See the Tool Menu at the bottom of this page for wiki pages with descriptions and tips about using specific research tools, such as Swivel or delicious. In addition to these more detailed pages, here are some quick links by category to get you started.

Organization and Collaboration Tools
del.icio.us - web-based bookmark management tool for annotating, tagging, and sharing your online finds. Requires a free del.icio.us account and a few minutes thinking about how to tag your finds before you get started.
GoogleDocs - web-based document, presentation, and spreadsheet applications that support collaborative writing and revision. Requires a free Google account.
GoogleReader - manage your RSS feeds with this easy-to-use tool. Requires a free Google account.
Zoho - web-based document, presentation, and spreadsheet applications. Requires a free account.


Citation Tools
Citation creation tools are only as accurate as the information typed into them and formatting is often lost when you cut & paste citations. Always check each completed citation against a sample reference for the same type of source in the style your teacher requires (MLA , APA , or CSM ).

Citation Machine - formats a citation in MLA, APA, CMS (Chicago), or Turabian style that you can cut and paste into Word. Based on a test conducted in October 2007 (test results), Citation Machine is not recommended for CMS. Consult Jules R. Benjamin's A Student's Guide to History instead. Noodle Tools (RECOMMENDED) - create a personal ID and save your citation lists online in MLA or APA format and export them to Word with no format clean-up. You'll need the school subscription information available in the library. Based on a test conducted in October 2007 (test results), Noodlebib Express (their free version) is more accurate than Citation Machine or Source Aid for citing in MLA format. Source Aid - formats a citation in MLA, APA, CMS (Chicago), or CSE style that you can cut and paste into Word. Based on a test conducted in October 2007 (test results), Source Aid is not recommended for CMS. Consult Jules R. Benjamin's A Student's Guide to History instead. Zotero - developed at GMU, this free citation manager integrates with the Firefox browser. Unlike the tools above, which are designed to be used on-the-fly (unless you pay for an upgrade that supports saving), this one allows you to add notes to your citations and save the notes and citations to your personal computer.


Search Tools
Customized Search Engines (CSEs) - Do you have a group of sites that you consult regularly about favorite topics? Create your own customized Google search engine that can search up to 5000 web pages selected by you (or look to see if someone else has designed one that might work for you). Requires a free Google account.
Use VCU's Journal Finder to see if a journal is available through a subscription database (only students with VCU eID's have access to VCU's databases).
Use WorldCat to search public and university libraries with results organized with those nearest your zip code listed at the top. Go to WorldCat's search plug-ins page to download the Firefox search extension or Facebook application for quicker access.


Finding_Tools and related bookmarks on delicious
You'll also want to check out the tags in the Finding_Tools bundle in the library's bookmark account (dragonlibrary) on delicious, as well as the following tags in the Doing_Research bundle: collaborating, organizing, sharing, citing, tools and tutorials.


Tool Menu
Constructing a news search engine
del.icio.us
diigo
Google Book
Google Docs
Google Reader
Google Scholar
iGoogle
Wikis
Yahoo! Pipes