As a university student, you are constantly juggling a million things at once. You have to keep track of your assignments, research, social life and of course, budget. While it may seem impossible to keep everything organized, there are a number of online resources for students that can help you, as they helped me. Here are five of the most useful tools I have used in my student life that have helped me achieve better grades:
- Grammarly: This online tool is a must-have for any student who wants to improve their writing skills. Grammarly not only catches spelling and grammar mistakes but also offers corrections and suggestions to help you write more effectively. As English is not my first language, it is always great to have a (kind of) personal coach help in the writing department. Grammarly also offers a plagiarism checker, but in my experience, it is unreliable, so double-check your sources and cite them correctly.
Tip: UCW provides students with free access to the premium version of Grammarly. To set it up with your student account, you can review the instructions on the MyUCW Student Portal under the Student Resources tab.
- Evernote: This is one of the most popular tools for online learning. Evernote is a cloud-based notetaking and organization software that allows users to take notes, capture ideas and save articles, images and other files. Notes can be organized into notebooks and tagged with specific keywords for easy retrieval. Notes can also be shared with other Evernote users for collaboration, so it is perfect if you have a group project or just want to share a digital notebook with someone from the same class.
- Canva: Canva is a user-friendly graphic design tool that allows users to create professional-grade designs, presentations and other visuals with little to no prior design experience. With a library of built-in templates and easy drag-and-drop tools, Canva makes it easy for anyone to create beautiful visuals. I honestly got tired of using the same PowerPoint templates to create my presentations, so a friend recommended Canva, which changed my life. I hope it can also change yours.
- Scopus: Scopus is a web-based research and learning tool that allows users to search for academic papers and articles. It includes a database of over 21 million records from over 5,000 journals. Users can search for articles by author, title or keyword. I used Scopus to research my essays. I was able to find a variety of sources, including academic papers, magazine articles and blog posts. Scopus was very useful for finding sources that were both scholarly and relevant to most of the topics in my essays.
- APA Citation Generator: This software is designed to help university students with their essays by creating accurate citations in APA format. It is easy to use and can save you a lot of time and hassle. But just like Grammarly, it is not always 100% reliable, so make sure you compare the generated citations with the APA Quick Guide available in the MyUCW Student Portal, under the Library tab.
Many online tools and resources can be very helpful for university students. These tools can help with organization, studying and even writing papers. By taking advantage of these tools, you will save time and make your university experience more manageable.
Written by UCW BA Student David Z.
Published on November 12, 2022.
