics journal articles and publications using this search engine.
83. National Bureau of Economic Research: Search through this site to find out more about the research done by this organization.
84. RePEc: The Research Papers in Economics site is a great place to find articles and information on economics for whatever projects you have in mind.
85. Corporate Information: If you want to know a little more about a company, use this search engine to dive headfirst into their financial records.
86. Inomics: Designed just for economists, this site is a great place to search for courses, conferences and more.
87. DailyStocks: Search for stocks that you follow on this site to monitor the ups and downs of the market.

Other Niches

If you still haven’t seen the kind of search engine you need, check these out as well.

88. PubMed: You’ll be able to search through more than 19 million citations and references in the medical field using this site.
89. Lexis: Get reliable results for legal search queries using this site.
90. Catalaw: Using this site, you can delve into the catalogs of law information on the web from every corner of the globe.
91. Analytical Sciences Digital Library: Use this site to search through peer-reviewed educational resources on the analytical sciences.
92. AULIMP: The Air University Military Library Index of Military Periodicals is a great place to search for information about US military history.
93. CHBD: Check out the Circumpolar Health Bibliographic Database for access to the best health-related articles coming out of Canada.
94. ERIC: Search through the Education Resources Information Center for articles, resources and more related to education.
95. MedlinePlus: If you’re still in need of some medical reference information, try searching through this site for help.

Reference

Answer your basic questions with these useful search engines and sources of reference.

96. Bloomsbury Magazine Research Centre: Search through quotations, a thesaurus, art, myths and more on this reference site.
97. Merriam-Webster Dictionary and Thesaurus: Find definitions and synonyms on this great reference site to bookmark.
98. References.net: Even the best of us need to look things up now and then and this site provides all the reference material you could ever need.
99. Quotes.net: Need a quote? You’ll likely find the one you were thinking of here.
100. Literary Encyclopedia: This literary search engine will let you search an author by name, a book title, or even a particular topic.

No matter what school you attend or what field of study you are following, it is easy to learn from some of the top scholars when you watch their online lectures. From words of wisdom on business, literature, science, technology, psychology, and more, you can hear what professors and experts from prestigious colleges and universities have to say. Take some time to check out these lectures in the quest to expand your knowledge.

Business

Find out what successful businesspeople and business professors have to say about business and entrepreneurship.

1. Trends in Venture Capital Interest. Beth Seidenberg discusses the future of VC investing at Stanford in this lecture.
2. Starcraft Theory and Strategy. Alan Feng from Berkeley discusses decision-making strategies by studying war within the game Starcraft.
3. Game Theory. Yale professor Ben Polak lectures on game theory and strategic thinking here.
4. Understanding the 21st Century Consumer. This lecture from Stanford features Janice Roberts sharing her views on how venture capitalists are beginning to invest in companies where they can be at the heart of technological innovation.
5. Economics of Free: A New Business Model. In another lecture from Janice Roberts, listen to what she has to say about the business model that depends on advertising as a source of revenue while giving product away for free.
6. Education, Discretionary Power and Emerging Entrepreneurial Societies. From Stanford, Pedro Aspe shares his thoughts on removing discretionary power of finance and economics from government officials.
7. Women and Entrepreneurship Introduction. Professor Linda Hill from Harvard Business School discusses the business school and shares real-life business models.
8. Introduction to Copyright Law. Keith Winstein shares all you might need to know about copyright law and how to protect your business in theses lectures from MIT.
9. Video of Cory Doctorow’s talk. Accomplished journalist, Cory Doctorow, speaks in this Cambridge Business Lecture on topics that range from Digital Rights Management to his experience in business.
10. Adding Value to Companies. Bill Campbell, former CEO of Intuit, speaks at Stanford about adding value to companies at all stages of their development.

Economics

Economic experts discuss the past, present, and future of economics at home and globally.

11. Understanding the Crisis in the Markets: A Panel of Harvard Experts. A panel of economic experts from Harvard describe developments in the US and world markets.
12. Financial Markets. Professor Robert Shiller of Yale lectures on the theory of finance and its place in society.
13. The Economics of Climate Change. Michael Hanemann asks his audience to consider the impact of climate change on policy and economics for years to come.
14. Financial Crises. This lecture series features economists and political analysts speaking on various financial crises.
15. Climate Change: Law and Policy. William Collins at Berkeley lectures on the political and economic ramifications of climate change.
16. The U.S. and the World’s Recession. Roberto Rigobon of Sloan School of Management explains current research finding on global inflation and recession.
17. The Coming Generational Storm: What You Need to Know about America’s Economic Future. From MIT, Laurence Kotlikoff talks about the poor state of Social Security and why Baby Boomers need to be nice to their children.
18. Origins of the Financial Mess. Princeton’s Professor Alan Blinder discusses the current state of the economy and what lead up to it.

Literature and Writing

These writing and literature lectures are led by some of the industry’s top scholars.

19. The American Novel Since 1945. Amy Hungerford shares her experience studying such writers as Flannery O’Connor, JD Salinger, and Cormac McCarthy in this series of lectures from Yale.
20. Virginia Woolf’s Nose. Hermione Lee has extensively studied the life and works of Virginia Woolf and speaks at Princeton on this topic.
21. Milton. Yale’s Professor John Rogers lectures on Milton’s poetry and its wide-reaching influence.
22. Modern Poetry. Professor Langdon Hammer lectures on a range of modern poets, including Robert Frost and TS Eliot, at Yale.
23. The Film Experience. Professor David Thorburn lectures in this literature class from MIT that explores film as a narrative vehicle.
24. Understanding Television. In another class lead by David Thorburn, watch video lectures that examine the evolution of television as a technology and as a system of representation for society.
25. Ian McEwan: Talking and Reading from his work. Ian McEwan speaks at Princeton about his work as an author.
26. Film as Visual and Literary Mythmaking. Professor Irving Singer of MIT provides several lectures on how film can support myths surrounding character, life, death, and human nature.
27. The Playworld and the Empire: The Twenty-first Century and the American Playwright. Playwright Paula Vogel lectures at Princeton on the role of drama in current society.
28. Writing About Race. Dr. Rebecca Blevins Faery leads this writing class with audio lectures featuring the essays written by students as the culminating project of this class that explores race and ethnicity in modern society.

Neuroscience

Professors and scientists from some of the top schools lecture here on neuroscience.

29. Grey Matters: Conscious and Unconscious Memory Systems. Dr. Larry Squire of UCSD discusses memory and memory problems in this lecture, including real-life examples of those suffering from memory issues.
30. How Social Behavior Changes the Brain. Dr. Russell Fernald lectures at Stanford on brain changes that occur based on social behavior.
31. Neuroscience and Behavior. Gerald Schneider lectures in this MIT class about the neural system and its functions.
32. Brain Structure and its Origins. These audio lectures from a class at MIT by Professor Gerald Schneider covers the limbic system, the hypothalamus, taste, auditory and visual systems, and more.
33. Music and the Mind. Aniruddh Patel of the Neurosciences Institute discusses the intriguing connection between music and the brain.
34. Grey Matters: Understanding Language. Professor Jeff Elman at UCSD lectures on research exploring how language is different from other animals’ forms of communication.
35. Structural Plasticity in the Adult Brain. As part of the President’s Lecture Series at Princeton, Elizabeth Gould speaks about how research on neurons can lead to solutions for brain illness or injury that have traditionally left those impacted with diminished brain capacity.
36. Health Matters: Behavior and Our Brain. Neuroscientist Terrence Sejnowski lectures on what scientists have begun to understand about the ways the brain contributes to what people like, how they behave, and what skills people have.
37. Animal Behavior. This MIT class provides audio lectures exploring adaptive behavior of animals and how this relates to humans.
38. Personal Identity, Neuroethics and the Human Brain. Dartmouth’s Michael S. Gazzaniga explores neuroscience, ethics, and personal identity in this lecture.

Health and Medicine

From global health to menopause and heart disease to sexual health, find out what professors are saying about the field of health and medicine with these lectures.

39. The Battle of the Diets: Is Anyone Winning (At Losing?). This Stanford lecture by Dr. Christopher Gardener examines the results of his study that looked at the effectiveness of four popular diets.
40. Is Evidence-Based Medicine a Barrier to Cost-Effective Care?. Dr. Alan Garber of Stanford lectures here on what role evidence-based medicine should play in coverage decisions.
41. The Mismeasure of Man. Dr. Ralph Horwitz of Stanford Medical School talks about how society’s desire for measurable results can often overshadow the complexities of medicine.
42. Genomic Medicine. Professor Isaac Samuel Kohane of MIT provides these audio lectures that examine genomic technologies and computational approaches to diagnosing and treating patients.
43. New Perspectives on Menopausal Hormones and Heart Disease. Dr. Marcia Stefanick, Professor of Medicine at Stanford, discusses the results of an ongoing study at Stanford that indicates hormone replacement therapy carries health risks previously overlooked.
44. Culture, Politics, and Community: Living Public Health in Nigeria. Professor Bill Brieger of Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health lectures on tropical diseases in Nigeria and the social implications of treatment.
45. Hans Rosling shows the best stats you’ve ever seen. Be sure to watch this entertaining lecture given by Hans Rosling where he provides statistics of the developing world, including family size and life expectancy, and works to dispel common misconceptions surrounding these countries.
46. Sexual Health, HIV/STI, and Human Rights. Chris Beyrer of Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health lectures on sexual rights and human rights.
47. Social Entrepreneurship in Medical Care. Tarun Khanna, a professor at Harvard Business School, discusses the power entrepreneurs have to implement social changes in the medical field, using a cardiac hospital in India to make his point.
48. Global Health Equity and the Future of Public Health. Paul Farmer at Wellesley College speaks about the future of public health.

Science

Find lectures in chemistry, astrobiology, biomedical engineering, and more.

49. Organic Chemistry: Structure and Reactivity. Peter Vollhardt introduces organic chemistry in these lectures.
50. Fundamentals of Physics. Ramamurti Shankar of Yale lectures on everything from Newtonian mechanics to theromdynamics in this lecture series.
51. Astrobiology and Space Exploration. NASA research scientist Lynn Rothschild and several other authorities in the field speak on space and astrobiology here.
52. General Human Anatomy. Popular Berkeley professor Marian Diamond lectures on anatomy.
53. General Chemistry. Kristie Boering lectures from this class at Berkeley on the basics of chemistry.
54. General Biology I. Richard Malkin of Berkeley lectures on the basics of biology in this lecture series.
55. General Biology Laboratory. Enhance Malkin’s General Biology I lectures with these accompanying lab lectures.
56. General Biology II. Mary Power follows Malkin’s series and discusses biology in these lectures.
57. Introduction to Biomedical Engineering. Yale’s Professor Mark Saltzman provides several lectures on biomedical engineering here.
58. Molecular Biology: Macromolecular Synthesis and Cellular Function. From Berkeley, see what Qiang Zhou has to say about DNA, genome structures, RNA, and more.
59. Introduction to Astrophysics. Charles Bailyn discusses planetary orbits, exoplanets, the problem of Pluto, and more in this series of lectures from Yale.

Technology

Watch lectures here from some of the top scholars at the top technology schools.

60. The Fourier Transform and its Applications. Brad G. Osgood lectures from Stanford on recognizing when and how to use the Fourier transform for problem solving.
61. Introduction to Robotics. Oussama Khatib of Stanford lectures on how to model, design, plan, and control robot design systems.
62. Introduction to Computer Science I. From a Harvard class for majors and non-majors alike, David J .Malan speaks on the basics of computer science.
63. Introduction to Linear Dynamical Systems. Stanford’s Stephen Boyd lectures on the basics of linear algebra and linear dynamical systems as they pertain to circuits, signal processing, communications, and control systems.
64. Computer Science I: Programming Methodology. From one of the largest courses taught at Stanford, Mehran Sahami provides an introduction to programming.
65. Computer Science II: Programming Abstractions. Julie Zelenski continues the lecture series from Stanford with lectures on advanced programming topics.
66. Computer Science III: Programming Paradigms. Jerry Cain completes this series on computer science with more advanced topics.
67. Machine Learning. Andrew Ng provides a broad introduction to machine learning and statistical pattern recognition in this lecture from Stanford.
68. Understanding Computers and the Internet. No matter your level of understanding, you can appreciate these lectures from Harvard professor, David J. Malan, covering everything from hardware to programming.
69. Convex Optimization I. Stephen Boyd of Stanford lectures on recognizing and solving frequently convex optimization problems.
70. Convex Optimization II. Boyd provides more lectures here to follow up on the previous series.

Political Science

From the philosophy of politics to dispute resolution, find a wealth of information from these scholars.

71. Whither the Middle East?. Dennis Ross talks about the Middle East from his experience working there for the American government in his lecture at Princeton.
72. Introduction to Political Philosophy. Steven B. Smith of Yale lectures on the major thinkers from the Western political tradition.
73. Shaping China’s Choices. Professor Thomas Christensen of Princeton lectures on US-China relations and China’s increasing global power.
74. Politics, Strategy, and Game Theory. UCLA professor, Kathleen Baun, talks about the use of game theory and other strategies in relation to politics.
75. Russia: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow. Speaking at Princeton, Senator Bill Bradley speaks about Russia, where it came from, and where it’s going.
76. The Bin Ladens: An Arabian Family in the American Century. Journalist Steve Coll lectures at Princeton about the Bin Ladens.
77. Workshop on Deliberative Democracy and Dispute Resolution. dispute resolution professionals and political theorists discuss deliberative democracy in this workshop from the Harvard Law School.
78. Current Issues in International and Area Studies. Paula Goldman speaks about global poverty, the media as agent of change, citizen activism, philanthropy, and human rights in this lecture at Berkeley.
79. God and Country: A New Role for Faith in Presidential Politics?. This round-table discussion from Princeton focuses on the changing role of religion in presidential politics.
80. The World is Flat 3.0. In this lecture at MIT by NY Times columnist Thomas Friedman, hear about the update of his 2007 book as well as his following book.

Psychology, Philosophy, and Culture

Find out what leaders in the field of psychology and philosophy have to say in these lectures.

81. Media, Education, and the Marketplace. Shigeru Miyagwa as well as guest lecturers discuss media and learning in this class from MIT.
82. Death. This lecture at Yale from Shelly Kagan examines philosophical questions of death and the possibility of immortality.
83. Philosophy of Love in the Western World. Professor Irving Singer of MIT discusses the nature of love and sex from both a philosophical and literary perspective.
84. The Nature of Creativity. Watch the lectures from this MIT class that explores human creativity and innovation.
85. Feeling and Imagination in Art, Science, and Technology. Philosophy, psychology, and literature are the subject of these lectures from this class at MIT.
86. Sigmund Freud. Yale’s Paul Bloom lectures on Freud and his theories here.
87. Philosophy in Film and Other Media. These four lectures from MIT discuss how philosophy is handled in film, literature, and opera.
88. Philosophy of Film. Following up from Philosophy in Film and Other Media, this class provides lectures on how film techniques communicate philosophical meaning.
89. Evolution, Emotion, and Reason: Love (Guest Lecture by Professor Peter Salovey). Professor Peter Salovey from Yale lectures on love and attraction here.
90. Communication and Conflict in Couples and Families. Benjamin Karney and Thomas Bradbury of UCLA discuss connection and discord in relationships.
91. Happiness: Living and Thinking About It. Renowned psychologist and Nobel Prize winner Daniel Kahneman lectures on a variety of topics pertaining to well-being here.

History

These history lectures by top scholars shouldn’t be missed.

92. Science, Magic, and Religion. This class taught by Courtenay Raia at UCLA offers a series of lectures that cover how science and religion have shaped history.
93. France Since 1871. John Merriman of Yale lectures on the social, economic, and political transformation and emergence of modern France.
94. Introduction to Ancient Greek History. Donald Kagan lectures on Greek civilization from the Bronze Age to the end of the classical period in these lectures from Yale.
95. The Civil War and Reconstruction Era, 1845-1877. Yales’ David Blight speaks about the causes and results of the Civil War.
96. Darwin’s Legacy. Several Darwin scholars from Stanford examine the impact of his theory.
97. Introduction to the Old Testament (Hebrew Bible). See three lectures from this class taught by Christine Hays at Yale that explores the Old Testament as a reflection of ancient Israel.
98. Seminar in Historical Methods. Anne McCants of MIT lectures on how 20th century historians write about the past.
99. African American History: The Modern Freedom Struggle. These lectures delivered by Clayborne Carson at Stanford cover African-American history from 1930 to present day by examining some of the major individuals involved in the quest for freedom and justice.
100. Nonviolence: from Ghandi to Martin Luther King. Berkeley’s Michael Nagler lectures on the history of strategic nonviolence from Ghandi in the east to the civil rights movement in the west.

By Katheryn Rivas

With unemployment at high levels in many places around the nation, finding a job is difficult for many. Of course, those just emerging with their college degrees and who don’t have a large amount of experience may find an even more daunting job market out there. Young job hunters shouldn’t lose hope, however, as these blog posts offer advice and inspiration created just for people in your situation who have a lifetime of career potential ahead of them.

General Advice

Here you’ll find all kinds of job hunting and career advice to get you started.

1. The Job Seeker of the Future: Learn what skills and attributes employers will be looking for in the coming years through the advice found on this blog.
2. Young Job Seekers Need 20-20 Vision: This blog post will help you forge the right direction for a career with staying power.
3. Career Advice for College Grads: Find all kinds of helpful advice from other college grads in this post.
4. 5 Things College Teaches You About Work (and 5 things it doesn’t): See what your college education taught you in terms of work and things you’ll have to learn on your own.
5. From Ivy League to Unemployed: How College Grads Should Approach the Job Hunt: Even those at the top of the educational ladder aren’t secured jobs at graduation. Learn what you can do to help make that battle a little easier from this post.
6. Meeting Employers Through Job Fairs: Job fairs can be great places to network and potentially even meet future employers, so check out this post for some advice on making the most of them.
7. Non-obvious guide to finding a great job: Not everything about job hunting is immediately evident, as this post points out.
8. 3 Golden Keys to Job Hunting for New Grads: Learn some ways that you can increase your chances of success in your job hunt through this post.
9. How to Successfully Search for a Job: Check out this article to learn how to make your job hunt a little easier.
10. College Grad Job Search – Are You Prepared?: Whether you’re graduating soon or have already graduated, chances are you’re not quite prepared for the harsh realities of the job market. Not to worry, this post offers some solid advice to get you started.
11. 7 Ways to Kick-Start Your Job Search: Get your job search up and running with a few pointers found on this site.
12. The 15-Point College Grad Job-Hunting Study Guide: Use these job hunting crib notes to make it a little easier to search for and find your first real job.

Resumes

Make sure your resume is up to snuff by reading through some of these helpful posts.

13. Students and Grads: Resume Boot Camp: This post will show you how to give your resume a total makeover.
14. The Purpose of a Resume- for New Grads: Here, learn what the true purpose of a resume is and discover how you can tweak yours to meet it.
15. 12 Eye-Catching Resume Tips: Read through this post to learn how to make your resume into one that will stand out in sea of other applicants.
16. The Power of a Well-Written Resume: This post will show you the true benefits of creating a resume that wows.
17. Resume writing for recent grads: a mini-how-to: Geared towards people your age, this post aims to show you how to write a good resume.
18. Sometimes Even New Grads Need More Than One Page: While in the world of resumes, shorter is often better, learn why going over a page can sometimes help you.
19. Resume Tips: How to deal with a low GPA: If you didn’t do as well as you’d have liked in college, learn how to make up for it on your resume here.
20. The benefits of getting a second (or third) opinion on your resumé: Here you’ll learn why you shouldn’t just create a resume and send it off without getting someone else to look at it first.
21. Drafting the Perfect Resume and Cover Letter: Get free advice on creating a stellar resume from this post.
22. Reducing Resume Clutter: If your resume looks something like your bedroom floor during finals week, then learn how to tidy it up here.
23. Powerful New Grad Resumes and Cover Letters: 10 Things They Have in Common: This post will show you what the best resumes are doing right and how you can adjust your own to compete.

Job Search

These bloggers offer some tips on how to make the job search process a little less painful and a lot more productive.

24. How New Grads Can Take Charge of Job Search Rejection: Hearing "no" is never fun, but this post will show you how to put rejections to good use.
25. Job Hunting 101 For New Grads: Learn the basics of job hunting from this post.
26. Tales of a Disgruntled Graduate: A View from the Front Lines of the Post-College Job Hunt: Get some perspective from the job searching world from another grad who’s already been there and done that.
27. Nine practical tips for graduate job seekers: This blog post is full of helpful advice for new grads on the hunt for work.
28. Job Seekers: Where and How to Find Jobs: Use this post to direct your job hunting energy in the right direction.
29. Five tips for young job-seekers during a recession: Recessions aren’t the ideal times to be searching for jobs, but this post offers some ways to make the best of the situation.
30. How to Organize Your Job Hunt: As this post will show you, keeping yourself organized during a job search can make the process a lot easier and smoother.
31. Mary Jeanne Vincent: In job hunt, sell what you have: Get some tips on getting the jobs you can from experts in the working world.
32. Who’s Hiring Recent College Grads: Resources for Entry-Level Job Seekers: Find out where you can access the greatest number of jobs right now from this post.
33. 7 Job Hunting Mistakes New Grads Make: We’re all human and we all make mistakes, but this blog post will help you try to avoid some of the big ones that can cost you a job.

Interviewing

If you’re lucky enough to make it to the interview, make sure you don’t blow it by reading these blog posts ahead of time.

34. 7 Common Interview Questions for the New Graduate: If you’re not sure what to expect at your first interview, review your answers to these common questions to prepare.
35. When Job Hunting, Dress for Success: This post explains what you should wear to your first interview.
36. Answer Strategies to Common Interview Questions: Learn how to answer interview questions with ease using this post.
37. On a Job Interview, Tips for Handling Tough Questions: When you’re asked a difficult answer at an interview, you don’t want to just freeze up, so use this post to teach yourself methods for navigating the worst and hardest questions out there.
38. Interview tips for grads: Get some basic interview tips to use through this post.
39. Interview Tips: How to Captivate and Impress a Hiring Manager: Here you’ll find great advice on making a memorable first impression.
40. Job Interview Cues that Say "Hire Me": Make sure you’re sending out the right kind of vibes at the interview with advice from this post.
41. Get Hired with These 7 Interviewing Tips: Use this post to give you some help navigating the interviewing process.
42. Tips for a Successful Phone Interview: Those finding work out of state may find themselves subject to a phone interview. If you’ve never done one before, make sure to read this post for advice.
43. How to Perform Well on a Job Interview: Get a few tips on making your first job interview your last for awhile in this post.
44. Prepare for Job Interview: Avoid the mistakes most applicants make!: Don’t make major blunders your first time through. Use the helpful advice found on this post instead.

Motivation

Finding a job can be a long and sometimes frustrating process but these posts offer hope and motivation to weary job hunters.

45. College grads finding job search tough, but not impossible: Get some hope for your job search in this post.
46. A Simple Job Search Motivator: This post aims to get you motivated to keep on searching for jobs.
47. 20 Motivational Songs for Your Job Search: Few things can get you pepped up quicker than good music, so check out these selections for motivated job hunting.
48. How to Stay Motivated During a Daunting Job Search: Job searching isn’t always fun, but this post offers some advice on keeping motivated even while facing big obstacles.
49. Open Letter to College Seniors and Recent Grads: Stop Whining: Some people need a little harsher take on motivation, and this blog post is just that.
50. Welcome to the Real World: My Best Advice for New Graduates: Get some advice to keep you going in this post.
51. 5 Reasons Why Doing What You Love Can Optimize Your Life: Learn why you should stick to finding a job doing something you love, even with all the obstacles, with help from this post.

Choosing a Career

Not sure where to even begin applying for jobs? These blog posts will help you choose a career direction after graduation.

52. Many college grads find work outside line of study: If you’re having a tough time finding a job in your major, consider another field. As this post will show you, it’s not at all uncommon.
53. 10 Tips for Successful Career Planning: Get some advice on planning out your career from this post.
54. One Strategy to Find Out What You Want to Do: Not sure how you want to progress with your post-college career? This post will give you some ideas on how to discover your passions.
55. Career Planning Advice: This post offers some great tips on planning your career over the next five, ten, or twenty years.
56. How to Make the Most Money With your College Degree: If money is your objective, then consider the career moves suggested in this post.
57. The Emerging Professional: Finding Your Passion: This post will help guide you towards your true career passions.
58. How to Doggedly Pursue Your Dreams in the Face of Naysayers: Here you’ll find inspiration to pursue the job and career you love no matter what others around you say.
59. Backing Your Career Passion: This post explains that many people are unhappy at their jobs, but offers solutions to find a job that truly meets your desires.
60. Writing a Career Action Plan: Why You Need One: If you don’t have one of these plans, learn more about what they do and why they’re important here.
61. College grads hit the road to find their dream jobs: Read this post to find out one way young grads are following their career dreams.

Using Technology

As part of a generation who has grown up using computers and technology, the opportunities the web has to offer should be part of your arsenal of job hunting tools. These posts will show you the way.

62. A Dozen Online Job Hunting Tips: Learn how to best scour the web for job opportunities with a little help from this post.
63. Build A Brand For Yourself to Make Your Job Hunt Easier: Don’t know what that entails? This post will explain in detail what you should be doing to create a personal brand.
64. How to Use Facebook for Job Search: Facebook is a great place to keep in touch with friends, but you can also use it to find work, as this post discusses.
65. Top 10 Benefits of Using Twitter during a Job Search: Make Twitter a valuable job hunting tool with advice found here.
66. How I Found My Job Using LinkedIn — A Windmill Networking Success Story: Online business networking may be new to you, but this post gives you a pretty good reason to consider diving in.
67. How To Go About Finding A Job Online: Check out this post for ideas on how to make the most of the millions of jobs listed online.
68. Leveraging Technology for your Job Search: If you know how to use technology, why not use it, as this post suggests, to help you find work?
69. Don’t Screw Up Your Job Hunt: Manage Your Online Reputation!: When you were in college, posting photos online of your drunken revelries seemed like a good idea, but now that you’re looking for work, they could come back to haunt you. Learn how to manage your online reputation here.
70. In the job hunt, beware of scams: Unfortunately, the online world is full of job scams. This post will teach you what to watch out for.
71. Social Media Job Search: Try using social media as a job hunting tool with help from this post.

First Jobs

Many students will be finding their first real job after graduation, and these posts offer some advice on doing it right.

72. 5 Tips to Prepare for that First "Real" Job Interview: If you’ve never applied for a serious job before, this post can help you get ready for success.
73. How to get your first job (as a recent graduate): Learn some tricks on getting that first job after college with this post.
74. Job for Pending College Graduate: Those who are graduating soon can plan ahead for job hunting with this post.
75. College Students: Finding Your First Job: Read through this site to find out how to best navigate the search for your first big job.
76. Making a First Impression: Starting a new job or looking for one can be nerve wracking, but you’ll learn some ways to make a good impression here.
77. Your First Days Working at a New Job: 20 Tips to Help You Make a Great Impression: This post will teach you how to wow your employers in your first few weeks of employment.
78. How To Behave At Your First Job: If you’ve never held a job anywhere but in fast food, this blog post can help you learn the rules of the workplace.
79. Interview Tips for the First Time Job Seekers: Make your first interviewing experience a pleasant one with tips from this blog.
80. Starting Your First Job: You got your degree, you got a job, now what? This post offers a little help for those new to the working world.
81. 5 Tips for Your First "Real" Job: Learn what you should be doing to get and keep post-college jobs.

Experience Boosters

You may not have a lot of work experience, but check out these posts for advice on finding other opportunities to bulk up your resume.

82. Internships Lead To Full Time Jobs: If you’ve never done an internship, this post can give you a pretty good reason why you might want to consider it.
83. Good College Student Resume Experience: Learn some great ways you can add experience to your resume from this post.
84. 3 Ways Unpaid Internships Pay: You might not make money, but here you can learn why unpaid work could pay big in the end.
85. Top Part-Time Jobs: Use Your Degree to Make Ends Meet: Even if you can’t get a full-time job, this post shows how you may be able to find some part-time work to hold you over.
86. Developing Leadership Skills: Read through this post to find some interesting and valuable ways to boost your leadership skills.
87. Tips for Every College Grad on Non-Profit Jobs: The tips on this site are geared towards students hoping to work in the non-profit sector, but many could apply just as easily to those in a wide range of other fields.
88. I don’t need an internship.: If you’ve ever found yourself uttering this phrase you may need to read this blog post.
89. 5 Steps to Achieving Maximum Benefit from Your Degree: Learn how to make the most of that big investment in college with help from this post.

Inspiration and Help

These posts offer young job hunters advice on de-stressing, making the most of their time and successful self-marketing–among other topics.

90. College Grad Job Prospects – A Little Good News: While the economy may be in a downturn, this post shows why it’s not all bad for young job seekers.
91. The 49 Best Ways To Find A Job In Today’s Horrible Economy: Get some pointers on making a go of it even when competition is tough.
92. Should You Always Accept "No" In Your Job Search?: Rejection in a job search is inevitable, but this post discusses whether or not you should always accept it as the final word.
93. 4 Tips for De-Stressing Your Job Search: Having a job is important, but this post will show you that lowering your stress and finding time for fun is as well.
94. Don’t Burn Bridges in Your Job Search: You never know where life will bring you, and this post will stress the importance of leaving doors open for yourself.
95. Inspiration: Go from Unemployed to Entrepreneur: Get inspired through this post to take matters into your own hands and start your own business.
96. Success Stories: Check out this post for some great job hunting and career success stories.
97. 10 Inspirational Online Business Stories: Coming from a generation brought up with technology, why not use that built-in expertise to start your own online business like the people in this article?
98. Inspiration for your job search: This post offers some advice and inspiration to help you keep your head up while job hunting.
99. Ten Ways to Market Your Liberal Arts Degree: Liberal arts degrees can be notoriously hard to find work with, but this post will show you some tricks on how to sell your knowledge to employers.
100. Use your qualification: Don’t waste all those years at college when you’re applying for jobs. This post will explain how to make the most of your qualifications.

Whether you want to be a teacher, principal or even an educational policy-maker, learning all you can about the field and how to be a more powerful leader while you’re still in college is essential. These blogs will fill you in on the latest news, provide inspiration, and ensure that you are up-to-date with the latest educational technologies so you can be the best education leader you can be.

Education News

Read through these sites for great updates on education.

1. DetentionSlip.org: Visit this blog to get daily updates about what’s going on in the world of education.
2. Educated Nation Higher Education Blog: Get higher education news and ideas through this helpful blog.
3. Eduwonk: This blog doesn’t just contain news, but commentary and analysis on it as well.
4. Open Education: If open courseware is something you have an interest in, you can keep up with the latest developments here.
5. The Gradebook: Find out more about educational problems and successes through this blog.
6. Edwise: On this blog you’ll find a good deal of news as well as opinions on this news.

Subject Specific

These blogs focus on subjects like math, writing and language arts.

7. The Exponential Curve: This blog presents some great ideas for high school math teachers hoping to assist their below-level students.
8. Division by Zero: Here you’ll find a math-focused blog with some ideas on teaching and using academic technology.
9. Two Writing Teachers: Get inspired by this blog about two writing teachers who are using their skills to help students in different parts of the US.
10. Langwitches Blog: While focused mostly on writing and reading, this blog also offers some great general information for all educators.
11. Best Practices for Legal Education: This blog focuses on improving the way lawyers are educated in this country.

Inspiration and Innovation

Get inspired and discover new ideas through the help of these bloggers and teachers.

12. Cool Cat Teacher Blog: Use this blog to get a better idea of how to implement and use technology in the classroom.
13. The Innovative Educator: This blog is a great place to look for fresh ideas on how to teach students course material.
14. The Next Generation of Educational Leadership: Here you can read about and connect with other educational leaders.
15. 2 Cents Worth: Check out this blog for some thoughts on the process of learning at large. It could influence how you teach.
16. Education Innovation: This blog offers some ways to improve education through creativity and innovation.
17. Ozge Karaoglu’s Blog: Full of tech tools that can help in the classroom and ruminations on educational issues, this blog can be a great read for teachers of all kinds.
18. Teaching Ideas and Resources: Find some great tips and tools for improving your classroom performance on this blog.
19. Teacher Reboot Camp: Visit this site to find ways you can continually challenge and push yourself to be a better teacher and leader.
20. Free Resources for Education: See what kind of useful resources are out there for teaching and helping your students learn through this blog.
21. Andrew B. Watt’s Blog: On this blog you’ll find a discussion of lots of technological resources that could work well in the classroom.
22. Thumann Resources: Blogger Lisa Thumann shares her ideas on how to bring education into the 21st century in this blog.
23. Darcy Moore’s Blog: Bookmark this site to get updates on using Web 2.0 in the classroom.

Educational Policy

These blogs take an in-depth and sometimes unforgiving look at current educational policy.

24. Thoughts on Education Policy: PhD student Corey Bower shares her insights into educational policy on this blog.
25. Education Policy Blog: Learn ways that educational groups can change educational policy here.
26. Bridging Difference: With women who are often at odds on educational policy sharing this blog, it’s a great place to go to see both sides of the debate.
27. Educational Equity, Politics & Policy in Texas: While this blog may contain information specific to Texas, many of the issues are problems nationwide.
28. The Quick and the Ed: A variety of policy analysts work together to write this incredibly informative blog.
29. Edpresso: This blog is home to news and commentary on proposed and real educational reforms.
30. What’s Working in Schools Blog: Get ideas on reforms that are working in other schools and ways that you can improve your own performance from this blog.
31. Brian McCall’s Economics of Education Blog: Check out this blog to learn about the economic issues that sometimes cloud educational policy.
32. Teacher Beat: Visit this blog often to keep up with the latest teacher and education related policy changes.

Educational Technology

Visit these great blogs to learn about ways you can integrate technology into your courses.

33. Weblogg-ed: On this site you’ll get a number of great ideas on using the web as a learning tool.
34. Gate’s Computer Tips: Educational professional Jim Gates offers his tips on making the best use of computers on this blog.
35. NCS-Tech: Visit this site for K-8 educational technology resources, commentary and lesson ideas.
36. Nik’s Learning Technology Blog: If you teach EFL or ESL, you’ll find some good ideas on using technology to aid your teaching here.
37. Edgalaxy: Nerdy teachers of all subjects can find great tech-based solutions to classroom issues on this site.
38. Emerging Ed Tech: Read through this blog to see some of the technologies that are or will be aiding the teachers of the future.
39. Moving at the Speed of Creativity: Find news on the ways technology is shaping communication and the classroom on this blog.
40. Open Culture: This blog will save you the trouble of searching for the best educational and cultural resources on the web as they’ve already compiled and reported on them here.
41. Learning with ‘e’s: Here, one teacher shares her thoughts on learning technologies and the digital revolution.
42. Box of Tricks: Technology and education is the focus of this image- and video-filled site.
43. Dangerously Irrelevant: This blog focuses on technology, leadership and, of course, education in our nation’s schools.
44. Digital Education: Check out this site for the latest news on how technology is being used in the K-12 classroom.

E-Learning and Online Education

On these sites you’ll find advice, tips and tools for online learning.

45. E-Learning Queen: This blog covers numerous aspects on online learning from distance training to instructional design.
46. eLearning Technology: Dr. Tony Karrer is the CEO/CTO of TechEmpower and is considered one of the leading educational technologists, so check out his blog for news and advice.
47. The Rapid eLearning Blog: This blog will help you learn to better navigate the world and resources out there for e-learning.
48. Jane’s E-Learning Pick of the Day: Jane Hart of the Centre for Learning & Performance Technologies writes about a different e-learning topic each day on this blog.
49. openthinking: Find more information on open education on this blog, as well as plentiful commentary and insight.
50. 21st Century Teaching and Learning: Here, blogger Michelle Pacansky-Brock shares her thoughts on using technology in higher learning and online colleges.

Getting your business education from school is important, but you also likely have a few idols in the business world to whom you look for guidance when it comes to making it big in the industry. Learning from those who have achieved their own success is an excellent way to enhance your knowledge of business as well as find motivation for your own success. Read on to learn about 25 biographies you should read that share insight to leaders in business throughout history into modern day.

1. Buffett: The Making of an American Capitalist. Starting with little more than a keen eye for investing, Warren Buffett has amassed a great fortune to become one of the richest men in the world. Read this book to learn about the man behind the money and what type of mindset Buffett has that has enabled him to develop such a successful method of investing in both stocks and businesses.
2. Richard Branson: The Authorised Biography. This high-profile British entrepreneur achieved success with Virgin Music and Virgin Atlantic and captured the world’s attention with his attempt to fly around the world in a hot-air balloon. See how Branson has channeled his energy and drive into making it big in the business world.
3. The John Deere Story: A Biography Of Plowmakers John & Charles Deere. The green and yellow tractors bearing a logo of a deer is one of the most recognizable machinery in the world. Find out how John Deere started as a poor blacksmith who relocated to the midwest, where he developed a steel plow that would cut through the unforgiving sod to reveal fertile soil. Deere nurtured his business with hard work, high quality materials, and fair prices, and provided the basis for a company that is still thriving almost 200 hundred years later.
4. Inside Steve’s Brain. This biography of Steve Jobs details his life and even takes a look at particulars such as his management style and his impact on Apple. This biography seems to be better received than an earlier biography that prompted Apple to pull all books from this publisher off the shelves in all Apple retail stores in protest.
5. The Helmsleys: The Rise and Fall of Harry and Leona Helmsley. Harry Helmsley started with nothing and became a real estate tycoon, amassing vast amounts of money. Late in life he married Leona, and the two of them continued to collect money. Leona became known as a ruthless, mean-spirited person and was eventually brought to trial and sentenced to 18 months in jail for tax evasion and mail fraud. This biography does an excellent job of detailing how these two business people made it big in real estate.
6. H. J. Heinz Company. Henry J. Heinz changed the face of the American diet with his innovation and dedication to quality. Starting with bottling grated horseradish, Heinz became a successful marketer and entrepreneur who built his 57 varieties of ketchup into one of the most recognizable American food products in the world.
7. Mr Playboy: Hugh Hefner and the American Dream. You wouldn’t think that anyone would actually need to market the idea of sex and sexuality, but Hugh Hefner has become the master of doing just that. Read about his life, how he maintained power amidst strong feminist backlash, and has built a successful communications and entertainment company.
8. The Chief: The Life of William Randolph Hearst. Starting with his newspaper in San Francisco, Hearst grew the first media conglomerate. This book not only details his rise through the news media, his fortune, and his loss of fortune, but it also delves into his life that was full of contradictions.
9. The People’s Tycoon: Henry Ford and the American Century. Perhaps one of the most well-known American business success stories, the life of Henry Ford is chronicled in this biography. Learn how Ford went from his childhood on a farm in Michigan to work as an engineer in Detroit to establishing his own successful business filled with innovative ideas.
10. Mary Kay. Mary Kay Ash created one of the most recognizable companies, complete with pink Cadillacs as rewards for top performers. She was also a champion for women and their place in the business world. Read this book to learn how this business woman made it big and created such a powerful cosmetic company.
11. Hard Drive: Bill Gates and the Making of the Microsoft Empire. Bill Gates is frequently referred to as the richest man in America. Read this book for a look into the man behind that success, how he achieved such heights, missteps along the way, and a glimpse into the corporate culture at Microsoft in the early days.
12. The Magic Kingdom: Walt Disney and the American Way of Life. Learn about the business behind one of the most beloved American companies. Disney was a man of determination, imagination, and enthusiasm who created a safe place for children and adults alike to bury themselves for a while. This biography offers a balanced look at the man who has been labeled both a saint and a communist spy.
13. Liz Claiborne: The Legend, The Woman, The Designer. Get on the waiting list for this book that is scheduled for release in April of 2010. Written by Claiborne’s husband and business partner, it describes how a young Liz Claiborne started as a designer and created a successful company based on designing and selling well-made, attractive, and affordable clothing for working women. Read a preview of the book here.
14. Empire: The Life, Legend, and Madness of Howard Hughes. Read this biography as a cautionary tale. As famous for his flight around the world as for his eccentricity, Hughes made it big in the aerospace industry, then dissolved in a sea of illicit dealings, drugs, and madness. Discover how he made his success and how he lost millions in shady activities.
15. George Eastman: A Biography. George Eastman brought photography to the average person in the early 1900s with a low-cost camera that almost anyone could afford. A bold entrepreneur, Eastman built his company on a combination of innovation and hard work that is detailed in this scholarly biography. Learn about the reclusive life, generous philanthropy, and sharp business acumen of Eastman with this book.
16. Andrew Carnegie. Carnegie became one of the richest men in the world from his business in the steel industry and later devoted himself to giving his vast wealth away through philanthropic ventures. Despite his generosity, Carnegie was known as a harsh businessman who relied more on efficiency than concern for his employees, with many of Carnegie’s practices in the workplace now illegal in modern business. This book provides balanced insight into both Carnegie’s talent and shortcomings.
17. Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr.. Vying with Carnegie for making the most money and giving the most away, Rockefeller came from a modest home to become the world’s first billionaire. His work in the oil industry earned him a reputation of being unscrupulous, but this book also shows a softer side to the religious, philanthropic man.
18. Morgan: American Financier. Take a look into what made J. Pierpoint Morgan so famously successful as a banker during the Golden Age. This book not only provides insight into the man, but also takes readers on a journey through a monumental shift in American and world economics as they were occurring during the time.
19. How Dell Does It. From his dorm room to his board room, this book takes a look at the rise of Michael Dell and his computer business. With less emphasis on Dell’s personal life and more on the specific strategies of the company, this book will take readers on a tour of one of the most successful computer businesses in the world.
20. The Widow Clicquot: The Story of a Champagne Empire and the Woman Who Ruled It. Barbe-Nicole Clicquot took over her husband’s winemaking business after his death and turned it into one of the most recognizable names in champagne as well as transforming the market and image of the popular wine itself.
21. Popcorn King: How Orville Redenbacher Created One of America’s Most Popular Brands. Redenbacher’s success came later in life, but his determination to "do one thing and do it better than anyone" helped his business achieve great heights. He was also a visionary, seeing the potential for microwave popcorn in the early days of the microwave.
22. Martha Inc.: The Incredible Story of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia. While biographers have not been kind to Martha Stewart, this account focuses more on her incredible business acumen that helped propel her forward as one of the most successful businesswomen in America. From her middle-class background to her business relationships with some of the most recognizable names in the industry, this book covers it all.
23. Ted Turner: A Biography. Once named Man of the Year by Time magazine, Ted Turner is a successful businessman who has gone from establishing cable TV to baseball team owner and just about everywhere in between. Learn about the way Turner has taken underdogs to the top of their game through his insightful business skill.
24. Jack Welch & The G.E. Way: Management Insights and Leadership Secrets of the Legendary CEO. Jack Welch is both loved and hated, but is indisputably one of the most recognizable CEOs in American business. Read this book to find out Welch’s business philosophy that helped take GE to the top of the field as one of the most valuable companies in the world.
25. Rupert Murdoch: The Untold Story of the World’s Greatest Media Wizard. Rupert Murdoch has been a major player in global business for decades. Discover some of the reasons why when you read about Murdoch’s business wheeling and dealing brought to life in this book by a business writer from Australia.

Homeschoolers sometimes don’t get as much as credit as students who attend traditional schools do, but the truth is, their education can prepare them to be just as competitive in college and in the real world. In fact, some pretty important people in business, entertainment, science, politics, and literature were homeschooled at some point in their lives. Just check out our list of 10 of the most famous and successful people who were homeschooled.

1. Venus and Serena Williams: Tennis superstars Venus and Serena Williams have won championships and tournaments like the US Open, French Open, Sony Ericsson Open, Australian Open, and Wimbledon, sometimes more than once. The sisters — just 29 and 28 respectively — have also been rewarded for their hard work with endorsement deals and celebrity-level access to award shows and special events around the world. When they were young, the Williams sisters moved from Saginaw, MI, to Compton and then West Palm Beach, CA, where they were homeschooled by their father Richard. Until they were teenagers, the girls studied tennis under Rick Macci, but in 1995, their father took over their tennis training too.
2. Abraham Lincoln: Sixteenth President of the United States Abraham Lincoln was also the first Republican president and pulled the country through the Civil War, ending slavery. Today, Lincoln is widely regarded as one of the greatest presidents in U.S. history, but he grew up with much humbler roots. Lincoln famously lived in a one-room log cabin in Kentucky and only attended 18 months of formal school. Lincoln mostly taught himself under the guidance of his stepmother Sarah Bush Johnston and the local library.
3. Andrew Carnegie: Scottish business magnate Andrew Carnegie immigrated to the United States when he was a boy in the middle 19th century. He grew up in Allegheny, PA, and began working at just 13 years old, his only real education coming from his uncle back in Scotland. Though he had a history of working his way through menial jobs, Carnegie was eventually sponsored by the Colonel James Anderson, who allowed Carnegie and other promising teenagers access to his extensive library. Years later, Carnegie continued to foster relationships with academics and writers, but he is best known for building the Cargnegie Steel Company, which later became U.S. Steel after a merger. At one point one of the richest men in the country, Carnegie is also recognized through institutions like the Carnegie Corporation of New York and Carnegie Mellon University.
4. Booker T. Washington: Teacher, author and community leader Booker T. Washington was born to slaves in Virginia in 1856. Nine years later, Washington and his family were freed after the Civil War ended, and he worked in West Virginia salt furnaces and coal mines until he was able to attend college at the Hampton Institute, despite not having been able to go to formal school as a boy. After graduating, Washington attended the Wayland Seminary so that he could become a teacher, but Washington ultimately went on to become the first president of Tuskegee Institute. Washington was also known as an influential organizer in the African American community for his peaceful, diplomatic leadership.
5. Woodrow Wilson: Woodrow Wilson served as President of Princeton University, governor of New Jersey and of course as 28th President of the United States, from 1913-1921. As President, Wilson started the League of Nations, which set up a foundation for the United Nations, and helped Europe in its formation of the Treat of Versailles after WWI. Before his life in politics, Wilson was an academic, attending Johns Hopkins for graduate school, and teaching at Bryn Mawr and NYU Law School. But as a child, Wilson struggled with learning and could not read until he was 10 years old because of his dyslexia. Wilson’s father — a professor at Columbia Theological Seminary in South Carolina — took over his studies for the most part until he went to college.
6. C.S. Lewis: Writer, critic and theologian C.S. Lewis is considered of the greatest thinkers of the 20th century, and even taught English alongside J.R.R. Tolkien at Oxford University. But the Belfast, Ireland, native was homeschooled by tutors until he was sent away to a boarding school after his mother’s death.
7. Joseph Priestly: Joseph Priestly made huge contributions to theology, politics and science, and is considered the father of modern chemistry and the inventor of soda water. Born in 1733, Priestly spent time with his grandparents and later with an aunt and uncle after his mother died. He was a gifted child, and after gaining a solid education in the Westminster Shorter Catechism, entered school to prepare for the ministry. Priestly eventually became very ill and dropped out of school and was tutored in many languages like French, Italian, Syrian, Arabic and German, as well as philosophy, science and math.
8. Frank Lloyd Wright: Iconic architect Frank Lloyd Wright designed some of the most well-known buildings in the country, including the Guggenheim Museum in New York City, as well as many homes constructed in the Usonian style. When he was young, his mother — a trained teacher — brought home Froebel Gifts, special building blocks designed to help children learn on their own. Wright taught himself using these tools and eventually attended high school, but it is not known whether or not he graduated. He enrolled in the University of Wisconsin – Madison, but dropped out after one year.
9. Albert Einstein: One of the most famous and influential thinkers of all time, Albert Einstein, is credited with discovering the special and general theories of relativity, relativistic cosmology, quantum theory of atomic motion in solids, and many more scientific theories and laws. Born in 1879 in the German Empire, Einstein eventually moved with his family to Munich, where he attended a Catholic school. But when he was ten, the Einsteins fell on hard times and paid a Jewish medical student named Talmud to tutor Albert in math, science and philosophy.
10. Pearl S. Buck: Pulitzer and Nobel Prize-winning author Pearl S. Buck is well-regarded in American and Chinese literary circles for her short stories and her novels, including The Good Earth, which is taught in many schools today. Buck was born into a strong Southern Presbyterian family in West Virginia but at just three months old, moved to China where her parents had been missionaries. Buck grew up in China and was tutored in Chinese and English during The Boxer Uprising. Buck attended college in the United States, but eventually moved back to China, where she wrote some of her greatest works.

There are a lot of fun-filled and educational years between grade school and heading off to college, providing ample opportunity to forget some of the most basic lessons you learned as a child. Here are some facts and tips that will help you refresh your memory and bring back some of that important information that can help you boost your trivia knowledge or even perform better in your college studies.

Language

These facts will remind you of proper grammar, punctuation and structure.

1. Is it the "i" or the "e" first? This is a spelling question that troubles even the best spellers out there from time to time. The old rule "i before e except after c" will help you sometimes, but not in all cases. Some important addendums should include "or when sounded like a, like neighbor and weigh" and the rule should be dropped altogether when -c sounds like -sh, like in species.
2. How is a paper organized? Being able to organize an essay, research project or story is an essential part to doing well in any area of academics. While there are, of course, many subtleties, a paper should start with an introductory paragraph containing a thesis–the most important part of any essay. After this, each paragraph should have a main idea followed by information that expands on and explains these ideas. At the end, work should be tied up with a conclusion paragraph. It sounds basic, but many students let their writing become sloppier as they go along or never develop these strong fundamentals in the first place.
3. Which is the subject and which is the object? If you don’t remember which part of the sentence is which, you’re not alone. In most basic terms, you can remember that the subject is the part of the sentence that is doing something, while the object is the thing that is having something done to it. This can be helpful to know when learning a language besides English, as well.
4. What is a pronoun? Most of us know what a noun is, but do you recall what a pronoun is? Pronouns are the words that take the place of nouns in a sentence including I, she, he it, you, we and they. Using these correctly may get a bit trickier but you can find a guide here.
5. What is a homonym, antonym and a synonym. A homonym is a group of words that appear to be the same but actually have different meanings or pronunciations. An antonym refers to a word that is the opposite in meaning from another word. A synonym is a word that means the same or similar as another word.
6. What is the correct way to use commas? Commas aren’t alone in often being used incorrectly. Semi-colons, hyphens and colons are frequently used incorrectly as well. If you find it hard to remember to use these elements of speech correctly, reference a guide like this until you can commit it to memory.
7. What’s the difference between its and it’s? Find yourself often mixing these two up? You’re certainly not alone but there’s an easy way to remember which is the right word for the situation. Simply remind yourself that "it’s" is a contraction of the words "it is." If the expanded form of those words doesn’t make sense in your sentence, then you know to use "its" rather than "it’s".
8. How can you tell if a sentence is too long or too short? Sentences can either be a run-on or a fragment. You can determine if your sentence is a run-on by simply turning it into a yes or no question. If it makes sense, you’re doing ok. If not, you need to add some kind of conjunction or separate it into two sentences. A fragment on the other hand is simply an incomplete sentence that doesn’t make sense on it’s own. You can usually fix these by adding them back onto the main sentence to which they refer.
9. What are a verse, stanza and paragraph? If you can’t answer this question, it might be a good idea to refresh your memory on how writing is organized. In most cases, a verse is a single line of poetry, though more loosely it is a series of words arranged metrically. A stanza is a group of these verses, usually composed of four or more that work together in a poem or a song. A paragraph, on the other hand, is a division within a written work that focuses on a particular idea found in prose rather than poetic works.
10. What things need to be capitalized? While you’re probably aware that things like names, titles and other proper nouns need to be capitalized, are you aware of what parts of a book title should be capitalized or whether or not to capitalize the names of the seasons? Here you’ll find information on just about everything you should or shouldn’t put into caps.

Social Studies

At a loss when it comes to recalling basic social studies and history information? These facts will help you remember.

11. What are the state capitals? Unless you use this information regularly, it’s easy to forget what the capital of far flung states are. It can be good to know these kinds of things, however, so use this online table to review. If you get ambitious, learn the capitals of other countries as well.
12. What are longitude and latitude? Do you remember which is which? Longitudinal lines are those that go around the globe vertically (you can remember them as being long like hair) and latitudinal lines are those that go around horizontally like the equator. These lines allow every place on earth to be specified using just three coordinates and aid in navigation.
13. What factors led to the Revolutionary War? Taxation without representation is a phrase you should remember from your elementary education days. Taxes imposed on the colonies by the British on goods like sugar and documents enraged the public who felt that if they were gong to be taxed they should at least have some kind of representation in the British Parliament. These factors, among many much more complex issues, led the early American people to revolt against British rule.
14. How are laws made? Not sure how the regulations we have came to be? The process takes a little explaining so you can read about it here or watch the classic Schoolhouse Rocks video of how a bill gets made into a law.
15. What are the branches of the government and what do they do? The government is composed of three branches: the legislative, the judicial and the executive. The legislative branch is made up of the Senate and the House of Representatives. These individuals are responsible for debating, proposing and signing bills into law. The judicial branch refers to the court system, headed up by the Supreme Court. This branch decides how to apply the laws, whether or not they are constitutional and how they should be interpreted. Finally, the executive branch is composed of the president, vice president, cabinet members and various other supporting institutions. This branch carries out laws, suggests new ones and runs national defense and foreign policies.
16. What is Manifest Destiny? This term, coined in the 19th century, refers to the belief that Americans were destined, perhaps even divinely so, to expand across the continent from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific. This term was used to justify the harsh, and often violent, means implemented in an effort to bring the rest of North America under US control.
17. What are the major amendments to the Constitution? The first ten amendments to the Constitution are collectively known as the Bill of Rights. These include the right to free speech, the right to bear arms, the right to trial, and many more basic freedoms we often take for granted. Other important amendments include the 13th which abolished slavery, the 15th which gave non-whites the right to vote, the 19th giving women the right to vote, the 22nd limiting the president to two terms, and the 18th and 21st prohibiting (and then allowing) the sale and consumption of alcohol.
18. What were the 13 original colonies? The 13 colonies were Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, New York, Virginia, Connecticut, Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia.
19. What are the names of the Great Lakes? The Great Lakes are composed of five large bodies of water: Erie, Huron, Michigan, Superior and Ontario, containing a whopping 5 percent of the world’s fresh water.
20. Who wrote the Declaration of Independence? While there were several contributors to this piece of writing, the primary author was Thomas Jefferson, using the statement to declare that the 13 colonies were no longer under the rule of the British Empire.

Science

Even if you’re not heading into a science field in college, these facts will kick start your memory when it comes to understanding the world around you.

21. Why do the seasons change? If you ask most people, they’ll say it has something to do with the Earth’s distance from the sun. However, this is actually not why the seasons occur. The real reason is that the Earth spins on a tilted axis, causing different parts of the Earth to point towards the sun at different times of the year. This allows more sun to reach these areas at a more direct angle, causing the warmer and cooler temperatures that we experience as the seasons.
22. What’s the difference between mitosis and meiosis? Mitosis it is the basic way that cells of all kinds reproduce, creating two cells from one that are identical copies of the original parent cell. Meiosis on the other hand, is what happens in gamete or sex cells, producing cells with half the number of chromosomes as the parent cell and creating four cells from the original one.
23. What the heck do mitochondria do? You may have forgotten the parts of the cell, but the mitochondria is an important component, providing your cells with the energy they need to do what a cell needs to do, often being referred to as the powerhouse of the cell.
24. How are animal and plant cells different? Animal and plant cells are alike in many ways but have some key differences that allow them to create such a diverse group of organisms. One difference is the lack of a thick cell wall in animal cells. Plants need this cell wall to keep from bursting. Perhaps the biggest difference between plant and animal cells is their source of energy. Plants gather light from the sun and convert it to energy through photosynthesis, while animal cells use sugars and other substances that they consume to power themselves. Additionally, plant and animal cells differ in the size, shape and number of their vacuoles, and plant cells tend to have a set shape while animal cells can differ greatly.
25. What are the phases of the moon? The moon starts off at the new moon where no light is visible. From there it grows through the waxing crescent, first quarter, and waxing gibbous into a full moon. After a full moon, the light dwindles through the waning gibbous, third quarter, and waning crescent back to the new moon.
26. What are the types of clouds? While there are many subdivisions of clouds, the main types are: cumulus (the puffy, fluffy clouds); stratus (horizontal, layered clouds); and cirrus (wispy, feathery clouds). Add the word "nimbus" onto any of these to denote a cloud that produces rain, hail or snow.
27. What is the order of the planets? While many of us learned that there are nine planets, today there are only eight, as Pluto is no longer included. The remaining eight comprise of: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.
28. How does weather work? Weather is a complex thing, but something that students begin learning about in school from an early age. Watch the animation found on this site to learn why weather changes or stays the same. You can also refresh your memory on the water cycle here.
29. How do we know the Earth’s crust isn’t solid? While the ground you’re standing on might seem solid, any fifth grader can tell you that it’s simply an arrangement of plates making up the outer crust. We can see and feel these plates move through earthquakes and can look back in history to find that the continents themselves have moved around over millions of years.
30. How does gravity work? While there are two different interpretations of gravity (Einstein’s and Newton’s), we’ll stick with the basics here. Gravity is the natural tendency for objects with mass to attract one another. In our case, this object is Earth, which, in being much larger than us, pulls us to the ground and keeps us firmly earth bound.
31. What’s osmosis? As a kid you probably hoped you could learn through this process rather than doing your homework, but you may have long since forgotten the meaning. Osmosis is the process by which water is diffused into a cell body through a semi-permeable membrane, moving water from an area of high saturation to one of low saturation, much like a sponge picking up a spill or water seeping into a basement.
32. How do reflexes work? A reflex is an involuntary reaction that your body has in response to a stimulus, like pulling your hand away from a hot surface. Reflexes are controlled by the spinal cord, which takes over, sending a message to your muscle via the nerves that tells it to react. Reflexes can include things like coughing, breathing and sneezing as well.
33. What is the scapula? The scapula is the scientific name for the shoulder blade, one of 206 bones in the human body.
34. What are the steps of the scientific method? If you want to figure something out using science, you’d follow these steps of the scientific method: ask a question, do research, form a hypothesis, test your hypothesis with an experiment, analyze your data and draw a conclusion, and finally, report your results.
35. Who laid out the Laws of Motion? The Laws of Motion (regarding force, inertia and other basics of physics) were laid out by Sir Isaac Newton in 1687 and form the foundation of classical mechanics.
36. What are the parts of an atom? There are three components to an atom: the protons (positively charged particles); the neutrons (particles with no charge); and numerous electrons (the negatively charged particles).

Math

Make sure math is still fresh in your mind by going over these grade school facts.

37. How to determine the volume, area and circumference of a shape. Here you’ll find the basic formulae needed to solve these problems–good things to know even if you don’t calculate them daily.
38. How many feet are in a mile? American students have it rough using measurements that are hard to remember because they’re so oddly numbered. There are 12 inches in a foot, three feet in a yard, 1760 yards in a mile. That means there’s a whopping 5280 feet to a mile.
39. What are the different types of numbers? There are several different groups numbers can fall into. Natural numbers (the counting numbers), whole numbers (add a zero to the natural numbers), and integers (this group throws negatives into the mix as well). Additionally, there are rational numbers (integers with the addition of fractions) and irrational (numbers that can’t be represented as fractions like pi and some square roots). Of course, there are other groups as well, but these are the basics.
40. What is a prime number? In math-speak, a prime number is a number that has two integer factors, one and itself. More plainly speaking, it’s a number that can’t be divided evenly by any number other than one and itself. Some examples of prime numbers are 2, 3, 5, 7, and 11, though the list goes on and on.
41. Just what is the order of operations? This order can be remembered as PEMDAS: parentheses, exponents, multiplication, division, addition, and subtraction. This order will allow you to get the correct answer when working with complex equations.
42. What’s a mean, median, mode and range? The mean is the average of a group of numbers, the median is the middle value in a list of numbers put in numerical order, the mode is the most commonly occurring number and the range is the difference between the largest and smallest values in the list.
43. What are the types of triangles? Triangles can be put into several categories: right (having one right angle); equilateral (all angles are 60 degrees); isosceles (having two equal angles and two equal sides); scalene (having no sides the same); acute (all angles are less than 90 degrees); and obtuse (the triangle has one angle larger than 90 degrees).
44. What happens when you multiply two negatives? Negative numbers can get tricky. When you multiply two of them, you should end up with a positive number. Additionally, when you subtract a negative number from any other number the negative number is treated as an addition of a positive one.
45. Can you divide by zero? Hopefully you remembered you cannot divide by zero. Any attempt to divide by zero, even to divide zero by zero, results in an undefined result that isn’t much use to anyone.

The Arts

Here you’ll find the basics for music and the arts.

46. What are the notes on the scale? The basic notes on a scale are C, D, E, F, G, A and B in that order, though there are sharps, flats and other variations to these notes.
47. What are the types of notes? Chances are good that you used these notes in a childhood music class, but you may have forgotten them, unless you still play an instrument. The basic types of notes are whole, half, quarter, eighth and sixteenth which you can see in this picture. Each type of note tells you how many of it will appear in each measure.
48. What is the style of art Picasso is best known for? Picasso worked his way through a variety of artistic styles in his decades of production but is perhaps best known for his work with Cubism. Cubism distorts space and forms, leaving works that often have recognizable elements that have been twisted and fractured.
49. What is the difference between high and bas-relief? These represent different levels of relief. High relief art stands out from its surface, often having elements that are not attached at all. Bas relief on the other hand, is an extremely low relief, barely standing out on the surface.
50. What are complementary colors? The basic colors on the color wheel are red, blue, yellow, purple, orange and green. Of these colors, the complementary ones are those that opposite to one another–blue and orange, red and green and yellow and purple. When two complementary colors are mixed they create a neutral color like gray or black.

As an online student, you’re part of a new generation of learners. But you’re also joining a much larger group of nontraditional students who have graduated from community colleges and junior colleges before going on to undergraduate and graduate institutions, or beginning their careers. Nontraditional students, as you probably know, can be just as successful as those who completed four-year degree programs from well-known universities. Just check out our list of 10 incredibly successful people who went to community college.

1. Jim Wright: Jim Wright is a former Democratic U.S. Congressman and Speaker of the House who served for 34 years on Capitol Hill. First elected in 1954, Wright was appointed House Majority Leader in 1976. Eleven years later, he was named Speaker of the House and served as Speaker until 1989, when he resigned. Now a writer and professor at Texas Christian University, Wright prepared for his career in Congress when he attended Weatherford College, a junior college located in the Dallas-Ft. Worth area. Wright then transferred to the University of Texas at Austin before joining the U.S. Army Air Forces during World War II.
2. Sam Shepard: Sam Shepard is a well-known American playwright and film director who has written such works as Icarus’s Mother, La Turista, Cowboys and the Pulitzer Prize-winning Buried Child. Shepard, who has also acted in notable films like 2000’s Hamlet, The Pelican Brief and The Notebook, was born in Illinois and began his acting career after dropping out of community college. He moved to New York in the 1960s, and despite trouble with drugs, joined the Off-Off Broadway scene as a writer and occasional actor before getting his big breaks in Days of Heaven and The Right Stuff.
3. Jim Lehrer: The iconic media personality Jim Lehrer has been the news anchor for The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer since 1975, when it was known as The McNeil/Lehrer Report. Lehrer was born in Wichita, KS, but grew up all over Texas, attending high school in San Antonio and community college at Victoria College. After graduating from Victoria College, Lehrer attended the University of Missouri’s School of Journalism.
4. Ross Perot: Former Presidential candidate Ross Perot ran as an independent candidate in 1992 against Democrat Bill Clinton and Republican George H.W. Bush, and although he lost the race, is still considered to be one of the richest men in the United States: Forbes estimated his net worth to be around $5 billion in 2008. Perot accumulated his fortune when he sold his company Electronic Data Systems to General Motors in 1984, started the IT services provider Perot Systems four years later, and then sold that company to Dell in 2009. Dell reportedly bought Perot Systems for $3.9 billion. Besides his wealth, Perot is known for his small-town roots and twangy accent. He was born in Texarkana, TX, in 1930, and attended Texarkana Junior College before joining the U.S. Navy.
5. George Lucas: Star Wars creator and American Graffiti director George Lucas has won countless awards for his movies and contribution to the arts, including a Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Film Institute. He attended the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts, which was one of the first such schools in the United States, and where Lucas met other filmmakers like Steven Spielberg. Before attending USC, however, the Modesto, CA, native attended community college and then junior college as an anthropology student. As part of his common curriculum at junior college, Lucas explored filmmaking and cinematography.
6. Billy Crystal: Billy Crystal is a multitalented performer, director and producer who has contributed to American entertainment in film, TV, comedy, theatre, and as a long-time host of the Academy Awards. Some of Crystal’s most famous roles include Harry Burns in the iconic When Harry Met Sally and Mitch Robbins in City Slickers. Crystal was born and raised in New York and originally wanted to become a professional baseball player, attending Marshall University in West Virginia before returning to New York to attend Nassau Community College. From Nassau, Crystal transferred to NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, where he earned a B.F.A. and studied directing from Martin Scorcese. Just six years later, Crystal was cast as Jodie Dallas on the popular TV show Soap.
7. Nolan D. Archibald: Archibald, the CEO and Chairman of the Board of the Black & Decker Corporation, was once the youngest CEO of a Fortune 500 Company and has been celebrated by the American Marketing Association, BusinessWeek and Fortune as one of the most successful and "most wanted" business executives in the country. Exactly twenty years before being named CEO of Black & Decker, Archibald graduated from Dixie Junior College, which is today known as Dixie State College of Utah and can award bachelor’s degrees. He then attended Webster State University where he was an All-Conference basketball player and Academic All-American player. Archibald graduated from Webster State and moved on to Harvard, from which he earned an MBA in 1970.
8. John Walsh: America’s Most Wanted host John Walsh is more than just a TV personality: after the kidnapping and murder of his son Adam, Walsh has been a strong advocate for child safety and legislation reform. He and his wife helped create the Missing Children Act of 1982 and the Missing Children’s Assistance Act of 1984, and also founded the Adam Walsh Child Resource Center, which continues their campaign to fight for legislation that protects children’s and victim’s rights. Walsh, who was born in New York State, attended community college and eventually graduated from the University at Buffalo, part of the State University of New York system. He worked in hotel real estate and management until Adam’s murder inspired his campaign for legislation reform. In 1988, Walsh became the host of America’s Most Wanted.
9. Sarah Palin: Little known Alaska governor Sarah Palin became an instant spectacle when 2008 Presidential candidate John McCain chose her as his running mate. Palin became popular with conservative Republicans for her small-town cracks at Democratic candidate Barack Obama, which quickly morphed into campaign slogans. McCain and Palin lost the election, and ever since, Palin has been involved in tabloid-worthy fodder over her teen daughter’s pregnancy, new book tour and alleged plans to run for president herself. But before she entered politics, Palin was a well-rounded student at four different colleges, including North Idaho College and Matanuska-Susitna College, both community colleges. Palin eventually graduated from the University of Idaho with a bachelor’s degree in communications.
10. Nolan Ryan: One of baseball’s greatest stars, Nolan Ryan is now the president of the Texas Rangers. Ryan played for four MLB teams during his career, including the New York Mets, California Angels, Houston Astros, and Texas Rangers, though he is best known as the pitcher for the Rangers. After playing for the Rangers for 27 years — until 1993 — Ryan was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1999. Ryan was born and raised in Texas, where he played Little League and high school baseball. After high school, Ryan attended community college but was soon drafted by the New York Mets into a minor league team, the Marion Mets.