Journals are traditionally highly respected sources of information. Consequently, they may be scarce in some libraries and it can be difficult to find a journal about a specific study. Universities have worked around this by using or partnering with an Internet database for academic journals and research. These sites cover almost all subject matter as well as some sites specializing in only one field like business or arts. Normally, these sites require an annual subscription from users but most universities have special partnerships with these sites in order to offer free access to students.
Emailing and social networking have become a highly efficient tool in contacting experts in a specific field. Most prominent experts typically have an entire website, blog or social media account that contains instructions on how to contact them. Interviews can be conducted via email or video calls and recorded as such. This effectively expands the student's pool of network resources outside of his local community.
Starting a research paper may be the most difficult step for some students. The challenge revolves around creating a relevant outline to address the topic, knowing where to conduct research and discriminating against other sources. The Internet allows a student to conduct a general search of the topic. An online search engine is an advancement from a library search engine in that it also allows students to skim through websites for specific topic ideas, potential resources and even samples of other papers made on the subject.
There are many online sites that offer writing services to students. These sites would either create or have an inventory of papers made on general topics and sell these papers to students. Professors highly discourage or outright ban these papers because they do not reflect a student's original ideas and writing style. Moreover, these papers typically set off online plagiarism filters as well. The most common form of this plagiarism is copying and pasting partial or full text.